Biography
Before her marriage, Maria Hester Park gave four well-received performances, mostly in the Oxford area, on both the piano and the harpsichord. Her first public appearance was at the age of twenty-two as Maria Hester Reynolds in the Hanover Square concert series with a concerto on the harpsichord. She played a Clementi duet with Jane Mary Guest on April 29, 1783, a concerto at Willis's Rooms in March 1784 and a performance as Mrs Park ("late Reynolds") in May 1791. After her marriage in London in April 1787 to Thomas Park, an engraver turned antiquarian and man of letters, she ended her career as a performer, although she earned even more fame as composer and teacher. Her marriage appears to have been happy; several of her husband's love poems to her still exist. She corresponded with Joseph Haydn, who, on October 22, 1794, sent her a sonata of his composition (Hob. XVI:51) and a thank you letter in exchange for two of her pieces. She died in Hampstead, London at the age of 53, after many years of ill health. She left four daughters.
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