Hewitt, Helen, 1900-1977

Helen Margaret Hewitt (May 2, 1900 – March 19, 1977) was an American musicologist and music educator, who received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study sacred music in Paris in 1947. She was best known for her scholarly editions of sixteenth-century Venetian music incunabula printed by Ottaviano Petrucci.

Early life and education
Helen Margaret Hewitt was born in Granville, New York. She graduated from Vassar College in 1921,[1] and from Eastman School of Music in 1925. She continued her studies in France, at the American Conservatory, where she worked with Charles-Marie Widor in organ performance, and Nadia Boulanger in harmony. She then studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Lynnwood Farnam (1928-1930) and then earned a master's degree at Union Theological Seminary in 1932, and another master's degree at Columbia University the following year. Hewitt completed doctoral studies at Harvard University in 1938.[2] She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in music at Harvard.[3]

Career
Hewitt taught music at Potsdam, New York, at the Florida State College for Women, and at Hunter College, before joining the faculty at North Texas State Teachers College in 1942. She was a professor at North Texas until she retired in 1969, and helped to found the doctoral program in music during her tenure there. She and her students gave organ recitals at the campus's main auditorium.[4]

As a scholar, she produced authoritative editions of sixteenth-century Venetian compositions, including the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton[5][6] compiled and edited the publication Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology from 1952 to 1965, translated Bach scholarship from German, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947.[7] In 1972, she was the recipient of the Elizabeth Mathias Award from Mu Phi Epsilon. In 1968 she was given an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Smith College.[8]

Personal life
Hewitt died in Denton, Texas in 1977, age 76.[9] Her papers are now held by the music library at the University of North Texas College of Music.[10] The Helen Hewitt Organ Scholarship Fund at North Texas was named in her memory.

Miss Helen M. Hewitt has been granted a full scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Miss Hewitt has been a member of the normal school faculty at Potsdam for the past three years and is well known throughout that part of the state for her Sunday afternoon organ recitals at the auditorium and through her broadcasting from Station WCAC at St. Lawrence University ... During the summer of 1926 Miss Hewitt studied at the American school of music at Fontainbleau, France.

HEWITT, HELEN [MARGARET] (1900–1977).Musicologist and music professor Helen (Margaret) Hewitt was born in Granville, New York, on May 2, 1900. She received a thorough academic and musical education on the East Coast and in Europe. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Vassar College in 1921 and a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1925. In 1926 she traveled to France to study organ with Charles-Marie Widor and harmony with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau.

Upon returning to the U.S. she continued her organ studies with Lynwood Farnam at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (1928–30) and earned a master of sacred music degree at Union Theological Seminary in 1932 and a master of arts degree at Columbia University in 1933. After further European study with Heinrich Besseler at the University of Heidelberg she completed the Ph.D. degree at Harvard University in 1938.

Hewitt began her teaching career at the State Normal School in Potsdam, New York (1925–28). She later taught at the Florida State College for Women (1938–39) and Hunter College (1942). She was appointed to the faculty at North Texas State Teachers College at Denton (now the University of North Texas) in 1942 and was one of the founders of the doctoral program in music there. She remained on the faculty until her retirement in 1969.

She was best-known for her authoritative editions of two printed music incunabula by the renowned Venetian music printer Ottaviano dei Petrucci, Harmonice musices odhecaton A (1501) and Canti B (1502). Professor Hewitt was the compiler and editor of the first four editions of Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology (1952–65), published under the auspices of the American Musicological Society. She also translated Die Orgelwerke Bachs (Leipzig, 1948) by Hermann Keller (published as The Organ Works of Bach, New York, 1967) and authored numerous articles in musicological journals and festschrifts.

She received a number of honors during her career. She was the first faculty member at North Texas State to receive the Piper Professor Award for outstanding teaching. She was given a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for research in Paris in 1947, and Mu Phi Epsilon, an international honorary music sorority, honored her with its Elizabeth Mathias Award in 1972. Upon her retirement Hewitt donated a notable collection of organ music to the university's music library. A variety of additional books, musical scores, recordings, and archival materials came to the library upon her death, in Denton on March 19, 1977. Collectively these materials are part of the Helen Hewitt Collection in the special collections of the music library at the University of North Texas.