Hewitt, Helen, 1900-1977

Born in Granville, New York, Helen Margaret Hewitt was a pioneering music historian who is best known for her editions of Ottaviano Petrucci's chanson compendia Harmonices musices odhecaton A, and Canti B. Hewitt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College in 1921, and a Bachelor of Music from Eastman School of Music in 1925. In the summer of 1926, she traveled to France, studying organ with Charles-Marie Widor and harmony with Nadia Boulanger at the Conservatoire américain de Fontainebleau. After returning to the United States, Hewitt studied organ with Lynwood Farham at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She began her teaching career at what is now SUNY at Potsdam (1925-1928), and completed a master's degree in sacred music at the Union Theological Seminary in 1932, with an additional Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1933. Hewitt then returned to Europe, studying with Heinrich Besseler at the University of Heidelberg, and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard (Radcliffe) in 1938. Before joining the faculty of what is now the University of North Texas in 1942, Hewitt taught at Florida State College for Women (1938-1939) and Hunter College (1942). Hewitt published numerous articles, and compiled the first four editions of Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology. While on the North Texas music faculty until her retirement in 1969, she taught classes and served as an adviser or committee member on many theses and dissertations, and remained active in guiding the maintenance and upgrading of pipe organ facilities on campus. In addition to her distinguished career, Dr. Hewitt was a devoted owner of persian cats, and kept up cordial correspondence with friends and colleagues over many decades, and across continents.