HEALY, Sr. Catherine Healy RSM
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Violinist, Teacher & Composer.
16/02/2020
Gertrude Healy (1894-1984), musician and Sister of Mercy, was born on 18 March 1894 at Ballarat East, Victoria, third surviving child of Victorian-born parents, Michael John Healy, railway engine driver, and his wife Mary Helena, née Costello. Educated locally at Sacred Heart College, Gertrude demonstrated prodigious gifts as a violinist, first coming to prominence in the Royal South Street Society competitions, where she competed against (Sir) Bernard Heinze in 1906, 1907 and 1908, winning many awards for violin. In 1907 she gained first prize for solo violin at the First Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work, and came to the attention of George Marshall-Hall, who awarded her a scholarship to his Albert Street Conservatorium of Music, East Melbourne. She studied violin with Franz Dierich and cello with Louis Hattenbach and in November 1908 made her Melbourne Town Hall début, performing Beethoven’s Romance in F with the conservatorium orchestra.
Having endured twice-weekly trips from Ballarat to Melbourne for more than a year, in 1909 Gertrude moved with her family to North Melbourne. Marshall-Hall, supporting her registration as a teacher of violin, noted that Healy’s `musical intelligence’ was `quite exceptional’. After coming second to Heinze in contesting the Clarke scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1912, she determined to make her own way to Europe. As one critic noted of her fund-raising concert, held at the Melbourne Town Hall in April 1913, she was `easily first’ among `all the violinists who have come forward in recent years’: her tone was `pure and rich’, and her intonation `almost beyond reproach’.
Having endured twice-weekly trips from Ballarat to Melbourne for more than a year, in 1909 Gertrude moved with her family to North Melbourne. Marshall-Hall, supporting her registration as a teacher of violin, noted that Healy’s `musical intelligence’ was `quite exceptional’. After coming second to Heinze in contesting the Clarke scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1912, she determined to make her own way to Europe. As one critic noted of her fund-raising concert, held at the Melbourne Town Hall in April 1913, she was `easily first’ among `all the violinists who have come forward in recent years’: her tone was `pure and rich’, and her intonation `almost beyond reproach’.
Coming to the attention of George Marshall-Hall who awarded her a scholarship to the Conservatorium of Music in Albert Street, East Melbourne.
For four years she studied violin and cello at the Conservatorium and obtained her Diploma of Music.
Gertrude also made her debut at the Melbourne Town Hall, during this time, performing Beethoven’s Romance in F.
In 1914, Gertrude and her sister Kathleen went to Berlin where Gertrude studied with Siegfried Eberhardt.
Just before war broke out, they went to London where Gertrude continued her studies with famous violinist Albert Sammons.
While in England, Gertrude did several public recitals in London, which received rave press reviews.
She also did patriotic work playing in hospitals and to charities.
In 1920, Gertrude and Kathleen returned to Melbourne via New York. From 1923 onwards,
Gertrude taught violin for many years at the Conservatorium and later conducted its chamber orchestra.
Gertrude continued to receive national and international acclaim for her performances as a soloist and in ensembles.
She performed in the Melbourne Trio with Rita Hope and Dallas Fraser and performed for the Australian Musical News Chamber Music Club, the British Music Society,
the Melbourne Music Club, the Australian Broadcasting Commission and with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
In 1925, the visiting Austrian violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler offered Gertrude the opportunity to return to Europe to study under him, an offer which she declined.
In 1947, Gertrude’s sister Kathleen died. Kathleen had previously joined the Mercy order in Ballarat East in 1924, and was known as Sr. M. Francis Xavier.
After Kathleen’s death, Gertrude resigned from the Conservatorium, and on 6 January 1948, she also entered the Convent of Mercy in Ballarat East.
She received the Habit on 24 May 1948, and was given the religious name of Sr. M. Catherine of Siena.
Sr. M. Catherine of Siena taught music at Sacred Heart College and also to the children and adults in the wider Ballarat community.
In 1950, she established the College’s annual orchestral recitals “Music for Strings” through which she introduced
new works such as those of Benjamin Britten and her own compositions.
These activities and the calibre of her teaching enhanced the College’s reputation for excellence in music education.
Sr. M. Catherine of Siena died on 6 October 1984, and is buried in Ballarat, Victoria.
Sr. M. Catherine of Siena RSM is buried at the Ballarat New Cemetery Roman Catholic D Section 1 Grave 12