Hugo Alpen

Hugo Alpen (26 October 184220 June 1917) was a German-born Australian composer, choral conductor and singing teacher. Early life Born on 26 October 1842 in Kellinghusen, (then part of Denmark), Alpen came to Australia in 1858 at the age of 16. Career After spending several years in Melbourne, Alpen was appointed director of the Vocal Philharmonic Society in the New South Wales town of Tumut in 1862, and from 1865 was based in Albury. He moved to Sydney in 1880 to work as a singing master for the newly established Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education), teaching at Fort Street and Hurlstone teacher training colleges. In 1884 he was appointed Superintendent of Music in the department. He advocated enlightened modern methods of music teaching for school children, emphasising aural development and sight-singing, and in 1897 he published a treatise, Practical Hints for the Teaching of Vocal Music in Public Schools. In the earliest precursors of today’s Schools Spectaculars, Alpen led massed student choirs in gala performances, often including his own compositions. His Commemoration Ode (1899) celebrated Fort Street School’s Golden Jubilee. At the celebrations