Timeline

29 December 1912

Born in St Kilda, Melbourne.

Fitzroy St, St Kilda, Melbourne.

Late 1926 or early 1927

At the age of fourteen leaves the Methodist Ladies’ College in the city for Clyde School near Woodend in country Victoria.

Aerial view of Clyde School, Woodend, 1930. SLV

February 1930

Begins study at the Albert Street Conservatorium in Melbourne.

Victorian Artists’ Society building, Albert Street, East Melbourne

13 June 1932

Leaves Melbourne for London with her mother.

PGH and Myrtle en route to London, June 1932. MLMSS 6394/27, SLNSW.

14 September 1932

Attends the entrance exam at the Royal College of Music.

Royal College of Music, London. Wikipedia

22 July 1936

Receives news that she has won the Octavia award, shared with Stanley Bate, which provides funds for further composition study in Europe.

5 November 1936

Commences study with Egon Wellesz in Vienna.

20 June 1938

Premiere of the first and fifth movements of Choral Suite at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in London, conducted by Adrian Boult.

12 January 1937

Arrives in Paris for composition lessons with Nadia Boulanger.

Nadia Boulanger, 1925. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris.

9 November 1938

Marries Stanley Bate at the Kensington Registry Office, London.

Stanley Bate, 1930s. MLMSS 6394/29, SLNSW.

31 May 1940

With Bate leaves London for a visit to Melbourne, where Bate is appointed to the Albert Street Conservatorium.

Melbourne c. 1940. SLV

19 April 1941

With Bate arrives in Los Angeles, en route to New York, sponsored by Nadia Boulanger.

Fifth Ave and 14th St c. 1940s. Fineartamerica

16 September 1945

Begins affair with the American composer Paul Bowles.

Paul Bowles, c. 1947. Thailand Footprint.

27 October 1947

Appearance of the first music review in the New York Herald Tribune under the initials of P.G-H., the commencement of a role that will last for eight seasons.

Peggy Glanville-Hicks: A Life in Pictures

PGH, photographed in Melbourne, 1952.

7 March 1949

Awarded US citizenship.

8 June 1949

Divorce from Stanley Bate after six weeks’ residence in Reno.

22 February 1952

World premiere of Letters from Morocco, set to extracts from letters from Paul Bowles in north Africa, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Conducted by Leopold Stokowski, the soloist is the tenor William Hess.

Fez, 1947. Photographed by Paul Bowles. MLMSS 6394/34, SLNSW.

25 September 1956

Visits Paul Bowles in Tangier, the only time she will travel to Morocco.

Place Amrah, Tangier, 1940s, photographed by Bowles. MLMSS 6394/34, SLNSW.

10 February 1958

Premiere of the opera The Transposed Heads in New York, conducted by Carlos Surinach with soloists Loren Driscoll, Peter Binder and Maria Ferriero.

Cast of The Transposed Heads in New York, 1958.

20 May 1960

Leaves New York for Greece, intending to live there permanently.

Odos Pharmaki, Athens

19 August 1961

World premiere of the opera Nausicaa, based on the novel by Robert Graves at the Athens Festival, conducted by Carlos Surinach with Teresa Stratas as Nausicaa and John Modenos as Aethon.

Herodes Atticus Theatre, Athens.

11 December 1961

Finalises the purchase of a derelict dovecote on Mykonos.

10 September 1962

Finalises the purchase of a house on Odos Erechthiou in Athens.

Odos Erechthiou, Athens

26 December 1962

Herbert Adler, director of the San Francisco Opera company, recommends Sappho (an opera based on the verse drama by Lawrence Durrell) for a Ford Foundation grant.

7 June 1966

Undergoes surgery to remove a brain tumour at the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

PGH at Fire Island, c. 1966. MLMSS 6394/39, SLNSW.

12 February 1967

Completes the score of the ballet Rimbaud (A Season in Hell) for the Harkness Ballet and at the request of the choreographer John Butler.

7 November 1975

Leaves Athens for Sydney, intending to live there permanently.

45 Ormond St Paddington

25 June 1990

Dies in St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.