Composers
Helen Hagen
1893 - 1964About
Helen Hagen was an American composer and pianist. She attended the Yale University School of Music (1906-12), studying composition with Horatio Parker. Aftergraduation (BMus), she performed her Piano Concerto with the New Haven SO. A Yale fellowship enabled her to study with d'Indy, and Selva at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Having briefly pursued a performing career, she turned to education and became head of the music department at the George Peabody College for Teachers. Her one-movement concerto in C minor, one of the earliest extant works in the genre by a black American woman composer, adheres to the Lisztian tradition, featuring a virtuoso solo part and chromatic harmonies (an arrangement for two pianos is held by Yale University). Hagan's other works included piano pieces and a violin sonata (before 1912), all lost.