Hugo Alpen came to Australia at the age of 16 in 1858, and established a career as a composer, choral conductor and singing teacher.

After spending several years in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Alpen was appointed director of the Vocal Philharmonic Society in the New South Wales town of Tumut

Tumut, New South Wales

Tumut is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut is at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is referred to as the gateway to the Snowy Mountains Scheme...

 in 1862, and from 1865 was based in Albury

Albury, New South Wales

Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...

. He moved to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 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

Fort Street High School

Fort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

 and Hurlstone

Hurlstone Agricultural High School

Hurlstone Agricultural High School is an agricultural and selective, co-educational, public high school, located in Glenfield, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 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.http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2545591

In the earliest precursors of today's Schools Spectacular

Schools Spectacular

The Schools Spectacular is an Australian variety show featuring more than 3000 young students and is performed annually at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Highlights of the Schools Spectacular are broadcast each year by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation....

s, he led massed student choirs in gala performances, often including his own compositions. His Commemoration Ode (1899) celebrated Fort Street School's jubilee. At the celebrations of the Inauguration of the Commonwealth

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

 in Centennial Park

Centennial Park, New South Wales

Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Centennial Park is located 4 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick...

 on 1 January 1901, he conducted an estimated 10,000 school children in a performance of his work Federated Australia.

Alpen was also the organist at St Patrick's on Church Hill and St Benedict's on Broadway

Broadway, New South Wales

Broadway is a road in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The road constitutes the border between the suburbs of Ultimo and Chippendale . Broadway is also an urban locality....

, both in Sydney. In retirement he lived in Strathfield

Strathfield, New South Wales

Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...

 until his death on 20 June 1917.

Among his later works, with words by Roderick Quinn, was Hail! Men of America, Hail!, which was performed as an 'ode of welcome to the American Fleet

Great White Fleet

The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...

' on its hugely popular first visit to Sydney Harbour in 1908.

External links

• "Alpen, Hugo" record and biography (CC-By-SA) at the Dictionary of Sydney
  Dictionary of Sydney
  The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. The project is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney, the State Library of New South Wales, the State Records Authority of...
  
  , viewed 8 August 2010.
• "Hugo Alpen" biography on Music Australia
  Music Australia
  Music Australia is a free national online service hosted by the National Library of Australia in conjunction with over 50 cultural organisations across Australia. It was launched on 14 March 2005. It covers all types, styles and genres of Australian music, and showcases Australia’s musical culture...
  
  , viewed 8 August 2010.