Elsa Marshall-Hall

Elsa Inman (1891–1980) was an Australian musician who was known professionally by her maiden name, Elsa Marshall-Hall. She was the daughter of another professional musician, George Marshall-Hall and his first wife, May Marshall-Hall (née Hunt).

Musical career

Elsa Mary Marshall-Hall was a teacher at a number of Victorian country schools. She also taught piano and, like her father, she was a composer. 29 of her works have been preserved, many at the Percy Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne.[1]

Examples of her compositions
  • Excerpt from Bercuese by Elsa Marshall-Hall, with Linda Thompson soprano and Deviani Segal piano[2]
  • Sheet music for Moonya; music by Elsa Marshall-Hall and words by Harold F. Hoad[3]
  • Sample of sheet music for Royal Salute March by Elsa Marshall-Hall[4]

Personal life

Elsa Mary Marshall-Hall was born on 17 August 1891. She married John Thomas Inman in Traralgon on 17 August 1917. They had three children two of whom died in infancy, namely Stella (c.1920–1921), and Carman (1923–1924). Their eldest child, Hubert, born 1918, survived and was an army signalman during World War II. John Inman also died comparatively young, in 1928.

She later lived in Yallourn and then Yarram and Toora. Elsa and John were actively involved with the Australian Labor Party. In September 1947 Elsa filed for bankruptcy.

Melbourne's Herald newspaper for 26 March 1947 has a front-page story entitled, DAY IN LIFE OF QUIZ TRIAL WINNER which tells of Elsa's winning of a radio 3DB history quiz. She appears to have had a long-time interest in quizzing.[5][6]

She was the author of a book about her father published by the Grainger Museum and entitled THE LIFE AND LITERARY WORKS OF PROFESSOR MARSHALL-HALL.[7]

For some decades, Elsa Marshall-Hall shared a house in Auburn Road East Hawthorn with a Miss Fields.

Elsa Marshall-Hall died in 1980, and is buried at Brighton Cemetery, where her father was also laid to rest.

Footnotes
  1. "Archives of Australian Composers". opus.its.unimelb.edu.au.
  2. "Berceuse : voice with piano by Elsa Marshall-Hall : Work". Australian Music Centre. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  3. "Moonya: Song". State Library Victoria. 1951. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  4. "Musical notation" (PDF). cdn.shopify.com. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  5. "The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)". Trove.
  6. "Elsa Marshall-Hall - Australian recordings". Move Records.
  7. Selleck, Richard Joseph Wheeler (August 11, 2003). "The Shop: The University of Melbourne, 1850-1939". Melbourne Univ. Publishing – via Google Books.
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