{{Short description|Composer, singer and pianist (1863–1947)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person | name = Georgette Peterson | birth_name = Georgette Augusta Christina Lichtenstein | birth_date = {{Birth year|1863}} | birth_place = Budapest, Hungary | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1947|04|19|1863}} | death_place = Swanage, Dorset, England | occupation = Composer }}
'''Georgette Augusta Christina Peterson''' (1863 – 19 April 1947) was a Hungarian-born composer, singer and pianist. Best known as '''Georgette Peterson''', she conducted a choir of 1300 women at the 1907 Australian Exhibition of Women's Work.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Patton |first=Faye E. |title=Georgette Augusta Christina Peterson (1863–1947) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/peterson-georgette-augusta-christina-8543 |access-date=2024-05-05 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref>
== Life == Georgette Augusta Christina Lichtenstein was born in Budapest in 1863.<ref name=":0" />
She married Franklin Sievright Peterson in 1890 in Croydon, Surrey. She later accompanied him to Australia where he took up the professorship of music at the University of Melbourne, replacing George Marshall-Hall in 1901.<ref name=":0" />
Peterson conducted the 1300-voice choir of women at the opening of the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work held in Melbourne in 1907. Her orchestration for the Exhibition Ode, "God Guide Australia", was placed second to a version by Florence Maude Ewart. The Melbourne ''Punch'' reviewer, however, considered Peterson's superior in its "perennial flow of captivating and original melody".<ref>{{cite news |date=24 October 1907 |title=Women's Work Exhibition |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175798216 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CVII |issue=2726}}</ref>
Peterson's husband died in 1914.<ref name=":0" /> She lived in South Yarra during World War I and her son Franklin George Peterson (born in Edinburgh in 1891) served in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea in 1918.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peterson, Franklin George Reginald |url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=8017283&S=1&N=35&R=0 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=National Archives of Australia}}</ref> She sailed for London in 1920 per the White Star liner, ''Ceramic''.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 May 1920 |title=Passengers by S.S. Ceramic |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1704772 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=23,027}}</ref> After that, little is recorded of Peterson's life.<ref name=":0" />
She was living at Swanage in Dorset, England in 1943 when visited by Hubert Clifford of the BBC in 1943. He programmed some of her songs to celebrate Australia Day in England.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 March 1943 |title="Bush Songs" |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article124790716 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=The Kadina and Wallaroo Times |location=South Australia |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXIX |issue=8023}}</ref>
In 1946 the Australian Broadcasting Commission produced a series of radio playlets written by G. K. Saunders which including bush songs by Peterson performed by child actress, eight-year-old Andrina Watton.<ref>{{cite news |date=16 July 1946 |title=Actress and Vocalist at Eight |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194935295 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=Daily Examiner |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=9144}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 August 1946 |title=Andrina Watton – Tiniest A.B.C. Actress |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article69592704 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=Wodonga and Towong Sentinel |location=Victoria, Australia |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=3047}}</ref>
She died at Swanage on 19 April 1947.<ref name=":0" /> == Works ==
=== Collections ===
* {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=Australian Songs for Young and Old |publication-date=1907 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer); Outhwaite, Ida Rentoul (illustrator) |publisher=George Robertson |author-link=Annie Rattray Rentoul}}. Republished by George Robertson (1908), (1910), (1924) * {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=Bush Songs of Australia for Young and Old |publication-date=1910 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer) |publisher=George Robertson |author-link=}}. Republished by Allan and Co. (1924), George Robertson (1924) * {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=More Australian Songs for Young and Old |publication-date=1913 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer) |publisher=George Robertson |author-link=}}. Republished by Allan and Co. (1924) * {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=Australian Bus Songs |publication-date=1936 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer) |publisher=Allan and Co. |author-link=}}
=== Songs ===
* {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=God Guide Australia |publication-date=1907 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer); Outhwaite, Ida Rentoul (illustrator) |publisher= |author-link=}} * {{Citation |last1=Rentoul |first1=Annie R. |title=Australia's Song of Empire |publication-date=1910 |others=Peterson, Georgette (composer) |publisher=George Robertson |author-link=}}<ref>{{cite news |date=9 November 1910 |title=New Music |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263718813 |accessdate=5 May 2024 |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=55 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * Exhibition Ode, [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-174412042/view?partId=nla.obj-174412050#page/n0/mode/1up "God Guide Australia!"], words by Annie R. Rentoul, music by Georgette Peterson and signed by both women * [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-165687991/view?partId=nla.obj-165688003#page/n0/mode/1up "Australia's Song of Empire"], dedicated to Lady Gibson Carmichael, words by Annie R. Rentoul, music by Georgette Peterson
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Georgette}} Category:1863 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Hungarian women composers Category:Australian women composers Category:Hungarian women singers Category:Hungarian women pianists Category:Australian women pianists Category:Musicians from Budapest