May Henrietta Mukle FRAM (14 May 1880 – 20 February 1963) was a British cellist and composer.[2] She has been described as a "noted feminist cellist",[3] who encouraged other women cellists.[2]

May Mukle
May Mukle, from an advertisement published in 1919.
Born	(1880-05-14)14 May 1880 London
Died	20 February 1963(1963-02-20) (aged 82) Cuckfield, Sussex
Nationality	British
Occupation	Cellist

Early life

Mukle was born in London, the daughter of Leopold Mukle.[4][5] Her father was an immigrant from Hungary, trained as a clockmaker, but best known as an organ builder in London, part of the partnership Imhof & Mukle.[6] Her sisters Anne and Lillian were also musicians. She studied cello at the Royal Academy of Music with Alessandro Pezze [ca].[7]

Career

Mukle was a working musician for over fifty years, including concert tours in Australia, Africa, and Asia.[4] Her instrument was built by Montagnana and bought for her by an anonymous donor.[8] Mukle was also a composer of works for cello and piano.[9]

She performed as a soloist, and in chamber ensembles.[10] She was a member of the all-women English Ensemble, with violinist Marjorie Hayward, violist Rebecca Clarke, and pianist Kathleen Long.[4] In 1925, Mukle played at New York's Aeolian Hall with Percy Grainger and Lionel Tertis.[11] With her pianist sister, Anne Mukle, she was a member of the Maud Powell Trio. Also with Anne, she gave the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Six Studies in English Folk Song in London in 1926.[5]

Mukle's apartment near Wigmore Hall was convenient for hosting visiting musicians; she also convinced the landlords to rent other apartments to musicians, so there would be fewer conflicts about noise. She founded the Mainly Musicians Club in a basement in London; during World War II, she converted it into a air raid shelter.[12] She was an original member of the Society of Women Musicians, present at the organization's first meeting in 1911.[7][13]

Mukle was described in The Times as "in the very front rank of living violoncellists",[2] and her obituary in The Times says of her: "by the turn of the century she was fully recognized not only as an outstanding musician but as one of the most remarkable cellists this country had produced."[14]

Personal life and legacy

Mukle broke her wrist in a car accident in 1959, at age 79, but resumed playing after it healed,[5] performing in North Carolina in 1960.[15] She died at Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1963, at the age of 82.[8] Her portrait, painted by John Mansfield Crealock, is held in the museum of the Royal Academy of Music.[16] The May Mukle Prize was founded in 1964 in her honour and is awarded each year to a cello student of the college.[2][4]

References

External links

• "May Mukle (1880–1963), FRAM by John Crealock". Art UK. Portrait of May Mukle
• "May Mukle. Autographed postcard". Royal Academy of Music: Museum. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
• Autographed postcard print of May Henrietta Mukle, before World War I, in the National Portrait Gallery.
• Recordings of May Mukle included in the National Jukebox, Library of Congress.

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[es] May Mukle