Sophia Hewitt Ostinelli (1799-1845) was an American classical musician who was a child prodigy who later became the only woman ever employed as an organist and accompanist by the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
Sophia Henriette Hewitt was born in New York County, New York in what is now Manhattan on May 23, 1799,[1] to James Hewitt (1770-1827), a native of England who became a respected composer, conductor and music publisher in the United States, and Eliza (King) Hewett (1779-1867), a Paris-educated author who was a daughter of a British Army officer.
[4] Around 1812, Hewitt and her siblings relocated with their parents to Boston, where her father had accepted positions as the Federal Street Theatre's music manager and as organist for Trinity Church.
[5][6] Following her 1814 performance of The Storm, a piano concerto by Daniel Steibelt, the music publication Repertory noted: "It is far beyond our ability to do her ample justice ... the spontaneous bursts of applause which followed are the best tribute of praise.
"[7] After a brief sojourn in New York circa 1815 to 1817, during which she performed as a concert pianist for the Euterpian Society and vocalist for New York Oratorios and studied piano with a Mr. Morgan, the harp with a Mr. Ferrand and the organ with George K. Jackson while also providing music instruction for students at a boarding school operated by a Mrs. Brenton, she returned to Boston.
On August 28, 1817, she played piano in concert as part of a trio and as a soloist, performing works by Pleyel and Henri Joseph Taskin.
During this same time, Sophia Hewitt also took on the role of organist for Boston's Catholic Cathedral and Chauncy Place Church.
[9] She also continued to perform in recitals and in concert in Boston, including with that city's Philharmonic Society throughout the late 1810s and early 1820s.
On February 27, 1819, she became the second musician ever to perform the music of Beethoven in Boston when she played his Piano Sonata in A-flat, op.