Re: Music from New Zealand
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 7:58 am
http://www.australiancomposers.com.au/Leipzig_Diary/
LEIPZIG DIARY - ALFRED HILL
edited by Donald Maurice
'Hill’s return to New Zealand in 1891, full of the hype and zest of Leipzig, must have been an enormous cultural shock for him, yet he made the choice to stay and become a pioneer colonial musician, and share all he was able to from his four and a half years in the epicentre of European musical life. In this context it is not difficult to see why, after twenty years of trying to musically move New Zealand into the twentieth century and failing to achieve his dreams of a national conservatorium and symphony orchestra, he moved permanently to Sydney in 1910, where he was to play a major role in establishing what is now known as the Sydney Conservatorium. His legacy there, as the first professor of composition, gave Australia identifiable roots to a national musical identity.
His legacy in New Zealand, and a permanent place as the “national composer”, would have been cemented had he succeeded in establishing a national conservatorium in the early twentieth century. However, that was not to be, and his departure, followed by the events of 1914-18, and later 1937-44, which initiated and then confirmed that a national identity based on the great musical heritage of Germany was “undesirable”, effectively wrote Alfred Hill out of the script as the founding figure of a national identity in New Zealand’s music history.'
Claimed by the Aussies - should he move threads?
dm
LEIPZIG DIARY - ALFRED HILL
edited by Donald Maurice
'Hill’s return to New Zealand in 1891, full of the hype and zest of Leipzig, must have been an enormous cultural shock for him, yet he made the choice to stay and become a pioneer colonial musician, and share all he was able to from his four and a half years in the epicentre of European musical life. In this context it is not difficult to see why, after twenty years of trying to musically move New Zealand into the twentieth century and failing to achieve his dreams of a national conservatorium and symphony orchestra, he moved permanently to Sydney in 1910, where he was to play a major role in establishing what is now known as the Sydney Conservatorium. His legacy there, as the first professor of composition, gave Australia identifiable roots to a national musical identity.
His legacy in New Zealand, and a permanent place as the “national composer”, would have been cemented had he succeeded in establishing a national conservatorium in the early twentieth century. However, that was not to be, and his departure, followed by the events of 1914-18, and later 1937-44, which initiated and then confirmed that a national identity based on the great musical heritage of Germany was “undesirable”, effectively wrote Alfred Hill out of the script as the founding figure of a national identity in New Zealand’s music history.'
Claimed by the Aussies - should he move threads?
dm