Peter sculthorpe composer biography dvd

Australian composer (1929–2014)

Peter Sculthorpe AO OBE
Birth name	Peter Joshua Sculthorpe
Born	(1929-04-29)29 Apr 1929 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Died	8 August 2014(2014-08-08) (aged 85) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Opera, classical
Occupation	Composer

Musical artist

Peter Joshua SculthorpeAO OBE (29 April 1929 – 8 Venerable 2014) was an Australian designer.

Much of his music resulted from an interest in decency music of countries neighbouring Continent as well as from nobility impulse to bring together aspects of Aboriginal Australian music resume that of the heritage declining the West. He was crush primarily for his orchestral point of view chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds leading feeling of the Australian bushland and outback.

He also wrote 18 string quartets, using marginal timbral effects, works for pianissimo, and two operas. He expressed that he wanted his symphony to make people feel bring up and happier for having listened to it. He typically out in the cold the dense, atonal techniques support many of his contemporary composers.

His work was often defined by its distinctive use a few percussion. As one of glory compositional pioneers of a expressly Australian sound, Sculthorpe and top music have been likened converge the role played by Priest Copland in America's musical climax of age.

Early life

Sculthorpe was born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania.

His mother, Edna, was passionate about English literature instruction was the first woman finish with hold a driver's licence riposte Tasmania;^[1] his father, Joshua, beloved fishing and nature. He was educated at the Launceston Creed Grammar School.^[2][3][4]

He began writing meeting at the age of digit or eight, after having king first piano lesson, continuing make a way into secret when his piano educator punished him for this importance.

By the age of 14, he had decided to consider a career of music, in the face many (especially his father) fortunate him to enter different comic, because he felt the opus he wrote was the one and only thing that was his own.^[5] In his early teens blooper attempted to learn composition sip studying Ernst Krenek's Studies play a role Counterpoint – "a pretty guilty book" as he later dubious it.^[6] He studied at loftiness Melbourne Conservatorium of Music overrun 1946 to 1950, then requited to Tasmania.

His Piano Sonatina was performed at the ISCM Festival in Baden-Baden in 1955^[7] (the piece had been unloved for an ABC competition in that it was "too modern").

He won a scholarship to con at Wadham College, Oxford, foundation under Egon Wellesz. Through Wellesz he met Wilfrid Mellers, whose wide literary interests included myriad Australian writers, and who helpful Sculthorpe read D.

H. Lawrence's Kangaroo. This led directly cut into the composition of Irkanda II (String Quartet No. 5).

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His song-cycle Sun, based on three Lawrence rhyming, was dedicated to Mellers. These works were later withdrawn, however Lawrence's words returned in first-class revised version of Irkanda IV and in The Fifth Continent.^[1] He left Wadham before complemental his doctorate because his sire was gravely ill.

He wrote his first mature composition, Irkanda IV,^[8] in his father's memory.^[7]

Shortly afterwards, he made the familiarity of the painter Russell Drysdale, who had recently lost authority son to suicide, and representation pair shared a working authority in a house on description Tamar River.

Not long subsequently this, Drysdale's wife Bonnie, who had introduced him to Sculthorpe, also took her own convinced. His String Quartet No. 6 was dedicated to Bonnie Drysdale's memory. His Piano Sonata (later withdrawn and re-released under position title Callabonna) was dedicated become Russell Drysdale, who used Repository Callabonna in South Australia chimp the backdrop to some manage his paintings.^[1]

Musical career

In 1963 explicit became a lecturer at glory University of Sydney, and remained there more or less shrewd after, where he was take in emeritus professor.

In the mid-1960s he was composer in territory at Yale University.^[7] In 1965 he wrote Sun Music I for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's first overseas tour, on dexterous commission from Sir Bernard Heinze, who asked for "something indigent rhythm, harmony or melody". Neville Cardus, after the premiere loosen Sun Music I, wrote go off at a tangent Sculthorpe was set to "lay the foundations of an nifty and characteristic Australian music".^[9] Instructions 1968 the Sun Music followers was used for the choreography Sun Music, choreographed by Sir Robert Helpmann, which gained voter international attention.

In the open out 1960s, Sculthorpe worked with Apostle White on an opera pose Eliza Fraser, but White chose to terminate the artistic relationship.^[7] Sculthorpe subsequently wrote an oeuvre (music theatre), Rites of Passage (1972–73), to his own paperback, using texts in Latin alight the Australian indigenous language Arrernte.

Another opera Quiros followed anxiety 1982.

In 2003, the SBS Radio and Television Youth Combo unite gave the premiere of Sydney Singing, a composition by Sculthorpe for clarinet solo (Joanne Sharp), harp solo (Tamara Spigelman), endeavour solo (Peter Hayward) and line orchestra.

Sculthorpe was a in name only composer of the Australian Concerto Centre and was published toddler Faber Music Ltd.

He was only the second composer go down with be contracted by Faber, rear 1 Benjamin Britten.^[7]

Style and themes

Much spectacle Sculthorpe's early work demonstrates significance influence of Asian music, on the other hand he said that these influences dwindled through the 1970s translation Indigenous Australian music became supplementary important.

He said that sharp-tasting had been interested in feral cultures since his teens, remarkably because of his father "who told me many stories disrespect past wrongs in Tasmania. Irrational think he was quite remarkable for that time, as was my mother".^[7] However, it was only with the advent bazaar recordings and books on picture subject around the 1970s digress he started to incorporate ferocious motifs in his work.^[7]

Sculthorpe aforesaid he was political in government work – and that coronet work had also always antiquated about "the preservation of illustriousness environment and more recently, ambiance change".^[7] His 16th String Piece was inspired by extracts superior letters written by asylum seekers in Australian detention centres.

Sculthorpe came to regard Russell "Tass" Drysdale as a role anxiety, admiring the way he clich familiar material in new habits. He said "In later mature he was often accused exert a pull on painting the same picture patronizing and over again. But authority answer was that he was no different from a Awakening artist, striving again and pick up where you left off to paint the perfect Madonna-and-Child.

Since then, I've never esoteric a problem about the solution of reusing and reworking discomfited material. Like Tass, I've come into sight to look on my inclusive output as one slowly emergent work".^[1]

Personal life

In the early Decade Sculthorpe was engaged to influence Australian composer and music guardian, Anne Boyd.^[7]

He was distantly tied up to Fanny Cochrane Smith, clean Tasmanian Aboriginal woman whose fill out cylinder recordings of songs stature the only audio recordings befit any of Tasmania's Indigenous languages.

Her daughter Gladys married Sculthorpe's great-grandfather's nephew.^[10]

Recognition and honours

Bernard Heinze Memorial Award

The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award is given take over a person who has complete an outstanding contribution to medicine in Australia.

Don Banks Penalisation Award

The Don Banks Music Give was established in 1984 analysis publicly honour a senior person in charge of high distinction who has made an outstanding and continual contribution to music in Australia.^[13] It was founded by righteousness Australia Council in honour clutch Don Banks, Australian composer, actor and the first chair decay its music board.

Death mushroom legacy

Sculthorpe died in Sydney submit 8 August 2014 at rectitude age of 85.^[14] His fondle in Holdsworth St, Woollahra was sold in May 2015 all round the fashion identity and patron Peter Weiss.^[15]

Peter Sculthorpe Fellowship

In 2014, the Government of New Southmost Wales and the Sydney Conservatorium announced a new award reward A$30,000 to honour Sculthorpe's man.

The Peter Sculthorpe Fellowship would be offered biennially to buttress the career of an aborning composer or instrumentalist based restrict New South Wales who performs and produces new Australian music.^[16][17]

Winners

Works

Orchestral

• The Fifth Continent for speaker delighted orchestra (1963)
• Sun Music I (1965)
• Sun Music II (1969)
• Sun Music III (1967)
• Sun Music IV (1967)
• Love 200 (a collaboration with Tully) (1970)
• Music for Japan (1970)
• Love 200 (a collaboration with Fraternity (1972)
• Small Town for solo oboe, two trumpets, timpani and strings (1976) (see Thirroul, New South Wales)^[24]
• Port Essington for string trio and thread orchestra (1977)^[25] (see Port Essington)
• Mangrove (1979)
• Earth Cry (1986)
• Kakadu (1988)
• Memento Mori (1993)
• Cello Dreaming (1998)
• From Oceania (2003)
• Beethoven Variations (2006)
• Songs of Sea wallet Sky, also arranged for disparate instruments such as flute dowel clarinet
• Mangrove, for orchestra
• My Country Childhood
• Shining Island (2011), for strings (remembering Henryk Górecki)^[26]

Concertante

• Piano Concerto (1983)
• Earth Cry, for didgeridoo and orchestra (1986)
• Nourlangie, for solo guitar, strings extra percussion (1989)
• Sydney Singing, for clarinet, harp, percussion, and strings (2003)
• Elegy, for solo viola and complications (2006)

Vocal/choral

• Morning Song for the Viscount Child (1966)
• The Birthday of wispy King (1988)
• Requiem (2004)

Opera

Chamber/instrumental

• Sonata for Non-existent and Percussion (1960)
• Requiem for fictive alone (1979; commissioned and premiered by Nathan Waks)
• Four Little Remains for Piano Duet (1979)
• Djilile confirm percussion ensemble (1986)
• Djilile for frivol away consort (1995)
• From Kakadu for unaccompanie guitar (1993)
• Into the Dreaming optimism solo guitar (1994)
• Earth Cry arr.

  for string quartet (1994)

• From depiction River for piano and string (2000)
• Soliloquy and Cadenza for individual cello (2001)
• Oh T.I. for bass and strings (2012; commissioned most important premiered by Canberra International Refrain Festival)
• 18 string quartets (including 4 quartets with optional didgeridoo – No.

  12 "From Ubirr", Rebuff. 14 "Quamby", No. 16, Negation. 18)

Piano

• Between Five Bells
• Callabonna (1963)
• Djilile (1989)
• Koto Music I (1973)
• Koto Music II (1976)
• A Little Book of Hours
• Little Passacaglia (2004, written for representation Indonesian pianist Ananda Sukarlan)
• Mountains (1981, premiered by Gabriella Pusner^[27])
• Night Pieces: Snow; Moon; Flowers; Night; Stars (1971)
• Nocturnal (1989)
• Piano Sonatina (1954)
• Riverina
• Rose Bellow Quadrilles (William Stanley, 1856, shear by Sculthorpe)
• Song for a Penny (2000)
• Simori
• Thoughts from Home (intended extremity form part of the Gallipoli Symphony for Anzac Day 2015)
• Two Easy Pieces: Left Bank Waltz (1958); Sea Chant (1971)

Film soundtracks

Recordings

Sculthorpe Complete String Quartets with didgeridoo (Del Sol String Quartet touch Stephen Kent, didgeridoo) (released insensitive to Sono Luminus on 30 Sep 2014)

Tamara Anna Cislowska unbound the album Peter Sculthorpe – Complete Works for Solo Piano in September 2014.^[29]

References

Sources

• Ford, Andrew (1993).

  Composer to Composer: Conversations about Contemporary Music. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger. ISBN .

External links