Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemThe 1870s Australian tours of Madame Arabella Goddard( 2001)The aim of this research paper is to explore the Australian components of the 1870s three-year world tour of the English pianist Arabella Goddard. This tour included two visits to Australia of more than four months each; the first began in June 1873, the second in June 1874. My desire was to document Goddard's itinerary, repertoire and programming within Australia and to reflect upon the reasons for her immense appeal throughout the country, as indicated through the press. In addition, her visits stimulated the discussion of wider cultural issues and therefore a concurrent study of the role of music in 1870s Australian society was appropriate. This paper aims to contribute knowledge to two areas. Firstly, it appears that there is no substantial text devoted solely to Arabella Goddard's life and career, from either a commercial or scholarly standpoint. Secondly, the study of the Australian press coverage enables a solid portrait to be drawn of the nature of touring at the time. Source material for this research was largely biased towards primary sources as the details of Goddard's Australian tours have not been previously documented. Some studies of the history of western art music in Australia do mention her as a visiting artist: Music in Australia: More than 150 Years of Development gives the basic framework of her visits. Orchard writes that Goddard arrived shortly after the violinist Jenny Claus (whose tour, Orchard writes, began in 1873), that she enjoyed a triumphant season performing in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, had departed for India and then returned to Australian before visiting New Zealand. (From Introduction)