Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemRediscovering Mirrie Hill (1889-1986): composer in her own right( 2002)Australian composer, pianist and educator Mirrie Hill (nee Solomon) was born in Sydney in 1889. She studied piano with Joseph Kretschmann and Laurence Godfrey-Smith, theory with Ernest Truman and composition with Alfred Hill. The outbreak of World War One in 1914 thwarted Mirrie Solomon's plans to study music in Europe and led to her entering the newly established New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. In 1916, she was awarded a composition scholarship by the Director, Henri Verbrugghen. She later took on the role of Assistant Professor of Harmony, Counterpoint and Composition at the Conservatorium from 1918 until1944. Her teaching position and role as an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board served as complementary interests to her primary work as a composer. In 1921 Mirrie Solomon married the renowned Australian composer Alfred Hill. This marriage had a considerable impact on her ability to establish a reputation as a composer in her own right, and her contributions to Australian music have been largely overshadowed by Alfred Hill's more prominent status. Mirrie Hill composed over five hundred works across many genres. She wrote symphonic works, chamber music and film music and was a prolific writer of art songs, piano works and elementary works for children. Almost half of her compositions were published in Australia and many of her orchestral works were performed, broadcast and recorded during her lifetime. Mirrie Hill's reputation as a composer of 'miniatures' has lingered, despite her remarkable successes in other areas of music. To date, no in-depth study of Mirrie Hill has been attempted, and as such, her substantial creative output and contributions to Australian music have gone largely unrecognised. This thesis will explore both biographical and musical aspects of the composer and is intended as an overview of Mirrie Hill's contribution to many facets of Australian music throughout her lifetime.
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ItemPercy Grainger's promotion of early music to Australian audiences in 1934: a critical evaluation( 2003)This thesis examines the argument made by Roger Covell in his 1967 Australia's Music in which he stated that Grainger's promotion of unfamiliar music, including early music to the Australian audiences in his 1934 Australian tour had been ineffective. Covell's argument was that Australia, at that time, was a conservative musical society 'that had barely considered the possibility of merit in any music outside the standard European classics' (p. 99). This thesis argues that Grainger's promotion of early music had not been ineffective but had an impact on the Australian audiences. This conclusion is reached after examining the press reception of Grainger's inclusion of early music in his lecture-recitals and orchestral concerts.
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ItemAlice Ellen Charbonnet: a French musician in nineteenth-century Australia( 2006)Alice Ellen Charbonnet (1860-1914) was one of the key French émigré artists of late nineteenth-century Australia. She was highly respected and sought after as a performer, teacher and composer. As little is known about her life and achievements, this thesis firstly provides an extended biographical outline of her life. It also studies the musical, social and cultural context of late nineteenth-century Australia with a focus on the French influence and presence. Charbonnet's role as a virtuoso performer is evaluated through her concert performances and reception. Her wide and varied solo piano and chamber music repertoire provides evidence of her outstanding technique. The programming of her concert series, recitals as well as her contributions at numerous charitable functions provides insight into the musical taste of nineteenth-century Australia. An investigation of her compositions sheds light on her writing style as well as the domestic consumption of music-making prevalent at the time. Charbonnet's contribution to music pedagogy is assessed through a close look at her French-inspired Conservatoire de Musique as well her Australian Musical Association examination board. The appendices include the complete programmes of her Sydney and Melbourne concert series in 1878-1881 and a comprehensive listing of her compositions. Charbonnet is arguably one of the foremost women musicians in late nineteenth-century Australia. Through an assessment of her life and accomplishments, this thesis recognises her important influence on Australian musical life.
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ItemEdward Goll: Melbourne pianist and teacher: the war years 1914-1918( 2007)This thesis examines the foundational period and early contribution in the Australian career of the prominent concert pianist Edward Goll focussing on the years 1914--1918. The multifarious opposition that Goll faced during the war, mainly arising from contention regarding his nationality, forms the setting of this study which is then juxtaposed against a discussion of Goll’s contribution to music in Australia during that period. The educational value of Goll’s large and catholic repertoire, the benefits of listening to an artist of Goll’s high calibre and the impact and popularity of his concerts were recurrent themes in the press, and were qualities for which he was to be later acknowledged. These aspects of his contribution as a performer are followed by a discussion of Goll’s pedagogical contribution as one of the first pianists to introduce the concept of "weight-touch" to Australia.
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ItemMusical composition in Australia in the period 1960-1970: individual triumph or historical inevitability?( 2000)An examination of oral records casts a fresh and first-hand light on the sudden flowering of Australian musical composition in the 1960-70 decade. Accepted accounts concerning the musical activity of this time are few and the composers who were involved in the new music world are cited rarely. Building on the views and perceptions of Roger Covell, James Murdoch, Frank Callaway, David Tunley and Andrew McCredie, the impressions concerning this period from eight composers - those from the pre•-1960 generation and those who came to prominence in the designated decade - are investigated, with a view to determining what caused the abrupt adoption of contemporary compositional practice fro1n 1960 onwards; whether the surge in activity and the adoption of a new vocabulary resulted chiefly from individual efforts, or from the influence of individuals (administrators, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs), or through the pioneering work of certain organisations (International Society for Contemporary Music), or as the result of an inevitable if delayed historical process. The investigation begins with a survey of the relevant available material still extant on this period, which serves the purpose as a support or contrast with the core of the thesis. This is the gleaning from interviews conducted by the writer or tapes made by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and other bodies of what the decade 1960-1970 meant to the composers themselves, the intention being to come to a clearer understanding of the significance of the years in question.