Peter Sculthorpe: Difference between revisions

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Early life

Sculthorpe was born and grew up in Launceston, Tasmania. His mother was passionate about English literature and his father loved fishing and nature.

He began writing music at age seven. As a young composer, he independently discovered the whole-tone scale, and was disappointed when he learned that others, such as Debussy, had already used it.^{[citation needed]} By the age of 13, he had decided to make a career of music, despite many (especially his father) encouraging him to enter different fields, because he felt the music he wrote was the only thing that was his own. He studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium from 1946 to 1950, then returned to Tasmania. Unable to make any money as a composer, he went into business, running a hunting, shooting and fishing store in Launceston (Sculthorpe's) with his brother Roger. His Piano Sonatina was performed at the ISCM Festival in Baden-Baden in 1955^[1] (the piece had been rejected for an ABC competition because it was "too modern"). He won a scholarship to study at Oxford University, studying under Egon Wellesz, but left before completing his doctorate because his father was gravely ill. He wrote his first mature composition, Irkanda IV, in his father's memory.^[1]

Musical career

In 1963 he became a lecturer at the University of Sydney, and has remained there more or less ever since, where he is now an emeritus professor. In the mid 1960s he was composer-in-residence at Yale University.^[1] In 1965 he wrote Sun Music I for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's first overseas tour, on a commission from Sir Bernard Heinze, who asked for "something without rhythm, harmony or melody". Neville Cardus, after the premiere of Sun Music I, wrote that Sculthorpe was set to "lay the foundations of an original and characteristic Australian music".^[2] In 1968 the Sun Music series was used for the ballet Sun Music, choreographed by Sir Robert Helpmann, which gained wide international attention. In the late 1960s, Sculthorpe worked with Patrick White on an opera about Eliza Fraser, but White chose to terminate the artistic relationship.^[1] Sculthorpe subsequently wrote an opera Rites of Passage (1974), to his own libretto, using texts in Latin and the Australian indigenous language Arrernte. Another opera Quiros followed in 1982. The orchestral work Kakadu was written in 1988.

In 2003, the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra gave the premiere of Sydney Singing, a composition by Sculthorpe for clarinet solo (Joanne Sharp), harp solo (Tamara Spigelman), percussion solo (Peter Hayward) and string orchestra. This performance was released on SBS DVD in July 2005.

His Requiem is possibly his most serious, substantial work to date.^{[citation needed]} It was premiered in March 2004 in Adelaide by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Chamber Singers conducted by Richard Mills, with didgeridoo soloist William Barton, to critical acclaim.

Sculthorpe is a represented composer of the Australian Music Centre and is published by Faber Music Ltd. He was only the second composer to be contracted by Faber, after Benjamin Britten.^[1]

Style and themes

Much of Sculthorpe's early work demonstrates the influence of Asian music, but he says that these influences dwindled through the 1970s as indigenous music became more important. He says that he had been interested in indigenous culture since his teens, mainly because of his father "who told me many stories of past wrongs in Tasmania. I think he was quite extraordinary for that time, as was my mother".^[1] However, it was only with the advent of recordings and books on the subject around the 1970s that he started to incorporate indigenous motifs in his work.^[1]

Sculthorpe says he is political in his work – and that his work has also always been about "the preservation of the environment and more recently, climate change".^[1] In the early 1970s Sculthorpe was engaged to Anne Boyd ^[1] but he has never married. In 1982 a painting of Sculthorpe by artist Eric Smith won the Archibald Prize.

Honours

1970: Queen's Birthday Honours List: named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
1977: MBE upgraded to Officer status (OBE).
1990: Australia Day Honours: appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
1999: made one of Australia's 45 Icons
He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He holds four honorary doctorates.

Works

A chronological list of his works as at 2009 is available here.

Orchestral

The Fifth Continent for speaker and 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)
Small Town for solo oboe, two trumpets, timpani and strings (1976)
Port Essington for string trio and string orchestra (1978)
Mangrove (1979)
Earth Cry (1986)
Kakadu (1988)
Memento Mori (1993)
From Oceania (2003)
Beethoven Variations (2006)
Songs of Sea and Sky- also arranged for different instruments such as flute and clarinet.
Mangrove, for orchestra
My Country Childhood

Concertante

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

Vocal/Choral

Requiem
Birthday of Thy King

Opera

Rites of Passage (1974)
Quiros (1982)

Chamber/Instrumental

Sonata for Viola and Percussion (1960)
Requiem for cello alone (1979)
From Kakadu for solo guitar (1993)
Into the Dreaming for solo guitar (1994)
17 string quartets

Piano

Between Five Bells
Rose Bay Quadrilles
Piano Sonatina
Nocturnal
Djilile
Mountains
Song for a Penny
Night Pieces [Snow, Moon, Flowers, Night, Stars]
Thoughts from Home – Composed to form part of the Gallipoli Symphony for Anzac Day 2015
Simori

External links

Biography of Peter Sculthorpe – maintained by the Australian Music Centre
Biography of Peter Sculthorpe – maintained by the Tasmanian Composers Collective
Big Idea – Interview with Peter Sculthorpe (ABC Radio National)
Guide to the papers of Peter Sculthorpe – held by the National Library of Australia
Peter Sculthorpe Art Collection held by Pictures Branch, National Library of Australia, Canberra
Opera Glass

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Sculthorpe, Peter (2009) "Rites of Passage", Limelight, May 2009
^ "50 Classical Works that Changed History", Limelight, April 2010, p. 32

References

Elizabeth Silsbury (March 5, 2004). "Sculthorpe Requiem". The Advertiser.

[rites-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Sculthorpe, Peter (2009) "Rites of Passage", Limelight, May 2009

[2] "50 Classical Works that Changed History", Limelight, April 2010, p. 32

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-'''Peter Joshua Sculthorpe''' [[Order of Australia|AO]] [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (born 29 April 1929) is an Australian composer.  Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He is known primarily for his [[orchestra]]l and [[chamber music]], such as ''Kakadu'' (1988) and ''Earth Cry'' (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and [[outback]]. He has also written 17 [[string quartet]]s, using unusual [[timbre|timbral]] effects, works for piano, and two operas.   He has stated that he wants his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He has typically avoided the dense, [[atonal]] techniques of many of his contemporary composers.  His work has often been distinguished by its distinctive use of [[percussion]].
 ==Early life==
 Sculthorpe was born and grew up in [[Launceston, Tasmania|Launceston]], Tasmania. His mother was passionate about English literature and his father loved fishing and nature.