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Peter Sculthorpe

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Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE (born 29 April 1929) is a noted 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 orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1992), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He has also written 17 string quartets, using unusual timbre 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—hence, he has typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work has often been distinguished by a unique use of percussion.

Early life and beginning musical career

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. By thirteen, 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 with his brother Roger. His Piano Sonatina was performed at the ISCM Fetival 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 1966 he wrote Sun Music I for the Sydney Symphony's first overseas tour. 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] Later Sculthorpe 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, the first being 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]

Personal

In the early 1970s Sculthorpe was engaged to be married to Anne Boyd, but they broke the engagement as they both believed one composer in a household was enough.[1]

In 1982 a painting of Peter Sculthorpe by artist Eric Smith won the Archibald Prize.

In July 2004, he denied that he is gay, after purportedly being "outed" by Rodney Croome. Croome immediately withdrew his claim and publicly apologised.[2]

Honours

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

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sculthorpe, Peter (2009) Rites of Passage, limelight, May 2009
  2. ^ Croome's blog - Stirring up a gay row: Always triple check

References

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