Frederick Joseph Page (1905–1983) was a New Zealand university professor of music, pianist and critic. He was instrumental in the promotion of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

in New Zealand.

Early life

Page was born on 4 December 1905 in Lyttelton,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, New Zealand.

Music Studies

From 1920, he studied with Ernest Empson in Christchurch, and from 1935 to 1938 in London at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. Among his teachers there was

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

Teaching

Back in New Zealand he married painter

Evelyn Page Evelyn Margaret Page (née Polson, 23 April 1899 – 28 May 1988) was a New Zealand artist. Her career covered seven decades, and her main areas of interest were landscapes, portraits, still lifes and nudes. Early life Page was born in C ...

in 1938 and settled in

Governors Bay Governors Bay is a small town in Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand. Geography The settlement of Governors Bay is located on Banks Peninsula near the head of Lyttelton Harbour. It is connected via Governors Bay Road to Lyttelton ...

. In 1945/46, Page established the music department at

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

in Wellington where he taught until his retirement in 1971. In 1950 Page was one of the founders of the New Zealand branch of the

International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

in Wellington. A transformatory experience was Page's visit in 1958 of the

Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse aft ...

and the

Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival, or more precisely ''Donaueschingen Music Days'' (), is a three-day October event presenting new music in the town of the same name, where the Danube River starts, at the edge of the Black Forest in southern Germany. F ...

in Germany. He became a personal friend of composer

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

whose work Page promoted in New Zealand. In 1960, Page visited China and in 1982 he taught at the Shanghai Conservatorium. In 1970, he received his only official recognition with an

order of merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

by the government of Poland. He died on 29 November 1983 in Wellington.

References

1905 births 1983 deaths New Zealand pianists Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington People from Lyttelton, New Zealand 20th-century pianists {{pianist-stub