Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

composer.

Early life

Lilburn was born in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki Boys' High School from 1930 to 1933, before moving to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

to study journalism and music over the next three years at

Canterbury University College The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was f ...

, then part of the

University of New Zealand The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...

. In 1936 his career in music was set when his tone poem ''Forest'' won visiting composer

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

's national composition competition. In 1937 he began studying at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music 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 performanc ...

in London, tutored in composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams until 1939. The two men remained close: in later years Lilburn sent Vaughan Williams gifts of New Zealand honey, knowing that the older man was fond of it. Letters of thanks from Vaughan Williams in 1947 and 1948 confirm this. Lilburn's early works display the influence of

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

; the symphonic poem ''Forest'' (1936), in which Lilburn depicts the autumn scenery of

Mount Peel Mount Peel is a mountain located in South Canterbury, New Zealand. It consists of three peaks, Mount Peel (often referred to as Big Mt Peel), Middle Mt Peel () and Little Mt Peel/Huatekerekere (). Mt Peel is tall and is owned by the Department ...

South Canterbury South Canterbury is the area of the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand bounded by the Rangitata River in the north and the Waitaki River (the border with the Otago Region) to the south. The Pacific Ocean and ridge of the Southe ...

, finds its composer, according to Robert Hoskins, "tracking Sibelius through the shadowy woods, keeping his own distance, but measuring his own hesitancy until he takes his own road." Furthermore, the ''Phantasy Quartet'' (1939) contains "Sibelian pizzicatos".

Career

Lilburn returned to New Zealand in 1940 and served as guest conductor in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

for three months with the NBS String Orchestra. He shifted to Christchurch in 1941 and worked as a freelance composer and teacher until 1947. Between 1946 and 1949 and again in 1951, he was Composer-in-Residence at the Cambridge Summer Music Schools. During these years he was heavily involved in New Zealand arts activity, and became friends with other artists such as Allen Curnow,

Denis Glover Denis James Matthews Glover (9 December 19129 August 1980) was a New Zealand poet and publisher. Born in Dunedin, he attended the University of Canterbury where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently lectured. He worked as a reporte ...

Rita Angus Rita Angus (12 March 1908 – 25 January 1970), a New Zealand painter, has a reputation - along with Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston - as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century New Zealand art. She worked primarily in oil and water ...

, and Alistair Campbell. In 1947, Lilburn moved to

to take up a position at Victoria University as part-time lecturer in music. He became a full-time lecturer in 1949, senior lecturer in 1955, was appointed Associate Professor of Music in 1963 and Professor with a personal chair in music in 1970. Following visits to studios in Europe and Canada in 1963, Lilburn founded the electronic music studio at the university in 1966 — the first in

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

— and was its director until 1979, a year before his retirement.

Later years

Lilburn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

in 1969 and in 1978 was presented with the Citation for Services to New Zealand Music by the Composers Association of New Zealand. On 6 February 1988, Lilburn became the eighth appointee to The Order of New Zealand."The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1988) 23 ''

New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' ( mi, Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the New Zealand Government. Published since 1840, it is the longest-running publication i ...

'' 447 at 448. Prizes and Scholarships included: *the Percy Grainger Competition, 1936, for his tone poem ''Forest'' *the Cobbett Prize, Royal College of Music, 1939 for ''Phantasy for String Quartet'' *the Foli Scholarship and Hubert Parry Prize, Royal College of Music, 1939 *three out of four of the prizes in the New Zealand National Centennial Music Celebrations Competitions, 1940 *the Philip Neill Memorial Prize 1944. Lilburn was founder of Wai-te-ata Music Press in 1967 and the Lilburn Trust of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, 1984. His writings include ''A Search for Tradition'', a talk given at the first Cambridge Summer School of Music in January 1946 (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington 1984) and ''A Search for Language'', a University of Otago Open Lecture, March 1969 (Alexander Turnbull Library, 1985).

Legacy

Lilburn's former house, at 22 Ascot Street, was purchased by the Lilburn Residence Trust, a charitable trust based in

, on 5 August 2005. The trust is currently offering use of the residence to the Creative New Zealand/Jack C. Richards Composer-in-Residence at the

New Zealand School of Music The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, at Victoria University of Wellington (NZSM), is located in Wellington, New Zealand. NZSM provides a tertiary teaching faculty with programmes in Classical Performance, Jazz Performance, Music Studies, C ...

. The Lilburn Trust funds the Student Composition and Performance Awards at five universities around New Zealand. The trust is administered under the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust. The

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...

has recorded most of Lilburn's major works, including the three symphonies composed from 1949 to 1961 and many of the other symphonic works. His '' A Song of Islands'' was given its American premiere on 17 November 2012, by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by

James Judd James Judd (born 30 October 1949, Hertford) is a British conductor. James Judd grew up in Hertford, learning the piano, flute and organ as a child and discovering his talent for conducting at high school. He studied at the Trinity College of ...

, the former music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The Douglas Lilburn Auditorium forms part of the wider Christchurch Town Hall complex.

Personal life

Although he had an affair with the painter

, who became pregnant but miscarried, his later life was characterised by intimate relationships with men.

Principal compositions

*'' Drysdale Overture'' (1937) *''Forest'', tone poem (1936) *''Phantasy Quartet'', for string quartet (1939) *'' Aotearoa'', overture for orchestra (1940) *''Festival Overture'' (1940) *'' Landfall in Unknown Seas'' for narrator and orchestra * ''Canzonetta'' for violin and viola (1942) *'' A Song of Islands'' for orchestra (1946) * First Symphony (1949) * Second Symphony (1951) *''Sings Harry'', song cycle for baritone (1954) * Suite for Solo Viola (1954, revised 1955) *''Suite for Orchestra'' (1955) *''A Birthday Offering'' for orchestra (1955) * ''Three Songs'' for baritone and viola (1958) * Third Symphony (1961) *Processional Overture (1961/85) *''Five Toronto Pieces'' (1963) *''The Return'' (1965) *'' Nine Short Pieces for Piano'' (1966) *''Five Toronto Pieces'' (1969) *''Three Inscapes'' (1972) *''Soundscape with lake and river'' (1979) *''Three Sea Changes'' (1981) *Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1 (1932) *Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor (incomplete 1937) *Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor (1939) *Piano Sonata No. 4 in A minor (1939) *Piano Sonata No. 5 (1949) *Piano Sonata No. 6 (1956)

Awards

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame

The

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associati ...

was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) and the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). ! , - , 2014 , , Douglas Lilburn , ,

— APRA Silver Scrolls Inductee , , , , , -

References

Bibliography

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External links

The Lilburn TrustThe Lilburn Residence TrustLilburn's biography and selected list of works
at SOUNZ, The Centre for New Zealand Music
The Douglas Lilburn Project - a major radio series produced in New ZealandDouglas Lilburn Papers
at the Alexander Turnbull Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Lilburn, Douglas 1915 births 2001 deaths APRA Award winners New Zealand classical composers Male classical composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Victoria University of Wellington faculty People from Whanganui People educated at Waitaki Boys' High School 20th-century classical composers Members of the Order of New Zealand Pupils of Ralph Vaughan Williams LGBT classical composers 20th-century New Zealand musicians People associated with The Group (New Zealand art)