''Aotearoa'' is a

concert overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed over ...

written for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

composer

Douglas Lilburn Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a New Zealand composer. Early life Lilburn was born in Whanganui and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki B ...

in 1940. The overture is the first of three early works by Lilburn which centre on the theme of national identity; the other two are '' Landfall in Unknown Seas'' (1942), for narrator and orchestra, and the

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

A Song of Islands ''A Song of Islands'' is a tone poem (described by the composer as a song) written for orchestra by New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn in 1946. The work is the last in a trilogy of pieces exploring the theme of New Zealand identity; i ...

'' (1946).

History and music

The title of the overture (''

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and Sout ...

'') is taken from the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

name for New Zealand. Lilburn wrote the overture while he was still a student at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, and it was premiered at a concert held to commemorate the signing of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

His Majesty's Theatre His Majesty's Theatre may refer to: *Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, Australia, known as His Majesty's Theatre 1901–1952, demolished 1983 * His Majesty's Theatre, London, England, known as Her Majesty's Theatre 1952–2023 *His Majesty's Theatre, ...

in London. It was not performed in New Zealand until 1959, but it has since entered the country's standard orchestral repertory. Typical of Lilburn's early work, the overture features idiomatic writing for winds, especially flutes, and vigorous dynamic contrasts. Composer

Jack Body John Stanley Body (7 October 1944 – 10 May 2015) was a New Zealand composer, ethnomusicologist, photographer, teacher, and arts producer. As a composer, his work comprised concert music, music theatre, electronic music, music for film and da ...

has said that the work "is the most frequently performed orchestral work by a New Zealand composer, and is likely to remain so". Many commercial recordings have been made of the work; for example, ''Symphony of Sails'' performed by

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is a symphony orchestra based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its principal concert venue is the Auckland Town Hall. The APO is the accompanying ensemble for performances by NZ Opera and the Royal New Zeal ...

, conducted by

Miguel Harth-Bedoya Miguel Alberto Harth-Bedoya (born 1968) is a Peruvian conductor. He was formerly music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2020 and chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra from 2013 to 2020. He is currently Director ...

in 2002. In 2011, the manuscript score was entered into the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. It was the first item from the National Library of New Zealand to be added to the collection.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aotearoa (Overture) Compositions by Douglas Lilburn 1940 compositions Concert overtures