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

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

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 Boys' High School from 1930 to 1933, before moving to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

to study journalism and music over the next three years at Canterbury University College, then part of the

University of New Zealand A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. In 1936 his career in music was set when his tone poem ''Forest'' won visiting composer Percy Grainger's national composition competition. In 1937 he began studying 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 ...

in London, tutored in composition by

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 ...

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 music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

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

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 S ...

, 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 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

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 Thomas Allen Monro Curnow (17 June 1911 – 23 September 2001) was a New Zealand poet and journalist. Life Curnow was born in Timaru, New Zealand, the son of a fourth generation New Zealander, an Anglican clergyman, and he grew up in a relig ...

, Denis Glover, Rita Angus, 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

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

Later years

Lilburn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

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'' (), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record the New Zealand Government (government gazette), serving as the medium by which decisions of Government are promulgated. Published since ...

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

Works

Orchestral

*''Forest'' (1936) *''Drysdale Overture'' (1937) *''Festival Overture'' (1939) *''Overture: Aotearoa'' (1940) *''A Song of Islands'' (1946) *''Journey for Three'' (1948) *''This is New Zealand'' (1949) *Symphony No. 1 (1949) *Symphony No. 2 (1951) *Suite for Orchestra (1955) *''A Birthday Offering'' (1956) *''Processional Fanfare'' (1960) *Symphony No. 3 (1961)

Choral

*''Prodigal Country'' (1939), for baritone, choir and orchestra

Chamber

*Three Canzonettas for Violin and Viola (1942-1958) *Violin Sonata in C (1943) *Violin Sonata in E flat (1943) *String Trio (1945) *String Quartet in E minor (1946) *Clarinet Sonatina (1948) *Violin Sonata (1950) *Wind Quintet (1957) *Brass Quartet (1957)

Keyboard

*Piano Sonata in C minor (1932) *Piano Sonata in G minor (1937) *Piano Sonata in A minor (1939) *Piano Sonata in F sharp minor (1939) *Five Bagatelles (1942) *Piano Sonatina No. 1 (1946) *Piano Sonata (1949) *Piano Sonata (1956) *Four Preludes (1960) *Piano Sonatina No. 2 (1962) *Nine Short Pieces for Piano (1965) *Eighteen Short Pieces (1965) *Five Serial Pieces (1965)

Awards

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame

The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame 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 , , New Zealand Music Hall of Fame — 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 male classical composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington People from Whanganui People educated at Waitaki Boys' High School 20th-century New Zealand classical composers Members of the Order of New Zealand Pupils of Ralph Vaughan Williams New Zealand LGBTQ composers LGBTQ classical composers 20th-century New Zealand musicians People associated with The Group (New Zealand art)