The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

96
There was not, as far as I could hear, one
single bar of genuine musical inspiration,
or the slightest sign of creative ability
in this composition - which prompts two
questions: has Mr Lilburn tried O.l1ce again
to pull the public's leg (or ear)? Or is he,
perhaps inadvertently, merely guilty of mild
musical misdemeanour? If the latter suggestion
be correct, then of course Mr Page must be
cited as accessory to the act."S3
Such 'critical' writings would have been humorous had it not been
for the danger of-the uninformed public taking them seriously.
Fortunately, for everyone of Austin's attacks, there were always several
supporters ready to defend Lilburn's music, placing Austin's extremist
views in a proper perspective. The letter to the New Zealand Listener,
quoted immediately above, was replied to three weeks later in the same
column: 54
"Sir - L.D. Austin's letter was in thoroughly
bad taste. It is a pity the writer cannot
forget past conflicts and give the composer
his dues. Nearly all of us at some time have
envied those who could do so much better than
ourselves with so little effort ,but it is
a poor man who loses his temper and sense of
values in the same breath. Recently~ when a
visiting artist played a trifle by Mr Austin,
perhaps Mr Lilburn was unimpressed? I was,
but kept my opinion to myself!
A. Wills (New Plymouth) -,"
"Sir - Is it your editorial policy to print
such letters as L.D. Austin's recent letter on
Lilburn's sonata? The critical comments are,
of course, foolish and worthless, constituting
merely an attack on a fine and sensitive
musician, and an implied slur on another.
Should writers of letters such as the one
referred to be allowed to display their lack
of taste in the columns of a high-class weekly?
As you so aptly remark in your editorial of the
same issue, criticism ••• 'should be able to
point the way to higher standards' •
E.D. McKenzie (Wellington)."55
One of Lilburn's greatest preoccupations throughout the 1940s,
as is seen in the typescript of his address to the -first Cambridge SUmmer
53 New Zealand Listener vol. 2 1 no.S25, 15 July 1949:5,
54 New Zealand Listener vol. 2 1 no,52a, 5 August 1949:5, Two other,
longer letters of protest about Austin's letter, one by Alastair
Campbell, and one signed 'Angry Student (Wellington)' had also been
printed (the preceding week) in the same column,
55 New Zealand Listener ibid.