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

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New Zealand composition after 1970, was not to be included in the
examination of individual works. The arbitrary dates of 1940 and 1970
became, to an extent, only vague boundaries - a prehistory was needed
to provide perspective to the topic, and some areas and trends demanded
to be pursued into the 1970s, and indeed to the present day.
It became obvious that several points required emphasis. Firstly,
that any discussion of New Zealand composition must be centred around the
life and works of one composer - Douglas Lilburn.
Secondly, that the development of New Zealand composition between
the years 1940 and 1970 was closely linked to the development of music
and music organisations within New Zealand.
Thirdly, that, with the exception of Lilburn,- the actual individual
compositions were of lesser importance than the fact that there were
composers writing music. It became of more importance to examine New
Zealand composition historically as a collective whole, than analytically
as a number of individual works.
With such conclusions, it became essential to narrow further the
field of enquiry; to concentrate in greater detail on the life and
work of the One composer at the centre of the beginnings and development
of a tradition of composition in New Zealand.
The topic under study
became "The Beginnings and Development of a New Zealand Music: the Life,
and Work (1940-1965), of Douglas Lilburn".
The year 1940 was chosen as
the beginning date for the period under study, because it was then that
Douglas Lilburn completed his overseas study and began work as a
composer in New Zealand.
The year 1965 was chosen as the ending date
partly to allow sufficient restrospective, and partly to allow a
concentration on Lilburn's compositions for traditionai media.
After
1965, Lilburn's interests and compositional activity became focused on
the electronic medium.
Three words 1n the title of the topic under study are of
particular importance. These are 'beginnings J , 'development', and
'work'.
In the 1940s, it was Douglas Lilburn alone who was composing
at a 'serious', professional level, intent on discovering a New
Zealand voice and forging a personal style. He can be called the first
'New Zealand' composer, for before him were the 'colonials', writing
music withiri the tradition of the late nineteenth-century British
Empire.
The tradition of modern, New Zealand composition has "its
'beginnings' in the music of Douglas Lilburn from the 1940s.
Lilburn's 'work' in initiating the 'beginnings' and leading the
'development' of tradition of New Zealand composition was not confined