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

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The main part of these sounds was realised
very quickly as an expression of my own general
feeling about the tragedy of the situation, and
the helplessness of human individuals being
destroyed by huge impersonal forces in the cause
of whatever idea. The poem (and all oriental poems
are sung) was chosen from several I heard because
of its poignant simplicity and because it seemed
traditionally authentic. All I knew of the text
was that the poem was about a woman waiting for
her soldier husband to return, and that she was
standing beside a bamboo curtain as she sang.
The later human-seeming sounds were materials I
used for their intrinsic musical expressiveness
and for reasons of form. The innocent prologue
and the desolate black cloud of coda were later
added to round out the formal structure of the piece
and to embody my own notions of its reason for
being."S
In 1966, twelve years after its composition, and four years after
its release as a cOllunercial recording, Sings Harry was published by Otago
University Press, Dunedin. The manuscript was prepared by Dr John Steele,
a former student of Lilburn's and, at that time, lecturer in music at the
University of Otago. This publication marked the first occasion on which
a New Zealand University published a composition by Lilburn. One can
only speculate as to why it was the University of Otago and not Victoria
University of Wellington (where Lilburn was Associate Professor) that led
the way into this field.
Apart from such isolated instances, increases in opportunities for
broadcast, performance and commercial recording of New Zealand compositions
had not been equalled by an increase in opportunities for publication.
In the light of the increasing activity by the APRA-subsidised Kiwi
New Zealand Composer Edition series of recordings, Lilburn submitted a
report to APRA suggesting that a series of scores matching the music
on record be published. Lilburn's proposals were initially rejected by
t he nrRA commlttee.
An • 6
Undeterred, Lilburn approached Don McKenzie (Professor of English
at the Victoria University of Wellington), the co-ordinator of Wai-te-ata
Press, _a 'publishing house' devoted to the printing and circulating of
work by the university's academic staff. What resulted was the Wai-te-ata
S
ibid.
6 Douglas Lilburn 1n conversation with author March ]983.