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

On the basis of duration, and excluding the incidental music (which is
often of durations disproportionate to content), Lilburn's works for
orchestra and string orchestra alone would account for up to one-half of
his output to 1965.
Despite the fact that most of these works were
given one only performance before being shelved, it was through these
orchestral and string orchestral works that Lilburn established his
reputation as a composer.
It must be emphasised here that, although Lilburn chose not to
write for the media (brass band, choir, church groups) that dominated
the music tradition in New Zealand, he did not write his orchestral and
string orchestral works without thought for performance. With few
exceptions, there is a strong correlation between the composition of a
new work (regardless of medium used) and the arrival of a performance
opportunity.
Indeed, throughout the early 1940s, Lilburn had to keep practical
considerations (such as availability of performers and opportunity for
performance or broadcast) in mind, in order to be able to continue
working as a free-lance musician.
Although, of course, particular
compositions were inspired by the presence of particular musicians, and
were written without thought of financial return, they were nevertheless
written with the reward of a possible performance in mind.
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Many such
links between the composition and possibility of performance for a new
work have been established in the preceding chapters.
summarising those findings here.
It is worth
The link between the announcing of composition competitions and
the writing of such works as Fore~ (for the Percy Grainger Prize of
1936) and Prelude and Fu~ue in G minor (for the Philip Neill Memorial
Prize of 1944) is obvious.
Further to this, it is likely that Prodigal
Country and Festival Overture (both of 1939) were prompted by the
announcement in 1939 of the holding of the Centennial Celebrations Music
Competitions.
Drysdale Overture, the third of Lilburn's three prizewinning
works in this competition could not have been prompted by this
announcement as it had been written two years earlier (in 1937).
However, it is not unreasonable to suggest that this work, and possibly
even the Festival Overture were 'written with the thought of a performance
by one of the orchestras at the Royal College of Music, London, in mind.
Certainly both of these works were premiered by the College's No.1
orchestra. 3 Aotearoa Overture, as'relatedearlier, was prompted 'by the
3 Conducted by Dr George Dyson, Director of the College, in a rehearsalperformance.