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

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Lilburn obviously delights in such conciliations between
material, for all five works under examination show evidence of this
wedding of themes. Such unions also seem to play an important part in
Lilburn's structuring of works for they invariably occur mid-way through
the exposition section, between the announcing of the first and second
subjects.
In Symphony No.1 movement I, at bars 60-70 as part of the
transition section between the subjects, the introductory timpani motif
moves in imitation with a version of theme 1. In Festival Overture,
between bars 27 and 37 after the announcement of the first theme, the
characteristic 'scotch-snap' figures of the introduction are employed
in conjunction with a development of the first theme. In the Aotearoa
Overture bars 51-67, after the transition theme and before the
announcing of the second subject-group, characteristics from both the
introduction theme and the first theme are developed simultaneously.
In all cases, this wedded material remains prominent throughout
the work. In Allegro it was shown that the fused theme formed the basis
of the codetta to the exposition section, and both headed and rounded
off the recapitulation. In Symphony No.2 it is featured prominently in
the recapitulation, and in the Festival Overture, it forms the basis of
the coda. In the Aotearoa Overture and Symphony No.1, the similarities
between the introduction and first themes are highlighted to the point
where it becomes difficult to distinguish which parts of the developing
material each theme spawned.
Pursuing the appearances of incidences of wedded material has
entailed a digression from the discussion of Lilburn's first subjectgroups.
To return to this topic, it can be seen that his principal
material is first announced in a variety of way,S., the only factor in
common being a paring down and/or general quietening of the accompanying
texture.
In the Aotearoa Overture, the first theme is propelled out of the
climax of the introduction. It is stated once, then quickly followed by
the transition theme. The two-bar gap between the end of the first
theme and the beginning of the transition theme is spanned by a brief
allusion to characteristics of the first theme in the woodwind. The
first 'subject-group' of this work contains only one, relatively long,
theme.
The Festival Overture has two themes that comprise its first
subject group. Just as the first of these took its melodic cue from the
tail-piece of the introduction, so too does the second theme take its