https://hdl.handle.net/2123/27933 Recordings of early musical repertoire in the period 1788-1860 Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:18:29 GMT 2026-06-06T14:18:29Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29400 M, of Anambaba [John McGarvie] (1829): The exile of Erin on the Plains of Emu [O! Farewell my country - my kindred - my lover] (Tune: The exile of Erin); Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme This lovely song, published in the ‘Sydney Gazette’ in 1829, is a parody of the Irish nationalist song, ‘Erin go Bragh’ (‘The exile of erin’), to be sung to its tune. It ventriloquises the laments of a colonial exile - a convict or political prisoner - who finds himself ‘enchained’ to the hard land on the Emu Plains, cruelly separated from his motherland, mother, and betrothed. The empathetic author was neither convict nor Irish himself, but the Glasgow-born Presbyterian cleric John McGarvie. Words (first verse only): O! Farewell my country - my kindred - my lover; / Each morning and evening is sacred to you, / While I toil the long day, without shelter or cover, / And fell the tall gums, the black-butted and blue. / Full often I think of and talk of thee, Erin - / Thy heath-covered mountains are fresh in my view, / Thy glens, lakes, and rivers, Loch-Con and Kilkerran, / While chained to the soil on the Plains of Emu. View McGarvie’s full words, as first published, and the music, here: https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist1826-1830.php#1829-05-Exile-of-Erin-on-the-Plains-of-Emu Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29400 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29399 Alexander Lee (1802-1851), Thomas Haynes Bayly (words): Come where the aspens quiver]; Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme This theatre song, with its chivalric evocations of troubadors and guitars, was first popularised by a star theatrical singer in 1820s London, Mrs (Harriet) Waylett. A decade later, in Sydney, the song was still being sung in concerts, as well as on the Sydney stage between the plays (usually two, sometimes three plays a night) by local professional vocalists. Words: Come where the Aspens quiver / Down by the flowing river / Bring your guitar, bring your guitar / Sing me the Songs I Love. / Sing me of Fame and Glory, / Sing of the poor Maid’s story, / When he true love must leave her, / Call’d to the Holy war. // Come to the wild rose bower, / Come at the vesper hour, / Bring your guitar, bring your guitar / Sing me the Songs I Love. / Sing of affection slighted, / Sing me of fond hope blighted, / Sing of the Dewy flower, / Sing of the Evening Star. See here for the original London sheet music edition: https://archive.org/details/hartley00535542/page/n105/mode/2up (DIGITISED) Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29399 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29398 John Barnett (1802-1890), Harry Stoe van Dyk (words): The light guitar [Oh! leave the gay and festive scenes]; Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme This theatre song, with its chivalric evocations of troubadors and guitars, was first popularised by a star theatrical singer in 1820s London, Madame (Lucia) Vestris. A decade later, in Sydney, the song was still being sung in concerts, as well as on the Sydney stage between the plays (usually two, sometimes three plays a night) by local professional vocalists. Words: Oh! leave the gay and festive scenes, / The halls, the halls of dazzling light, / And rove with me thro’ forests green, / Beneath the silent night. / Then as we watch the ling’ring rays, / That shine from ev’ry star, / I’ll sing the song of happier days, / And strike the light Guitar. // I’ll tell thee how the maiden wept / When her true night was slain, / And how her broken spirit slept, / And never woke again. / I’ll tell thee how the steed drew nigh, / And left his lord afar, / But if my tale should make thee sigh, / I’ll strike the light Guitar. See here for the original London sheet music edition: https://archive.org/details/hartley00535542/page/n237/mode/2up (DIGITISED) Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29398 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29397 William Ellard (d. c. 1838/39): The much admired Australian quadrilles (Dublin and Sydney, 1835) (‘Dedicated by permission to Miss Hely of Engehurst’) [1] La Sydney; [2] La Wooloomooloo [sic]; [3] La Illawarra; [4] La Bong-Bong; [5] La Engehurst; Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte), Annie Gard (violin), Daniel Yeadon (violoncello); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Yeadon, Daniel; Gard, Annie; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme Dublin-born Francis Ellard, Sydney’s earliest specialist music publisher, advertised his first sheet music titles late in 1835. Ellard engraved all of his later sheet music himself and had it printed here in Sydney, but in this first instance, he commissioned his brother William in Ireland to arrange the music, print it there in Dublin, and ship it out to the colony to be sold. The Ellards gave each of the quadrilles a local title. All five are based on tunes popular in the 1830s, including two still well-known today, in the first quadrille the grand march from Bellini’s ‘Norma’, and in the last the troop song ‘The girl I left behind me’. View the 1835 first edition of the sheet music here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/156931406 (TROVE record); https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-179509547 (DIGITISED) Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29397 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29396 Henry Rowley Bishop (1787-1856): Overture to Guy Mannering (arr. for pianoforte trio); Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte), Annie Gard (violin), Daniel Yeadon (violoncello); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Yeadon, Daniel; Gard, Annie; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme Following quickly on its first publication, Walter Scott’s 1815 novel ‘Guy Mannering’ was adapted for the lyric stage as an opera produced in London the following year, with a score ‘composed, selected, and arranged’ by Henry Bishop. Bishop’s overture is a simple but effective medley of traditional and popular Scottish tunes, most of which were later also sung in the opera itself. Like that to ‘Lodoiska’, the overture was frequently performed in early colonial Sydney by bands, and also by pianists and other instrumentalists at home, performing from piano sheet music editions such as that engraved and published in Sydney by Francis Ellard (which the performers are playing from), and which can be viewed here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/24534315/version/29614773 (TROVE record); https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VvBxdkyzXM (DIGITISED) Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29396 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29395 Henri Herz (1803-1838): Variations brillantes sur un thème favori de l'opéra de Zampa [by Hérold]; Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme The French virtuoso pianist and composer Henri Herz was not only a star in Dublin and London, but was also well-known in 1830s Sydney, where pianos he had specially selected in London and Paris were exported to NSW and sold here by his friend William Vincent Wallace. Sheet music of Herz’s latest compositions was also highly sought after in Sydney, such as this set of ‘brilliant variations’ on a theme from Ferdinand Hérold’s new 1832 opera of ‘Zampa’. View the original sheet music here: https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ReverseLookup/324999 Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29395 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29394 William Joseph Cavendish (1789-1839); Fairy quadrilles and waltzes (Sydney, 1833); first modern performance; Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte), Annie Gard (violin), Daniel Yeadon (violoncello); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Yeadon, Daniel; Gard, Annie; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme Movements: [1] Pantalon (Radoma); [2] L’Été (Betanimena); [3] Poule (Kurry Jong); [4] Pastourelle (Woo-loo-moo-loo) [sic]; [5] Finale (Matitanana); [6] Waltz No. 1; [7] Waltz No. 2. Until he tragically drowned in Sydney Harbour during the annual regatta on 26 January 1839, Cavendish was a popular local teacher of music and dance, and a cellist and pianist in the theatre band. On first arriving in Sydney from London via Mauritius in 1833, he composed this set of music for ballroom dances, including two quadrilles with local Aboriginal titles, Woo-loo-moo-loo [sic] and Kurry Jong. The original 1833 manuscript of the music, along with Cavendish’s covering letter, sent from Sydney to his wife in London (now at the State Library of New South Wales), can be seen here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/235977419 (TROVE record); https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1kVdqqxn/VadJlPQdNpQg (music - DIGITISED); https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1kVdqqxn/8O2RmKAm42VPP (covering letter - DIGITISED). For more on Cavendish, see here: https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/cavendish-william-joseph.php Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29394 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29393 Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (c.1796-1880), words: Your Eyes Have the Twin-Star's Light (Tune: The Foggy Dew) (Sydney, 1839); first modern performance; Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme The Irish poet Eliza Hamilton Dunlop arrived in NSW with her family in January 1838, and over the next two years her series of eight ‘Songs of exile’ were successively published in Sydney newspapers. The most famous of these is her lament for a murdered child, ‘The Aboriginal mother’, written in response to a recent colonial atrocity, the Myall Creek Massacre, and also included in this concert. The second song performed here, written for the Irish tune ‘Foggy dew’, is the lullaby of an emigrant mother to a beloved child she has left behind. Words (first verse only): Your eyes have the twin-star's light, ma croidhe, / Mo Cuisle INGHEAN ban; / And your swan-like neck is dear to me, / Mo Cailin og alain: / And dear is your fairy foot so light, / And your dazzling milk-white hand, / And your hair! it's a thread of the golden light / That was spun in the rainbow's band. The full words and music can be viewed here: https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/dunlop-eliza-hamilton.php#1839-your-eyes-have Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29393 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29392 Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (c.1796-1880), words: The Aboriginal mother [Oh! hush thee - hush my baby] (Tune: ’Twas when the seas were roaring, G. F. Handel) (Sydney, 1838); first modern performance; Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme The Irish poet Eliza Hamilton Dunlop arrived in NSW with her family in January 1838, and over the next two years her series of eight ‘Songs of exile’ were successively published in Sydney newspapers. The most famous of these is her lament for a murdered child, ‘The Aboriginal mother’, written in response to a recent colonial atrocity, the Myall Creek Massacre, and to be sung to George Frederick Handel’s suitably melancholy theatre song, ‘’Twas when the seas were roaring’. Words (first verse only): Oh! hush thee - hush my baby, / I may not tend thee yet. / Our forest home is distant far, / And midnight's star is set. / Now, hush thee - or the pale-faced men / Will hear thy piercing wail, / And what would then thy mother's tears / Or feeble strength avail! The words in full and music of The Aboriginal mother can be viewed here: https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/dunlop-eliza-hamilton.php#1838-aboriginal-mother Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29392 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29391 William Vincent Wallace (1812-1863), Robert Stewart (words): Echo’s song [Oh! I am Echo, Queen of sound] (Sydney, 1837); first modern performance; Koen van Stade (tenor), Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; van Stade, Koen; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme For two years from early 1836 to early 1838, Sydney was home to the young Irish violinist, pianist and composer William Vincent Wallace. The musical offspring of leading local families lined up for the honour of receiving music lessons from him, and were the target market for the only two pieces of sheet music he published here. The first was ‘Echo’s song’, to words by Sydney attorney Robert Stewart, and dedicated to Wallace’s cousin, Maria Logan, who was herself later Sydney’s leading society piano teacher. The second was a set of original piano variations on a popular waltz by Johann Strauss II. Words (first verse only): Oh! I am Echo, Queen of sound, / Mid rocks and caves I roam, / Unseen I float the wide world round, / Or make the sea my home. / Upon the distant shore I sleep, / 'Till waked by Magic song; / Then climbing up the mountain steep, / I bear the notes along. The original Sydney sheet music edition of ‘Echo’s song’ can be viewed here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/24305586; (TROVE record); https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-168749528 (Copy at the National Library of Australia, DIGITISED) Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29391 2022-08-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29386 Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831): Overture to Lodoiska (arr. for pianoforte trio); Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte), Annie Gard (violin), Daniel Yeadon (violoncello); Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Yeadon, Daniel; Stephens, Matthew; Skinner, Graeme; Gard, Annie The English comic opera Lodoiska, a pasticcio (or compilation) from several continental operas of the same name, was first performed in London in 1794, and its overture, drawn from Kreuzter’s 1791 Paris Lodoiska, remained a favourite with British audiences for decades thereafter. It was equally popular in Sydney, as regularly played by military bandsmen in the Domain and at the theatre, and in sheet music piano solo arrangements, such as that published in Sydney by Francis Ellard (copies of which the performers are playing from) and which can be viewed here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/201858007/version/37685687 (TROVE record); https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-168118404 (Copy at the National Library of Australia, DIGITISED) Wed, 10 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29386 2022-08-10T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29315 Concert, ‘On the Plains of Emu’ - Settler Art Music in Early NSW, Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, 27 February 2022; presented by Sydney Living Museums and the Hearing the Music of Early NSW 1788-1860 project; Koen van Stade (tenor); Neal Peres Da Costa (pianoforte), Annie Gard (violin), Daniel Yeadon (violoncello) – on historically appropriate instruments Peres Da Costa, Neal; Skinner, Graeme; Stephens, Matthew; Gard, Annie; Yeadon, Daniel; van Stade, Koen This selection recreates a typical household entertainment of songs, dances, and piano music, as might have been ‘got up’ by musical members and guests of wealthier ‘gentry’ and merchant families in 1830s NSW. All of the pieces chosen are documented as having been performed, published, or popularly regarded in Sydney during that decade, many on several or repeated occasions. Two particular families, both with musically active daughters and sons, are ‘channelled’ in our selection; the Macleays of Elizabeth Bay House, who were also ‘at home’ in the country at Brownlow Hill near Camden – their Scottish ancestry is recalled in the Guy Mannering Overture; and the Helys of Engehurst in what is now Ormond Street, Paddington, who came from County Tyrone, Ireland - to them, the Australian Quadrilles, last on the program, were originally dedicated on their first publication in 1835. PART 1 [1] Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831): Overture to Lodoiska (arr. for pianoforte trio) [2] William Vincent Wallace (1812-1863); words, Robert Stewart (c.1806-1849): Echo’s Song (Sydney, 1837) – FIRST MODERN PERFORMANCE [3] Words by Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (c.1796-1880): The Aboriginal Mother (Tune: ’Twas when the seas were roaring, G. F. Handel) (Sydney, 1838) – FIRST MODERN PERFORMANCE [4] Words by Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (c.1796-1880): Your Eyes Have the Twin-Star's Light (Tune: The Foggy Dew, arr. Edward Bunting) (Sydney, 1839) – FIRST MODERN PERFORMANCE [5] William Joseph Cavendish (1789-1839): Fairy Quadrilles and Waltzes (Sydney, 1833) – FIRST MODERN PERFORMANCE (arr. for pianoforte trio): [i] Pantalon (Radoma); [ii] L’Été (Betanimena); [iii] Poule (Kurry Jong); [iv] Pastourelle (Woo-loo-moo-loo) [sic]; [v] Finale (Matitanana); [vi] Waltz No. 1; [vii] Waltz No. 2 PART 2 [1] Henry Rowley Bishop (1787-1856): Overture to Guy Mannering (arr. for pianoforte trio) [2] John Barnett (1802-1890), music; Harry Stoe van Dyk (1797-1828), words: The Light Guitar [3] Alexander Lee (1802-1851), music; Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839), words: Come Where the Aspens Quiver [4] Henri Herz (1803-1838): Variations brillantes sur un thème favori de l'opéra de Zampa [by Hérold] [5] Words by ‘M, of Anambaba’ (John McGarvie): The Exile of Erin on the Plains of Emu (Tune: The Exile of Erin) (Sydney, 1829) [6] William Ellard (d. c. 1838/39): The Much Admired Australian Quadrilles (Dublin and Sydney, 1835) (arr. for pianoforte trio): [i] La Sydney; [ii] La Wooloomooloo [sic]; [iii] La Illawarra; [iv] La Bong-Bong; [v] La Engehurst Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29315 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28800 Concert, From the Sydney Amateur Concerts 1826, SCM Early Music Ensemble, Neal Peres Da Costa (director), Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 27 May 2021 Peres Da Costa, Neal; Troy, Jakelin; Harris, Amanda; Martin, Toby; Skinner, Graeme; Tobin, Jacinta This is a live audio-visual recording of a public concert that recreated a unique colonial concert experience. The featured musical works are drawn from the programs of the first ever series of public concerts held in Sydney 195 years ago, The Sydney Amateur Concerts of 1826, and are performed on instruments of the period, and in an historically informed manner. The music includes orchestral and instrumental works by Mozart, Corelli, Pleyel, Samuel Arnold, and only the second Australian performance (after that of 1826) of Hyacinthe Jardin's Ouverture for winds (c. 1795). The vocal music includes songs and glees by Samuel Webbe, William Shield, John Wall Callcott, and William Horsley. Also included are performances of two versions of an Aboriginal women's song of the Ngarigu people (Monaro plains): the first in the Westernised transcription for solo voice and piano as published by John Lhotsky as 'A Song of the Women of the Menero Tribe' (Sydney 1834, the earliest piece of sheet music published in NSW); and the second in a restored traditional version, 'Gundji gawalgu yuri' (Linda Barwick and Jakelin Troy 2021), the performers including Ngarigu women singers. Full program details of the concert and the names of all the orchestral, instrumental, and vocal performers are contained in the PDF file. Thu, 09 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28800 2022-06-09T00:00:00Z