http://hdl.handle.net/2123/16799
Title: | 'My own island harp’: Irish sentimental ballads in colonial Australia, 1854–1889 |
Authors: | Twigger, Jillian Margaret |
Keywords: | music colonial Australia Irish diaspora Thomas Moore |
Issue Date: | 29-Dec-2016 |
Publisher: | University of Sydney Sydney Conservatorium of Music |
Abstract: | This thesis examines the role of Irish sentimental ballads, especially Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, in colonial New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. First is a study of Irish soprano Catherine Hayes (1818–1861) and her tours to NSW and Victoria in 1854 and 1855. Hayes represented a Victorian-era feminine ideal and her concerts, which included both opera and Irish sentimental ballads, were seen to raise the musical standard in Australia. The second study examines a series of public lectures on the subject of ancient Irish music delivered by Irish lawyer John Hubert Plunkett (1802–1869), previously attorney general of NSW. The third is a study of The Australian Album for 1857. This musical album was published in Sydney and was designed to serve as a specimen of the high standard of music in Australia at the time. The album opens with a piano fantasia composed by visiting French pianist Edouard Boulanger (1829–1863) based on ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ one of Moore’s Irish Melodies. Fourth and last is a study of the Thomas Moore statue erected in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1889. The design of the statue and its unveiling conveyed a notion of unity within the white community and feelings of Australian nationalism. Through these studies I argue that Irish ballads played an important role in creating a respectable cultural identity not just for the Irish community but for the developing Australian society as well. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2123/16799 |
Type of Work: | Masters Thesis |
Type of Publication: | Master of Music (Musicology) M.Mus.(Musicology) |
Appears in Collections: | Sydney Digital Theses (Open Access) |
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Twigger_JM_thesis.pdf | Thesis | 6.07 MB | Adobe PDF |
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