Celebrating Douglas Gordon Lilburn (1915-2001)

Douglas Lilburn was an extremely influential figure in the history of New Zealand music. November 2015 marks the centenary of his birth. Lilburn’s reputation as the father of post-Second World War New Zealand musical composition is well-known. Leading by example, he forged a path that allowed others to aspire to a life of full-time composition.

The following post was written by IAML Past President and IAML Historian Roger Flury, who was also secretary of the Lilburn Trust:

Douglas Gordon Lilburn
b. Wanganui, 2 November 1915
d. Wellington, 6 June 2001

Douglas Lilburn was an extremely influential figure in the history of New Zealand music. November 2015 marks the centenary of his birth. Lilburn’s reputation as the father of post-Second World War New Zealand musical composition is well-known. Leading by example, he forged a path that allowed others to aspire to a life of full-time composition. Perhaps less well-known is his role as a benefactor – not because he considered it unimportant, but because he was not given to grand public gestures and preferred to work discreetly behind the scenes. However, since his death in 2001, the true extent of Lilburn’s support for New Zealand music has become more widely known, and many leading composers, performers, academics, curators, musicologists and indeed librarians, happily acknowledge the impact that Douglas Lilburn has had on their own careers.

Lilburn studied at Canterbury University College, Christchurch and, from 1937-1940, at the Royal College of Music in London where he was tutored in composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

King, Mervyn Desmond, 1917-1996.
Douglas Lilburn inside the electronic music studio,
Victoria University, Wellington, ca 1975.
Photograph taken by Mervyn Desmond King.
Alexander Turnbull Library
Ref: PAColl-0675-06

On returning to New Zealand, Lilburn entered the academic world as a Lecturer at Victoria University in 1949. He founded the university’s Electronic Music Studio in 1966 and four years later was appointed Professor with a personal chair in Music.

The recipient of many honours, including the Order of New Zealand, Lilburn was the moving spirit behind the establishment of the Alexander Library’s Archive of New Zealand Music. Leading by example, he deposited his scores and personal papers, and encouraged other composers to do the same, thus creating the most significant music archive in the country.

The legacy of Douglas Lilburn continues to flourish through the growth of the Archive and also through the work of the Lilburn Trust, established by the composer in 1984 to “…help promote New Zealand’s musical arts, to advance musical knowledge and appreciation, and to preserve musical archives.” The Trust is well-known for funding Student Composition and Performance Awards at five universities throughout New Zealand. It awards individuals who have given outstanding service to New Zealand music, and also provides financial support for many music-related projects throughout the country.

Lilburn was a prolific composer whose legacy includes symphonies, orchestral overtures and tone-poems, sonatas, trios, quartets, film music, songs and incidental music for plays. Later in his career he focused on electronic composition. In 2011, Lilburn’s manuscript score of Overture Aotearoa became one of the first works to be inscribed on the UNESCO New Zealand Memory of the World Register.

In 2013, the Lilburn Trust embarked on two new initiatives: The Lilburn Research Fellowship, a residency offered bi-annually in conjunction with the Alexander Turnbull Library, and The Lilburn Lecture, presented each year on the anniversary of the composer’s birth.

It is too early to say whether Douglas Lilburn’s lasting legacy to New Zealand music will lie in his compositions or his benevolence. Most likely it will be a combination of both. One thing however will be indisputable; Douglas Lilburn will have influenced virtually every New Zealand musician who cares deeply about the sustained development of a national musical identity.

References:

For more information on the composer, the work of the Lilburn Trust, and other resources relating to the life and work of Douglas Lilburn, please visit:
www.douglaslilburn.org

For more information on Lilburn’s compositions visit SOUNZ: Centre for New Zealand Music website:
sounz.org.nz/

Bibliography

Lilburn, Douglas. Memories of early years & other writings. Edited by Robert Hoskins. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2014.

Lilburn, Douglas. A search for tradition : &, a search for a language. Wellington: Lilburn Residence Trust in association with Victoria University Press, 2011.

Norman, Philip. Douglas Lilburn : his life and music. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2006.

Recordings
There are now many CD recordings of Douglas Lilburn’s major orchestral, chamber and electronic compositions, notably those published by Atoll, Continuum, Kiwi Pacific, Koch International, Morrison Music Trust, Naxos, Rattle, and Waiteata Music Press

Music scores
Lilburn’s works are published primarily by Waiteata Music Press and Promethean Editions. Orchestral works for hire are available from the National Library of New Zealand.

Online video
Lilburn’s Overture – Aotearoa performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen at Victoria Hall, Geneva on 8 November 2010:

Douglas Lilburn – Aotearoa Overture from New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on Vimeo.

Lilburn’s String Quartet in e minor, performed on 10 June 2011 in Wellington:

NZSM: Douglas Lilburn String Quartet in e minor from NZSM Events on Vimeo.