"Concerts and socials for the promotion of good fellowship": Amateur Pianists Peform

Abstract

The words-piano performance‖ typically conjure up the image of a famed virtuoso playing to a packed concert hall and receiving tumultuous applause. In colonial New Zealand the instrument was certainly associated with professional musicianship. Touring virtuosi, each with the glamour of an international reputation and training, regularly attracted crowds, applause and a generous fee. As early as 1851 the visiting Mrs John Bell enchanted audiences at two piano concerts in Auckland, while Ralph Hood's two-Grand Pianoforte Recitals‖ were sold out in Wellington in 1885. 2 The Polish pianist Jan Paderewski's performance of Beethoven-enthralled‖ Willie Tarling in Christchurch in 1904 and his rendition of Liszt's Rhapsodies in 1927 led Frederick Page to eulogize that-there was a hint of gold in every note.‖ 3 However, for most colonial New Zealanders, the opportunities for hearing such performers were rare. The pianists who entertained audiences were more usually local amateurs whose defining characteristics were versatility and adaptability. They performed solo works; accompanied singers, violinists and flautists; tapped out the rhythms for dances; and alternated between the compositions of classical greats, popular favourites, and the occasional local composition. Four overlapping motifs underpin this discussion of the indispensability of amateur pianists to a wide range of colonial entertainments, and in its interpretation of each motif, this article elaborates the meaning of-colonial performance.‖ First, both the popularity of the instrument itself and the repertoire performed upon it highlight the transnational nature of early New Zealand society. As Caroline Daley emphasizes, colonial society-bore the cultural imprint of its parent (Britain) and its older white siblings (other white settler societies, including America).‖ 4 Piano playing and performance in New Zealand reflected the practices of these cultural reference points and models, showing how performance was widely understood across cultural, geographical, and social borders. Second, within this overarching pattern of cultural importation there are distinctively New Zealand nuances and variations evident in piano performance, particularly in relation to Māori interaction with the piano and to the gender and class associations of the instrument. Performance in New Zealand took specific forms and presented new questions for its meanings in a colonial setting. Third, while piano performance was at times associated with social improvement and with raising the tone of colonial culture, amateur performers primarily played to give pleasure and to enhance community and conviviality. Finally, this discussion demonstrates that in colonial New Zealand the word-amateur‖ did not necessarily denote lack of skill. While some newspaper reports, letters, journals, and novels did deride amateur pianists, most accounts praised the skill and versatility of performers. The word-amateur,‖ particularly when associated with music, is a contested term. For the lexicographer Dr Hugo ...

Owner Bound Music: A study of popular sheet music selling and music making in the New Zealand home 1840-1940

“…Its new concert room was said to be "the largest and most lavishly appointed private theatre in New Zealand" and there was also a theatre booking office, teaching studios, piano, musical instruments, electric home appliances, sheet music, gramophone records, and Philco radio departments, a radio repairs and servicing department, audition rooms, a private room for trying out music, an electro-medical department (hearing aids, etc) and a lounge. 29 The building was pulled down after the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch.…”

“…We Have No Bananas from the hit Broadway show Make It Snappy achieving huge sales. 29 Although this was advertising a record there was a flow on effect to printed music sales and there is a copy of this song in the OBV sample. 30 New Zealand quantities for this song are not known but an article published in the Evening Post by the song's British publisher, Lawrence Wright, stated "We ordered 50,000 copies from our printers, but before they were off the press we had orders for more than that quantity, and from that day to this we have had to instruct our printers to keep on printing all the time until we gave them orders to stop.…”

“…Like Australia, Canada and America, New Zealand bore the cultural imprint of Britain 28 and the practice of playing the piano reflected the practices of these cultural reference points and models. 29 Initially the pattern in New Zealand followed that of Britain but as the nineteenth century progressed and class distinctions in New Zealand became less clear, a greater range of people bought and played the piano. Moffat sees the piano as a social leveller in colonial New Zealand, bringing together communities in a more egalitarian way than was possible in Britain.…”

“…Wellington: A H & A W Reed, 1980, 92 cited in Moffat, 75. conventions and traditions". 112 The number of men learning the piano was one aspect of this subversion as was the more diverse backgrounds from which piano players came, whether female or male.…”

“…28 Histories of other major publishing firms which exported music to New Zealand have been written and give background to some of the sheet music sold in New Zealand. 29 Business archives of publishers whose music was sold in New Zealand exist in Australia (J Albert & Co), Britain (Novello & Co, W H Hawkes & Son, Boosey & Hawkes) and the United States (A P Schmidt, J Fischer & Bro) but contain little or no information relating to the market which their music found in New Zealand. 30 This thesis aims to highlight the role of the music seller within the broad context of musical activity in New Zealand, supplementing existing works on New Zealand's musical history.…”