The Oxford Companion to Australian Music
The Oxford Companion to Australian Music

Author: Warren Arthur Bebbington

Publisher: Melbourne : Oxford University Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 696

ISBN-13:

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The Oxford Companion to Australian Music is a reference work that will be of interest to music lovers as well as of use to musicians, scholars and students. To date no volume has combined an account of Australia's music with biographical information about its musicians, a critical guide totheir works, publishers and recordings, and a guide to the burgeoning literature in the field. With more than 2,000 entries, the Companion ranges across a wide spectrum, from ancient Aboriginal traditions and European-derived orchestral, operatic and concert music, to Australian folk jazz, country, popular, rock, electronic and experimental music. It covers the music not only of mainstreamaudiences but also of Australia's religious denominations and recent migrant communities. Special attention is given to the distinctive features of Australian musical life: its reliance on government support rather than private or ecclesiastical patronage, its unquenchable appetite for eisteddfods,choral societies and bands; the shadow cast by European traditions; the vicissitudes of its attitudes towards composers; the late development of music criticism and scholarship; and the role of regional cities and towns. There are numerous entries on Aboriginal subjects and on key musical organizations and considerable space is given to a series of longer entries covering musical works, institutions, genres, instruments, terms, and many of the historical contexts of Australian music. These key essays offer anauthoritative framework for a better understanding of the shape and originality of music-making in Australia.

The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore
The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore

Author: Gwenda Davey

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13:

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One of the best ways to ascertain a nation's character is to examine its informal or unofficial culture - its folklore. Australians' sense of nationality is defined not merely in relation to the places they inhabit and the careers they pursue, but also via the slang and languages they speak, the jokes and yarns they exchange, the objects they make, the way they behave towards one another, and the games they play. As Australia approaches the centenary of Federation, it is timely that questions should be asked about the nature of the Australian identity in a changing, urbanized, multicultural society. The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore addresses these questions and illustrates the range and importance of Australia's folkloric heritage. Some of Australia's best-known writers, folklorists and academics have contributed articles to the Companion. Entries range from the descriptive (Gumleaf playing) to the analytical (Popular culture and folklore); from country halls to graffiti to archival preservation of audio tapes; from the bunyip to rebetika (Greek blues); from chain letters to patchwork quilts and Wagga rugs. Also included are biographies of notables in the folklore field, and short entries on myths and heroes such as Ned Kelly, Henry Lawson, 'The Wild Colonial Boy' and 'The Dog on the Tucker Box'. Many entries contain references for those wishing to read further on a particular topic, and an appendix supplies bibliographic guidance for researchers. Until recently, Australia was one of the few countries in the world that tended to disregard the collection, preservation, study and recognition of its folk heritage and its contemporary folklore. As well as being an invaluablereference for students, families and cultural historians, The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore is a milestone in the scholarship of Australian folklore.

The Oxford Companion to Jazz
The Oxford Companion to Jazz

Author: Bill Kirchner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005-07-14

Total Pages: 865

ISBN-13: 0195183592

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"Essays cover major historical trends and figures, discuss jazz in different countries, review the role of most instruments and consider the place of jazz in other arts, like dance, literature and film." N.Y. Times Book Rev. "This work is an effective single-volume device, leading current listeners to the music while including enough newer scholarship to retain the interest of connoisseurs." Libr J.

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical
The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical

Author: Robert Gordon

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-11-21

Total Pages: 777

ISBN-13: 0199988765

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The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical provides a comprehensive academic survey of British musical theatre offering both a historical account of the musical's development from 1728 and a range of in-depth critical analyses of the unique forms and features of British musicals, which explore the aesthetic values and sociocultural meanings of a tradition that initially gave rise to the American musical and later challenged its modern pre-eminence. After a consideration of how John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) created a prototype for eighteenth-century ballad opera, the book focuses on the use of song in early nineteenth century theatre, followed by a sociocultural analysis of the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan; it then examines Edwardian and interwar musical comedies and revues as well as the impact of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the West End, before analysing the new forms of the postwar British musical from The Boy Friend (1953) to Oliver! (1960). One section of the book examines the contributions of key twentieth century figures including Noel Coward, Ivor Novello, Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Joan Littlewood and producer Cameron Macintosh, while a number of essays discuss both mainstream and alternative musicals of the 1960s and 1970s and the influence of the pop industry on the creation of concept recordings such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Les Misérables (1980). There is a consideration of "jukebox" musicals such as Mamma Mia! (1999), while essays on overtly political shows such as Billy Elliot (2005) are complemented by those on experimental musicals like Jerry Springer: the Opera (2003) and London Road (2011) and on the burgeoning of Black and Asian British musicals in both the West End and subsidized venues. The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical demonstrates not only the unique qualities of British musical theatre but also the vitality and variety of British musicals today.

The A to Z of Australia
The A to Z of Australia

Author: James C. Docherty

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 554

ISBN-13: 1461671752

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The last continent to be claimed by Europeans, Australia began to be settled by the British in 1788 in the form of a jail for its convicts. While British culture has had the largest influence on the country and its presence can be seen everywhere, the British were not Australia's original populace. The first inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, are believed to have migrated from Southeast Asia into northern Australia as early as 60,000 years ago. This distinctive blend of vastly different cultures contributed to the ease with which Australia has become one of the world's most successful immigrant nations. The A to Z of Australia relates the history of this unique and beautiful land, which is home to an amazing range of flora and fauna, a climate that ranges from tropical forests to arid deserts, and the largest single collection of coral reefs and islands in the world. Through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and cross-referenced dictionary entries on some of the more significant persons, places, and events; institutions and organizations; and political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets, author James Docherty provides a much needed single volume reference on Australia, from its most unpromising of beginnings as a British jail to the liberal, tolerant, democracy it is today.

The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture
The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture

Author: Margo Neale

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 824

ISBN-13:

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A comprehensive overview covering indigeneous Australian art, archeological traditions, styles of the contact period, nineteenth-century art trends, and the development of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practices.

Australia’s Jindyworobak Composers
Australia’s Jindyworobak Composers

Author: David Symons

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1000206440

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Australia’s Jindyworobak Composers examines the music of a historically and artistically significant group of Australian composers active during the later post-colonial period (1930s–c. 1960). These composers sought to establish a uniquely Australian identity through the evocation of the country’s landscape and environment, including notably the use of Aboriginal elements or imagery in their music, texts, dramatic scenarios or ‘programmes’. Nevertheless, it must be observed that this word was originally adopted as a manifesto for an Australian literary movement, and was, for the most part, only retrospectively applied by commentators (rather than the composers themselves) to art music that was seen to share similar aesthetic aims. Chapter One demonstrates to what extent a meaningful relationship may or may not be discernible between the artistic tenets of Jindyworobak writers and apparently likeminded composers. In doing so, it establishes the context for a full exploration of the music of Australian composers to whom ‘Jindyworobak’ has come to be popularly applied. The following chapters explore the music of composers writing within the Jindyworobak period itself and, finally, the later twentieth-century afterlife of Jindyworobakism. This will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers of Ethnomusicology, Australian Music and Music History.

Historical Dictionary of Australia
Historical Dictionary of Australia

Author: Norman Abjorensen

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-12-05

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 1442245026

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Australia’s development, from the most unpromising of beginnings as a British prison in 1788 to the prosperous liberal democracy of the present is as remarkable as is its success as a country of large-scale immigration. Since 1942 it has been a loyal ally of the United States and has demonstrated this loyalty by contributing troops to the war in Vietnam and by being part of the “coalition of the willing” in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and in operations in Afghanistan. In recent years, it has also been more willing to promote peace and democracy in its Pacific and Asian neighbors. This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Australia covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Australia.

A Chronological History of Australian Composers and Their Compositions - Vol. 2
A Chronological History of Australian Composers and Their Compositions - Vol. 2

Author: Stephen Pleskun

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012-12-30

Total Pages: 866

ISBN-13: 1479757527

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This book is volume 2 of a 4 volume series, the first 3 of which have been published by Xlibris and the 4th almost complete for imminent delivery. In its entirety this work is the most comprehensive and accurate account of Australian Classical Music making ever undertaken. Its scope is from 1901-2012 and includes more than 800 composers, famous and obscure, with more than 30,000 compositions including details of their premieres (where, when and by whom). Individual performers, ensembles, orchestras, opera and ballet companies, music educators, instrument makers, academics, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and critics are included as part of the story. The foundation and demise of music institutions, venues and festivals is recorded chronologically. Altogether an extensive picture of Australian Classical Music production and performance can be gleaned in any given year. This book is distinct insofar as it can be read conventionally (from cover to cover); or one may choose a composer/performer and follow his/her career year by year; or one may open the book at random and delight in the unusual and esoteric information therein. This book, and its companion volumes, are valuable and indispensable works for the serious music student, professional musician, performing amateur, cultural aficionado and inquisitive lay person.

J.S. Bach in Australia: Studies in Reception and Performance
J.S. Bach in Australia: Studies in Reception and Performance

Author: Denis Collins

Publisher: Lyrebird Press lyrebirdpress.music.unimelb.edu.au

Published: 2018-12-01

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0734037910

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This book is the first to be dedicated to a study of the reception of a major European composer in Australia. Each of the eleven essays explores how J.S. Bach’s music has enriched Australian cultural life, from private performances in the early nineteenth century to historically informed realisations in recent years. The authors outline the challenges of mounting and sustaining this repertoire in the face of underdeveloped musical infrastructure and limited resources, and how these challenges have been overcome with determination and insight. Championed by imaginative individuals such as Ernest Wood and Leonard Fullard in Melbourne, E.H. Davies in Adelaide and W. Arundel Orchard in Sydney, Bach’s music has been a vehicle for the realisation of Australians’ cultural aspirations and a means of maintaining connections with traditions that continue to be cherished today.