David Evatt Tunley AM (born 1930) is an Australian

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and composer noted for his work on French music in the 17th and 18th centuries. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the School of Music,

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Biography

David Evatt Tunley was born in 1930 in Australia. Tunley joined

in 1958 as the first full-time lecturer in Music. He was appointed to a Personal Chair in 1980 and to the Chair of Music in 1989. As a scholar Tunley is internationally recognised as the leading authority on the 18th-century French

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

, and his book on the subject has become the classic study. His books and many articles as well as contributions to ''The New Grove Dictionary'' and the ''New Oxford History of Music'', cover a wide range of research including French music from the 17th to 19th centuries, Australian and British music in the 20th century and aspects of music education. The New York publisher Garland Press has issued 23 volumes of 18th and 19th century French vocal music, compiled and edited by Tunley. In 1983 he was made a Chevalier of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

for services to French music, and in 1987 became a member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for services to music in his own country. He is a past national president of the Musicological Society of Australia, past chair of the Music Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

, and is a former federal chairperson of the Australian Music Examinations Board. He has been a research fellow at Christ Church and Wolfson Colleges in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and at the

Rockefeller Study Center Rockefeller is a German surname, originally given to people from the village of Rockenfeld near Neuwied in the Rhineland and commonly referring to subjects associated with the Rockefeller family. It may refer to: People with the name Rockefeller fa ...

Bellagio Bellagio may refer to: * Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town * Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas * Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building * Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution * 79271 Bellag ...

in Italy. Early in his career he received a French government scholarship to study composition with the celebrated French teacher

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

. He has created various community events in

and the surrounding areas such as the York Winter Music Festival which ran for ten years, and more recently the Terrace Proms. He was the founder conductor of the University Collegium Musicum whose annual Christmas concert is still one of the musical highlights of the year. Recognition of his work has come through the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

of which he became a fellow in 1980. He took early retirement in 1994 in order to devote himself more fully to his research and has been an honorary senior research fellow in music since this time. His most recent publications are ''18th century French Cantata'' (2nd enlarged edition) in 1997 and ''The Bel Canto Violin: the life and times of

Alfredo Campoli Alfredo Campoli (20 October 1906 – 27 March 1991) was an Italian-born British violinist, often known simply as Campoli. He was noted for the beauty of the tone he produced from the violin. Campoli spent his childhood and much of his career in E ...

, 1906–1993'' (1999). In May 2010, Lecture Room G.05 in the School of Music at the

was renamed the Tunley Lecture Theatre in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunley, David 1930 births Living people Australian musicologists Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques