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Roy Ewing "Robert" Agnew (23 August 1891 – 12 November 1944) was an Australian composer, pianist, teacher and radio announcer. He was described as "the most outstanding of the early twentieth century Australian composers" by Morris Hinson.
[Hinson p. 6.]
Early life and education
Agnew was born in Sydney on 23 August 1891, the son of Samuel Agnew, a
cordial manufacturer, and his wife Maria Jane (
née Miller).
[ Agnew taught himself piano at an early age. He attended Chatswood and Hornsby public schools, and received his first formal music training from Emanuel de Beaupuis, an Italian pianist then-residing in Sydney.][ He received further instruction from Daisy Miller and Sydney Moss, and later briefly studied composition under ]Alfred Hill Alfred Hill may refer to:
* Alfred John Hill (1862–1927), British railway engineer
* Alfred Hill (cricketer, born 1865) (1865–1936), English cricketer
* Alfred Hill (politician) (1867–1945), British Member of Parliament for Leicester West 192 ...
at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. He began working as a piano teacher in Marrickville
Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...
in 1911.
By this time, Agnew was already writing "strikingly original works" which abandoned "the limitations of key and tonal relationship."[Helmrich] His first music work to be published was ''Australian Forest Pieces for Piano'' in 1913. However, Agnew's music did not receive much public attention until international pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch gave a recital of his works, ''Deirdre's Lament'' and ''Dance of the Wild Men'', at a Sydney Town Hall
The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings an ...
matinee in August 1920.[ and ]Cyril Scott
Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...
at the Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...
.
Career
While in London, Agnew gave recitals of works by contemporary composers such as Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, while his own ''Fantasie Sonata'' was premiered in London in 1927 by William Murdoch
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
. Augener Ltd. of London began to publish his pieces, and in the United States he also found a publisher in Arthur P. Schmidt of New York.
In 1928 Agnew returned to Sydney, where he gave a number of recitals of his own music, and his "poem for orchestra and voice", ''The Breaking of the Drought'', was performed with Alfred Hill conducting. In 1931 he left again for Britain, where he gave performances of his own works at the Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
, at the George Woodhouse Studio in London, and in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. He also gave a number of performances for the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
After remaining in Britain for three years, Agnew returned home again in December 1934 for a tour sponsored by the
Australian Broadcasting Commission
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...
(ABC), and in September of that year, he advertised a series of private lessons in "Practical Composition" and in "General Interpretation and the art of Pedalling" in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. In May of the following year he gave two radio recitals of his works. A number of his works were also performed and orchestrated in Australia by other musicians at this time.
In January 1938, Agnew was engaged by the ABC to compere a weekly program on contemporary music, dubbed the "Modern and Contemporary Composers' Session". Agnew featured composers such as
Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...
,
Berg Berg may refer to:
People
*Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
*Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor
* Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer
Former states
* Berg (state), county and duchy of the Hol ...
,
Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary f ...
,
Szymanowski, Debussy, Stravinsky and
Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and compos ...
, and sometimes performed the pieces himself. The program became so popular it ran for five years. It was no doubt strongly influenced by the example of
Edward Clark, whose broadcasts Agnew had heard in Britain. Clark was a student of
Arnold Schoenberg, closely connected to all the members of the
Second Viennese School, and went on to become a ground-breaking BBC producer and broadcaster, and to conduct some important British and world premieres.
Kate Bowan, Some Early 20th-Century Australian Music in Context, University of Bristol, CHOMBEC News, Winter 2007
/ref>
Agnew also compered a second program "Music Through the Ages: The Piano and its Composers" featuring mostly classical composers such as Giles Farnaby
Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 – November 1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the Transition from Renaissance to Baroque in instrumental music, transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
Life
Giles Farnaby was ...
, Domenico Scarlatti, Mozart and Chopin, which Agnew played himself.
In 1939 he won first prize for his ''Sonata Ballade'' from the Musical Association of New South Wales, which he later recorded for Columbia. In 1943, he recorded fifty of his own compositions for the ABC. While these recordings remain a valuable record of his own playing, they are somewhat marred by the fact that the limited technology of the period forced him to hurry over some passages to fit them onto tape.[
In 1944, Agnew's last major work, the ''Sonata Legend (Capricornia)'' was publicly performed for the first time by ]Alexander Sverjensky
Alexander Borisovich Sverjensky (Александр Борисович Сверженский) (26 March 1901 – 3 October 1971) was a Russian-born Australian pianist and teacher.
Sverjensky was born in Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Emp ...
at the Sydney Conservatorium. In February of that year, Agnew accepted a position at the Conservatorium.
He developed a warm relationship with the piano teacher Winifred Burston, who introduced his works to her students such as Larry Sitsky
Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...
and Richard Meale
Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE (24 August 193223 November 2009) was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas.
Biography
Meale was born in Sydney. At the time the Meale family lived in Marrickville, an inner suburb of Sydney. Meale ...
.
Personal life
Agnew married Kathleen Olive, youngest daughter of the late judge and former senator Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War. ...
, at St Mary's Cathedral on 8 November 1930. The marriage resulted in no children. He has been described as a quiet, gentle and unassuming man, for whom life outside his music, his home and his garden "was not very concrete or real".[ He also enjoyed surfing and walking.
He died unexpectedly on 12 November 1944 from ]septicaemia
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
following a bout of tonsilitis
Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils in the upper part of the throat. It can be acute or chronic. Acute tonsillitis typically has a rapid onset. Symptoms may include sore throat, fever, enlargement of the tonsils, trouble swallowing, and en ...
. His estate upon his death was valued at a modest £547.
Music
Agnew, one of the few Australian composers of his generation to achieve international recognition,[Grove Online.] has been described as "the most outstanding of the early twentieth century Australian composers".[ The "archetypal pianist-composer",][Sitsky and Martin.] the overwhelming body of his work was written for solo piano, with only occasional ventures into orchestral or other forms.
All critics have noted the influence of Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and compos ...
on Agnew's music, while others have variously detected affinities with John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
, Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
, Debussy, Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
, Busoni, Cyril Scott, Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor.
Life
Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...
and Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...
.[ The English critic Sir ]Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (2 April 188828 February 1975) was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became ''The Manchester Gua ...
notes that regardless of his influences however, Agnew "made everything second nature to his essentially lyrical imagination". Cardus also observes that he had a "sure feeling" for atmospherics, especially in his smaller works.[
Agnew's most important works are generally considered to be his six piano sonatas (it appears that Agnew actually wrote eight, but two early examples have been lost). The overall style of these has been described as "highly pianistic, full of fantasy and colour, and technically demanding", while incorporating "a forward-looking harmonic vocabulary".][ ]Larry Sitsky
Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...
has noted that Agnew's four later sonatas (excluding the more recently discovered ''Sonata 1929'') have an unusual progression: the first has four central musical themes, the second three, the third two, and the last, the ''Sonata Legend'', is monothematic. Each has its particular appeal and challenges, but Sitsky suggests that in addition to this progression "toward an economy of themes and expression", Agnew's work also grew more conservative as he grew older. Sitsky feels this may have been due to the unconscious influence of the conservatism of the Australian musical establishment of the era.[ In addition to the sonatas, Sitsky also names the "preludes and poems" as "important additions to the Australian repertoire" which "make fine impressions in concert programmes".][
While other early twentieth century Australian composers were "discovered" and rehabilitated in the 1970s and after by a new generation of Australian critics, Agnew's relatively early death in 1944 made him the "forgotten figure"][ of the period. Only in the 1990s did his music begin to attract attention once again. His contribution is now widely acknowledged, and the Australian music publishers Keys Press has published a complete edition of his works.][
]
Selected works
Orchestral
''The Breaking of the Drought'', 1928
Piano
Sonatas
''Symphonic Poéme''[''Sonata 1929'' and ''Symphonic Poème'' were unnamed by Agnew. They were discovered in Agnew's papers after his death by ]Larry Sitsky
Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...
who has tentatively suggested these names. See Sitsky and Martin.
''Fantasie Sonata'' (1927)
''Sonata 1929'' (1929)[ ]
''Sonata Poeme'' (1936)
''Sonata Ballade'' (1939)
''Sonata Legend (Capricornia)'' (1940)
Other piano works
''Australian Forest Pieces'' (1913)
''Dance of the Wild Men'' (1919)
''Deirdre's Lament'' (1922)
''Poème Tragique'' (1922)
''4 Preludes'' (1925)
– Also some duets, and over 60 other solo pieces
''Rhapsody'' (1928)
''Rabbit Hill'' (1928)
''Youthful Fancies'' (1936)
''Holiday Suite'' (1937)
Songs
''Beloved stoop down thro' the clinging dark'' (Z. Cross Smith) (1913)
''O moonlight deep and tender'' (Lowell) (1913)
''Dirge'' (1924)
''Dusk'' (R. Williams) (1926)
''Infant Joy
"Infant Joy" is a poem written by the English poet William Blake. It was first published as part of his collection ''Songs of Innocence'' in 1789 and is the counterpart to "Infant Sorrow", which was published at a later date in '' Songs of Experi ...
'' (W. Blake) (1926)
''Two Songs without Words'' (for violin and clarinet, 1928)
''Beauty'' (J. Masefield) (1935)
''The flowers of sleep'' (V. Daley) (1935)[
]
Recordings
* The poet sings (Lisa Harper-Brown – soprano, David Wickham
David Wickham (born 1966) is a British concert pianist, music director and conductor. He was born in Worthing, West Sussex.
Performing career
As an accompanist, Wickham has worked with Sara Macliver, Aivale Cole, Taryn Fiebig, Michael Golds ...
– piano), Stone Records
Stone Records is a British, independent, classical record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishi ...
2012
Capricornia for piano 1930 (National Film & Sound Archive, Australia)
References
Bibliography
"Roy Agnew (1891–1944) : Represented Artist"
Australian Music Centre
The Australian Music Centre (AMC), formerly known briefly as Sounds Australian, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia, founded in 1974. It co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS, and publishes ...
website.
Roy E. Agnew
Music Australia website.
* Helmrich, Dorothy (1979
''Australian Dictionary of Biography Online''.
*Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians Online (subscription required).
*Sitsky, Larry & Martin, Ruth Lee (2005): ''Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century'', Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 20–30,
Extract
*Hinson, Morris (2000): ''Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire'', Indiana University Press, p. 6,
Extract
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Roy
1891 births
1944 deaths
20th-century Australian musicians
20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical pianists
Australian classical composers
Australian classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Australian male classical composers
Deaths from sepsis
20th-century Australian male musicians