Despite Fauré being signifi cantly older he did not teach Debussy, however, it is clear that the composition ideals of Fauré inspired Debussy’s own work. Furthermore, they shared a common goal - the promotion and support of a French compositional movement. The story behind the ‘Dolly’ Suite reveals a different connection between Fauré and Debussy.

The inspiration for the Dolly suite was Hélène ‘Dolly’ Bardac (1892-1985), the daughter of Emma Bardac (1862–1934) who was a renowned singer much admired by

AE NEWSnewsletter of the Australia Ensemble @UNSW

Never Stand Still Music Performance Unit

Issue 1, 2014: March

March Events

Australia Ensemble @UNSWFree lunch hour concertTuesday March 11, 2014 1.10 - 2.00pmLeighton Hall, Scientia BuildingCPE Bach : Flute sonata in A minFauré: Romance Op.28 & Andante Op. 75 for violin & pianoDebussy: String QuartetFree, all welcome

Australia Ensemble @UNSWFree lunch hour workshopThursday March 13, 20141.10 - 2.00pmLeighton Hall, Scientia BuildingAssoc. Prof. Peter McCallum and the Australia Ensemble explore Beethoven: String Quartet in B fl at Op.130Free, all welcome

Australia Ensemble @UNSWSubscription Concert 1, 2014Saturday March 15, 20148.00pmSir John Clancy Auditorium CPE Bach: Quartet H537Fauré: Dolly Suite arr. Ian MunroBeethoven: String Quartet in B fl at Op.130Bookings: 02 9385 4874australia.ensemble@unsw.edu.au

A French ConnectionFauré , Debussy and a girl named ‘Dolly’

The Australia Ensemble takes its audience to France this month with music by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) and Claude Debussy (1862-1918). The Lunchtime concert will feature Debussy’s innovative

String Quartet (1893) and works for violin and piano by Fauré. For the Subscription concert the ensemble’s pianist Ian Munro has transcribed Faure’s engaging piano duet the ‘Dolly’ Suite for fl ute, bass clarinet and piano.

Claude Debussy with Emma Bardac

Fauré and Debussy. The legacy of each composer’s relationship with Emma Bardac had a profound impact on both their professional and personal lives. Like Fauré’s composition for the young Dolly, Debussy wrote The Children’s Corner Suite for his daughter ‘Chouchou’. Other Debussy works composed at the time included La Mer, Ibéria and the Préludes for piano.

Dolly lived a long life, during which she served as a link and a valuable resource to the music of Fauré and Debussy. Noted pianist and musicologist Dr Roy Howat, Research Fellow at the Royal Academy, London and leading authority on French music, writes in the acknowledgements of his latest book The Art of French Piano Music how he greatly appreciated meeting ‘Debussy’s stepdaughter Mme Gaston de Tinan, the ‘Dolly’ of Faure’s duet suite.’ Howat continues to say that he felt ‘lucky to spend many afternoons hearing Mme de Tinan’s recollections of how her stepfather played his music, and indeed of a whole epoch.’

Although Fauré was married, he spent a great deal of time apart from

his family with wealthy benefactors who created opportunities for him to compose his music. Emma Bardac became the muse for a number of his vocal works such as La Bonne Chanson op.61 (1892-93) and Soir (1894). Emma, although married to a banker, revelled in the attention paid to her by Fauré and throughout their relationship would perform the songs Fauré composed for her each evening that they were together. This liaison with Emma Bardac was said to be a ‘happy time’ in the life of the composer.

Dolly, although very young at the time, noticed the infl uence her mother had on Fauré, and Orledge writes that Dolly would hear her mother suggest poetry for Fauré to set to music. In Orledge’s book on Fauré he quotes the composer’s conversation with Roger-Ducasse:

‘I never wrote anything more spontaneously than La Bonne Chanson, and I was aided by the spontaneity of the singer who remained its most moving interpreter- a spontaneity at least the equal of my own. I have never known any pleasure to equal that which I felt as I heard these pages coming to life, one after the other, as I brought them to her.’

Bardac eventually divorced her fi rst husband and met Debussy in 1903, as her son Raoul was studying composition with Debussy at the time (as well as with Fauré and Ravel). Debussy left his fi rst wife Lily for Bardac, and in 1904 they married. Bardac gave birth to a daughter Claude-Emma ‘Chouchou’ in 1905 who was to be Debussy’s only child. Dolly lived with Debussy and Bardac for six years before she left home to be married, and in Roger Nichols’ book Debussy Remembered she was particularly affectionate in her memories of Debussy. Dolly, later known as Madam Gaston de Tinan, stated that:

For those who were not acquainted with Debussy, he seemed at fi rst very intimidating and cold; he even frightened some people, by rather a ‘closed’ look which came from his natural timidity, and also a certain indifference towards those who seemed to have nothing that could interest him. Although this

concealed painful sensitivity and a disposition which was on the contrary full of warmth towards those to whom that had given him friendship...

In this same discussion, Dolly sets the record straight on how her mother was introduced to the composer. In addition, Dolly makes

of a point of describing her mother’s appearance and personality:

She was small and pretty with auburn and topaz-coloured eyes. What is more, she had an incomparable charm, to which nobody could remain insensible, even during the last years of her life.

The compelling aspect to this story is it gives evidence that it is often outside, not musical, infl uences that can inspire our composers to pursue their art. Needless to say, both audiences and performers alike are most fortunate to benefi t from the wonderful works both Fauré and Debussy wrote as a result of their respective relationships with Emma Bardac and her daughter ‘Dolly’.

Dr Howat has performed and edited many piano, vocal and chamber works by the two composers including Debussy’s Préludes and Fauré’s ‘Dolly’ Suite.

If you are interested to learn more, it is highly recommended that you access

http://www.royhowat.com/

for information on how to access Dr Howat’s editions, recordings and books about this fascinating era of French music.

Claude Debussy with Dolly

Sargeant’s portrait of Fauré

Hear the music

Debussy String Quartet Dene Olding, Dimity Hall, violins; Irina Morozova, viola; Julian Smiles, cello Free lunch hour concert Tuesday March 11, 1.10pm, Leighton Hall Free, all welcome

Fauré Dolly suite arr. Munro Geoffrey Collins, fl ute; Sue Newsome, bass clarinet; Ian Munro, piano Saturday March 15, 8pm, Clancy Auditorium Subscription concert 1, 2014 p: +61 2 9385 4874

Happy Birthday Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach!b. Weimar 8th March 1714 d. Hamburg 14th December 1788

The Australia Ensemble @UNSW opens its season with two beautiful works: the Sonata in A minor for solo fl ute and the Quartet in A minor H537 Wq- 93 for fl ute, viola and piano, in both its Subscription and Lunchtime concerts to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of composer Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach.

For those who are unfamiliar with the music of CPE Bach, you may ask why should we know of his music and how does the music of the younger Bach differ or stand apart from his famous father? Essentially Carl Philip’s works are lighter in style to that of his father’s and he endeavoured to engage with the music of his neighbouring cultures such as France and Italy. There is a wonderful quote by Carl Philip in his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (trans. Mitchell) where he describes his compositional approach encompassing the ideals of French, Italian and German composition.

‘I believe that the style of performance is best, regardless of the instrument, which artfully combines the correctiveness of French ornaments with the suavity of Italian singing. Germans are in a good position to effect such a union so long as they remain free of prejudices.’

This text/essay by Carl Philip is an important pedagogical resource and is still referenced today alongside other important pedagogical essays such as Quantz’s treatise on fl ute playing and Leopold Mozart’s ‘A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing.’

Carl Philip was born in Weimar on March 8, 1714. He was greatly infl uenced by the music of his father Johann Sebastian Bach,

his godfather Telemann and Handel. Johann Sebastian Bach took responsibility for his son’s musical training and in turn Carl Philip became copyist for some of his father’s signifi cant works. Despite Carl Philip studying law at University he gave it all up to devote his life to a career in music. Like all artists Carl Philip experienced both acceptance and rejection throughout his career. After many attempts to obtain a permanent position, Carl Philip secured Telemann’s former post at Hamburg as Music Director upon Telemann’s death in 1767. Carl Philip remained the Music Director of Hamburg for the rest of his life.

Carl Philip’s fi rst compositions date from 1730 and throughout his life, Carl Philip was prolifi c in his output and experimented with a number of contrasting genres. It is clear from his commitment and energy that this was a composer striving to create his own unique musical voice. Furthermore, he stands as a link between the Baroque and the Classical period, with the emergence of the composers from the new Classical era such as Mozart and Haydn in the later part of his life. Carl Philip’s compositions encompassed the changing cultural ideals in between the Baroque and Classical eras and the terms that have been used

to describe this period of musical history include Sturm and Drang, Rococo and Empfi ndsamer Stil. The latter term may be translated as the ‘sensitive style’ and implies an improvised and more fl exible approach to composition in comparison with the compositional rigours of the Baroque era.

Carl Philip wrote over one thousand works for almost every genre that included works for solo keyboard, oratorios, symphonies and chamber music. Composers such as Schumann did not consider Carl Philip’s keyboard works to have the ‘gravitas’ of Johann Sebastian’s works for the same genre but it was Carl Philip’s exploration of a more improvised approach which had a major impact on keyboard composition.

Although he was entrepreneurial in the sense he published as many of his works as possible, Carl Philip often allowed family and friends to have access to his music when they required.

Carl Philip’s music suffered neglect - as did his father’s music - in the early 1800s. Despite Carl Philip’s intent to preserve his own music, there were issues in locating sources. Indeed, Beethoven failed to access Carl Philip’s music through publishers Breitkopf & Härtel, even after writing several

letters between the years 1809 and 1812. However, the efforts of people like Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832) and Felix Mendelssohn encouraged those around them to be interested in the music of the past thus inspiring a new generation of musicians to research, perform and catalogue old scores. Very recently, authentic scores of Carl Philip’s works were made available to the public and can be found at http://www.cpebach.org/

So let’s say Happy Birthday to Carl Philip Emmanuel and with the performances of his music we can refl ect on his contribution to music history and use them to inspire us to learn more about the man and his music.

Hear the music

CPE Bach Solo fl ute sonata in A minor Geoffrey Collins, fl ute Free lunch hour concert Tuesday March 11, 1.10pm Leighton Hall, John Niland Scientia Building Free, all welcome

CPE Bach Quartet H537 Geoffrey Collins, fl ute; Irina Morozova, viola; Ian Munro, piano Saturday March 15, 8pm Subscription concert 1, 2014 Sir John Clancy Auditorium UNSW Bookings ph. 02 9385 4874

Geoffrey Collins, fl ute

A fi tting farewellOn December 4, 2013, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of UNSW, Professor Iain Martin, hosted a special farewell event for Emeritus Professor Roger Covell. After forty-seven years of service to UNSW, Roger retired from the position of Artistic Chair of the Australia Ensemble on February 1. The farewell event was a small gathering of people from the breadth of Roger’s career at UNSW, and included performances by the Australia Ensemble @UNSW, the Burgundian Consort, and a surprise performance by Sydney Brass of Roger’s own composition Scientia Fanfare. It was a warm and tasteful occasion, appropriate to the outstanding contribution Roger has made to music at UNSW through his work with the Australia Ensemble, Collegium Musicum Choir, UNSW Opera and the undergraduate and postgraduate programs he founded.

Roger Covell receives a gift from Sonia Maddock and Prof. Iain Martin on behalf of UNSW

Performances by the Burgundian Consort (left) and Australia Ensemble @UNSW (below)

Below: Host of the evening Prof. Iain Martin; Below right: Guest of honour Prof. Roger Covell and his wife Dr Patricia Brown

Below: With the Australia Ensemble @UNSW (l to r) Dene Olding, Geoffrey Collins, Irina Morozova, Prof. Roger

Covell, Julian Smiles, Dimity Hall, Catherine McCorkill, Ian Munro

Photos: Michael Francis, Francis Fotography

Welcome our new Artistic Chair Dr Paul Stanhope

This year heralds a new era for the Australia Ensemble with the arrival of the ensemble’s new Artistic Chair Dr Paul Stanhope. This is a senior appointment made by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and it is exciting to have such a leading fi gure in the Australian music scene at the helm of our premier

chamber ensemble.

Dr Stanhope states:

“I am delighted to begin this partnership with the Australia Ensemble. I very much admire these wonderful musicians who I have worked with on a number of occasions. I have always loved the diversity and quality content of Australia Ensemble concerts and I look forward to working with the ensemble on seeking new and exciting pathways into the future.”

Biography:Composer Dr Paul Stanhope (b1969) has had prominent performances of his works in the UK, Europe, Taiwan and Japan as well as North and South America. After studies with Peter Sculthorpe, Paul was awarded the Charles Mackerras Scholarship which enabled him to study for a time at the Guildhall School of Music in London in 2000.

In May 2004 Paul was awarded fi rst place in the prestigious Toru Takemitsu Composition Prize. In 2011 he was awarded two APRA/Australian Music Centre Awards for Instrumental Work of the Year and Vocal/Choral Piece of the Year and in 2012 was again a fi nalist for Instrumental Work of the Year. Paul is a recent recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship for 2013-2014 – the fi rst Australian composer to be granted this honour.

“It is Paul’s thematic choices which so often elevate his musical choices: the result is a deeply personal response to the world which he communicates profoundly.” Sidney Myer Fund

In 2010 Paul was Musica Viva’s featured composer: his String Quartet no. 2 received nation-wide performances by the Pavel Haas Quartet, and his Agnus Dei - After the Fire by the stellar duo Alina Ibragimova (violin) and Cédric Tiberghien (piano). Other choral and chamber works have featured in national tours by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Atos Piano Trio from Berlin. Paul’s music has also been presented at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival

by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, in the City of London Festival and most recently by the National Colombian Symphony Orchestra in Bogota.

Recent works include a Piccolo Concerto (2013), commissioned by the Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Qinoth (2011) written for the Australian Chamber Orchestra

and Exile Lamentations (2007-2011) a cantata written for soloists, choir and the virtuosic talents of oud master Joseph Tawadros. Forthcoming works include a large choral-orchestral cantata about the life of Western Australian indigenous hero Jandamarra, which is being created in collaboration with the Bunuba community from the Kimberley in Western Australia and librettist Steve Hawke.

Paul Stanhope took up an appointment as Musical Director of Sydney Chamber Choir in 2006, and has taken the Choir on an exciting journey of music making. Paul has initiated a series of exciting artistic collaborations with guest musicians including Match Percussion, harpist Marshall McGuire, University of Newcastle Chamber Choir and guitar virtuoso Slava Grigoryan.

In addition to his work with the Sydney Chamber Choir, Paul has been invited to guest conduct Cantillation, the Sydney Children’s Choir, Gondwana Voices, Kammer Ensemble, Australia Ensemble @UNSW, and Sonic Art Ensemble, and in 2005 collaborated both as composer and conductor with the Danish National Girls Choir.

Paul is a Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney.

[photo: Jason Catlett]

Alexander Vasilievich Ivashkin, cellist and musicologistborn: 17 August 1948, Blagoveshchensk, Soviet Union; married: 1969, Natalia Pavlutskaya; died: 31 January 2014, London

A few weeks ago I was very sad to hear of the passing of this truly great and inspiring musician. Prof. Alexander Ivashkin was a cellist, musicologist and a true champion for contemporary music. He was an authority on composer Alfred Schnittke, wrote numerous books and left a legacy of cello students who are performing and teaching throughout the world. I fi rst heard Ivashkin perform at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville in 1993 which was the same year members of the Australia Ensemble were resident at the festival. This was a superb ten days of music making and as a student I benefi tted from the many wonderful performances, masterclasses and workshops presented by the participating artists. In 1997 I moved to Christchurch New Zealand due to my husband accepting a position at the University of Canterbury. We had just spent time in the USA where I had completed postgraduate study and was a little reticent about moving to a place that seemed quite far removed from the interesting and amazing experiences that I had recently enjoyed. However, I had remembered from my Townsville sojourn that Ivashkin was teaching at the University and thought that if he was there then there must be some music making happening in the town. It proved to an important and most valuable time in my musical life. I met Alexander ‘Sasha’ Ivashkin- I think I always called him Dr Ivashkin as I always felt a little intimidated- at a reception for the University of Canterbury Music department where I had performed in a string quartet (as a violinist). He had heard through the grapevine that I could play viola and asked if I would be interested in performing with his ensemble the University of Canterbury Chamber Orchestra as there were no viola students enrolled in the music department at the time. I said ‘I would be happy to play viola if I can conduct rehearsals when you are away’. I cannot believe my response at the time - especially as Ivashkin had studied conducting with some of the great Russian pedagogues- yet Ivashkin was generous in spirit and agreed to the terms. In the chamber orchestra we played both traditional and innovative 20th century repertoire and I added to this experience by performing on viola for a number of chamber groups Ivashkin coached with his wife Natalia, who was in her own right a wonderful teacher and an excellent cellist. The following year I asked – with some trepidation this time - if I could conduct a work on the Chamber Orchestra concert program and again he agreed.

The work was Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto for Three’ with Ivashkin and other eminent musicians as soloists. Although I knew I had thrown myself in at the proverbial ‘deep end’, it proved to be one of the most amazing musical experiences I have had to date. To study, rehearse and perform a work with an expert in the music who understood the composer’s intention was an honour and a privilege. This performance was the Australasian premiere of the concerto. Whilst in Christchurch, Ivashkin initiated a Chamber Music Festival and the Adam Cello Festival and Competition which attracted fi ne musicians from all over the world including members of the Australia Ensemble.

Unfortunately Alexander Ivashkin left New Zealand in 1999 for a position at the University of London but I saw him on a couple of occasions whenever he came back to New Zealand. He would always ask what I was up to and never talked about his own successes. He was the fi rst string player I knew personally who demonstrated combining both a performance and an academic career which I know provided the inspiration for me to pursue study for a PhD.So thank you Dr Ivashkin for opening my eyes to a world of writing, thinking and exploring the inner workings of music. May you rest in peace. Your legacy will live on and my deepest sympathy to your wife Natalia.For further information on the recordings and writings of Professor Alexander Ivashkin please see the following website: http://alexanderivashkin.com/

Dr Joanna DrimatisPublications Specialist

Australia Ensemble @UNSW

A Personal Story:

Beethoven’s late string quartets, written during the fi nal stage of his life in which the composer was profoundly deaf and becoming increasingly isolated, are no less than colossi among chamber works. Passionate, profound, intricately wrought and fi ercely original, the late quartets were very much ahead

of their time and have remained vital cornerstones of the chamber music repertoire.

In particular, the String Quartet in B fl at opus 130 stands as a masterwork of musical invention, not least because of its unconventional structure. Presented in six movements (as opposed to the usual four) with an additional dance movement and an additional slow movement, the quartet conjointly features a dazzling fi nale, the prodigious Great Fugue, in which Beethoven exhaustively indulges his love for the art of fugal counterpoint.

Originally removed from the work at the behest of his publisher on the grounds of its being too long and too serious, the Australia Ensemble @UNSW is pleased to restore Beethoven’s vision at its March 15 subscription concert, as it presents the op. 130 string quartet with the Great Fugue as the fi nale.

For its March 13 workshop, taking place at 1.10pm in Leighton Hall of the John Niland Scientia Building, the Ensemble is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Peter McCallum, world renowned musicologist and acknowledged authority on Beethoven. Peter, who is at present preparing Beethoven’s fi nal sketchbook for publication, will take audiences deeper into the world of the remarkable op. 130 quartet, with the Ensemble’s string players on hand to illustrate examples in real-time. Music lovers are advised not to miss this rare opportunity to experience Beethoven up-close.

Luke Iredale

Music Performance UnitUNSW Sydney NSW 2052AUSTRALIA

p: +61 2 9385 4874f: +61 2 9313 7326e: australia.ensemble@unsw.edu.au

Publications Specialist: Dr Joanna Drimatis

New words for a new yearAlongside our new Artistic Chair is another new member of the Music Performance Unit, Dr Joanna Drimatis, who joins us in the role of Publications Specialist. Joanna will contribute most of the components of the AE News, and the program notes for lunch hour concerts and concerts of the subscription series. We welcome Joanna to the role and look forward to her insights into the music performed by the Australia Ensemble.

In addition to her new role as Publications Specialist with the Australia Ensemble @UNSW, Dr Joanna Drimatis is currently a Part-time Lecturer in Musicology and Honorary Research Affi lliate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. After initial studies in Australia in Music Education and Violin Performance, Joanna completed a Masters in Music from the University of Texas at Austin in both violin and orchestral conducting. In 2009, Joanna graduated with her Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. She was awarded the University of Adelaide’s Inaugural Doctoral Research Medal for her PhD thesis titled, A Hidden Treasure: Symphony No.1 by Robert Hughes.

Joanna has been engaged as a Guest Conductor in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. In the positions as Music Director of the University Orchestra – UTexas at Austin, Music Director of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and Conductor for the Adelaide Youth Orchestra association, Joanna initiated collaborations, commissions and premieres, and selected performances have been broadcast on NZ Concert FM and ABC Classic FM.

As a violinist/violist Joanna has played professionally as an orchestral musician both in Australia and overseas and has performed solo and chamber music recitals in the USA, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.

Restoring the Master’s vision

Hear the music Beethoven String Quartet Op.130

Free lunch hour workshop with Assoc. Prof. Peter McCallum Dene Olding, Dimity Hall, violins; Irina Morozova, viola; Julian Smiles, cello Thursday March 13, 1.10pm, Leighton Hall Free, all welcome Subscription concert 1, 2014 Saturday March 15, 8pm, Clancy Auditorium p: +61 2 9385 4874

Peter McCallum