Peter Sculthorpe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Peter Sculthorpe
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Peter Joshua Sculthorpe |
| Born | 29 April 1929 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 8 August 2014 (aged 85) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Opera, classical |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (born April 29, 1929 – died August 8, 2014) was a famous Australian composer. He was known for creating music that often combined sounds from Australia's natural landscapes and Indigenous cultures with Western music styles. His pieces, like Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), often made listeners feel like they were in the Australian bushland.
Peter Sculthorpe wrote many different types of music, including 18 string quartets, pieces for piano, and two operas. He wanted his music to make people feel good and happy. He usually avoided very complex or harsh-sounding music that some other composers of his time used. His music often stood out because of its unique use of percussion instruments.
Contents
Early Life and Music Beginnings
Peter Sculthorpe grew up in Launceston, Tasmania. His mother loved English literature, and his father enjoyed fishing and nature. Peter went to the Launceston Church Grammar School.
He started writing music when he was only seven or eight years old, right after his first piano lesson. Even when his piano teacher told him off for it, he kept composing in secret! By age 14, he knew he wanted to be a musician, even though many people, especially his father, encouraged him to do something else. He felt that the music he wrote was truly his own.
Peter studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from 1946 to 1950. After finishing, he went back to Tasmania. Since it was hard to earn money as a composer, he helped his brother Roger run a hunting and fishing shop.
One of his early pieces, Piano Sonatina, was played at a big music festival in Germany in 1955. It had actually been rejected by an Australian competition for being "too modern"!
Later, Peter won a scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. There, he met people who encouraged him to read books by Australian writers. This inspired him to write Irkanda II (his String Quartet No. 5). He had to leave Oxford early because his father became very ill. He wrote his first important piece, Irkanda IV, to remember his father.
A Career in Music
In 1963, Peter Sculthorpe became a teacher at the University of Sydney. He stayed there for most of his career and became a very respected professor. In the mid-1960s, he also spent time as a composer at Yale University in the United States.
In 1965, he wrote Sun Music I for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This piece was special because it was used for a ballet called Sun Music in 1968. This ballet became famous around the world.
Peter also wrote two operas: Rites of Passage (1972–73) and Quiros (1982). His orchestral work Kakadu was written in 1988 and is one of his most well-known pieces.
In 2003, the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra performed his piece Sydney Singing. This work featured a clarinet, harp, percussion, and string orchestra.
His Requiem was first performed in 2004. It included a didgeridoo soloist, William Barton, which was a unique combination.
Peter Sculthorpe was one of the few composers to be signed by Faber Music Ltd, a very famous music publisher. The only other composer they had signed before him was Benjamin Britten.
Music Style and Ideas
Many of Peter Sculthorpe's early works were influenced by Asian music. However, he later said that Indigenous Australian music became more important to him. He had been interested in Indigenous cultures since he was a teenager, partly because his father told him stories about past injustices in Tasmania.
Peter Sculthorpe also said that his music often had a political message. He cared deeply about "the preservation of the environment and more recently, climate change." For example, his 16th String Quartet was inspired by letters from asylum seekers in Australian detention centers.
He looked up to the artist Russell Drysdale. Peter admired how Drysdale would rework familiar ideas in new ways. Peter said he learned from Drysdale that it was okay to reuse and change his own musical ideas. He felt that all his music was like one big, slowly growing artwork.
Personal Life
Peter Sculthorpe never married. He was distantly related to Fanny Cochrane Smith, a Tasmanian Aboriginal woman. Her recordings of songs are the only audio recordings of any of Tasmania's Indigenous languages.
Awards and Recognition
Peter Sculthorpe received many important awards and honours for his contributions to music:
- 1970: He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
- 1977: His MBE was upgraded to Officer status (OBE).
- 1990: He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
- 1999: He was named one of Australia's 45 Icons.
- He was also known as an Australian Living Treasure.
- His piece Irkanda IV was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia list in 2008.
In 1982, a painting of Peter Sculthorpe by artist Eric Smith won the famous Archibald Prize.
Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award
Peter Sculthorpe won the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award in 1993. This award is given to someone who has made a huge contribution to music in Australia.
Don Banks Music Award
In 2007, Peter Sculthorpe received the Don Banks Music Award. This award honours a senior artist who has made an outstanding and long-lasting contribution to music in Australia.
Death and Legacy
Peter Sculthorpe passed away in Sydney on August 8, 2014, at the age of 85. His autobiography, called Sun Music: Journeys and Reflections From a Composer's Life, was published in 1999.
Peter Sculthorpe Fellowship
To honour Peter Sculthorpe's life and work, the Government of New South Wales and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music created a new award in 2014. The Peter Sculthorpe Fellowship gives money to help young composers or musicians in New South Wales who create and perform new Australian music.
Some winners of this fellowship include:
- 2015: Peggy Polias, a composer who used the award to record her music and develop her career.
- 2017: Rhyan Clapham (known as DOBBY), an Aboriginal Australian and Filipino hip hop artist.
Main Musical Works
Here are some of Peter Sculthorpe's important musical works:
Orchestral Music
- The Fifth Continent (1963)
- Sun Music I (1965)
- Sun Music II (1969)
- Sun Music III (1967)
- Sun Music IV (1967)
- Music for Japan (1970)
- Small Town (1976)
- Port Essington (1977)
- Mangrove (1979)
- Earth Cry (1986)
- Kakadu (1988)
- Memento Mori (1993)
- Cello Dreaming (1998)
- From Oceania (2003)
- Beethoven Variations (2006)
- Songs of Sea and Sky
- My Country Childhood
- Shining Island (2011)
Concertos (Music for Solo Instrument with Orchestra)
- Piano Concerto (1983)
- Earth Cry, for didgeridoo and orchestra (1986)
- Nourlangie, for solo guitar, strings and percussion (1989)
- Sydney Singing, for clarinet, harp, percussion, and strings (2003)
- Elegy, for solo viola and strings (2006)
Vocal and Choral Music
- Morning Song for the Christ Child (1966)
- The Birthday of thy King (1988)
- Requiem (2004)
Operas
- Rites of Passage (1972–73)
- Quiros (1982)
Chamber and Instrumental Music
- Sonata for Viola and Percussion (1960)
- Requiem for cello alone (1979)
- Four Little Pieces for Piano Duet (1979)
- Djilile for percussion ensemble (1986)
- Djilile for viol consort (1995)
- From Kakadu for solo guitar (1993)
- Into the Dreaming for solo guitar (1994)
- Earth Cry arranged for string quartet (1994)
- From the River for piano and strings (2000)
- Soliloquy and Cadenza for solo cello (2001)
- 18 string quartets (some with optional didgeridoo)
Piano Music
- Between Five Bells
- Callabonna (1963)
- Djilile (1989)
- Koto Music I (1973)
- Koto Music II (1976)
- A Little Book of Hours
- Mountains (1981)
- Night Pieces (1971)
- Nocturnal (1989)
- Piano Sonatina (1954)
- Riverina
- Rose Bay Quadrilles (edited by Sculthorpe)
- Song for a Penny (2000)
- Simori
- Thoughts from Home
- Two Easy Pieces: Left Bank Waltz (1958); Sea Chant (1971)
Film Soundtracks
- Age of Consent (1969)
- Manganinnie (1980) – Won an award for Best Original Music Score
- Burke & Wills (1985)
Recordings
- Sculthorpe Complete String Quartets with didgeridoo (released 2014)
- Peter Sculthorpe – Complete Works for Solo Piano by Tamara Anna Cislowska (released 2014)
