Henry Handel Richardson: Let Spring Come and other songs
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Research Statement
Research Background
"Henry Handel Richardson: Let spring come and other songs" is an album of music for voice and piano composed by the Australian literary icon Henry Handel Richardson. Richardson was the recipient of Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal in 1929 for her novel Ultima Thule, the first woman to win this award. Richardson’s musical output consists almost entirely of works for voice and piano, most of which have never been recorded before. This album features numerous world premieres and is the result of research undertaken during a Creative fellowship residency at the National Library of Australia. Several works were performed live at the completion of the residency in a multi-disciplinary presentation.
Research Contribution
This album is the only comprehensive audio documentation of Richardson’s compositional output, the performance of which incorporates elements of the research undertaken at the National Library. Richardson’s musical output is of significant cultural value due to its illumination of her literary works and creative persona from a new angle, different from that which previous research has explored. It also functions as an excellent example of turn of the century Anglo-Australian art song and its close alignment to the Edwardian drawing room/parlour song style.
Research Significance
Leading Australian composer and critic Gordon Kerry interrogated the album for its rich cultural significance and musical performance qualities declaring: “These lovingly prepared premiere recordings offer a fascinating insight into a little-known aspect of a great Australian writer’s creative life.” The album is a critical addition to the existing catalogue of Australian art song for voice and piano. The album was released by a highly respected international independent record label, Toccata Classics, which specializes in the dissemination of classical works beyond the canon of traditional repertoire.
Keywords
Henry Handel Richardson, Australian music, Australian literature, art song, voice and piano, song repertoire, music performance, musicology, women composers, Australian women writers, archival research, National Library of Australia, creative fellowship, world premiere recordings, recorded music, Anglo-Australian music, Edwardian song, parlour song, literary and musical studies, cultural heritage, Australian cultural history, vocal music, classical singing, piano accompaniment, music interpretation, creative practice research, historical performance, Toccata Classics
Non-Traditional Research Output
Recorded or Rendered Creative Work
Document Type
Non-Traditional Research Output
Date of Publication
2022
Medium
Audio/Visual Recording
Publisher
David Kim-Boyle
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
RAS ID
83699
Links and/or Documentation
https://www.amazon.com.au/Let-Spring-Come-Other-Songs/dp/B09M172JLQ
https://toccataclassics.com/product/henry-handel-richardson-songs/
Event Dates
21/01/2022
Event Venue
Sydney Conservatorioum of Music, Recital Hall West
Recommended Citation
Yeo, N., Lobelson, S., & Lemoh, T. (2022). Henry Handel Richardson: Let Spring Come and other songs [Audio/Visual Recording]. https://doi.org/10.25958/zhsc-8a41
Documentation Statement
This record presents a documented representation of the research output, including the research statement and associated contextual metadata. The creative work itself is not included. Where available, external links are provided to representations of the work.
Content Type
Documentation only
DOI Statement
The DOI refers to the repository metadata record only and serves as a documentation identifier.