By Jennifer Mills
Thu 14 Nov
 |
| Margaret Sutherland was a composer, pianist and staunch advocate for the arts in Australia. (ABC Archives) When she died in 1984, Margaret Sutherland was remembered as the "matriarch" of Australian music. But few outside of the classical music world know her name today. |
Sutherland was a composer, pianist and staunch advocate for the arts.
She wrote around 200 pieces of music, performed during her lifetime by leading Australian artists like the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The somewhat forgotten composer and pianist lived a difficult life, marred by grief in her early years and relationship difficulties later on. She wrote in the weaving and chromatic style of the time but with her own signature and striking melodiousness.
Musicians and academics are working to change Sutherland's unsung status, performing music that's rarely been heard since her death and even unearthing music that was previously thought lost.
This year, Jillian Graham's recent biography on Sutherland, Inner Song, won the Award for a Debut Work at the National Biography Awards.
On concert stages that are increasing their representation of music by women, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra presented Sutherland's Violin Concerto in 2021 with then-concertmaster Sophie Rowell as soloist.
The performing arts, particularly in her home of Melbourne, are still benefiting from Sutherland's achievements.
 |
| Sutherland with fellow artists Dorian le Gallienne and Muriel Luyk ahead of a performance of Sutherland's Concerto for Strings in 1954. (ABC Archives) |
Growing up in Melbourne
Sutherland was born in Adelaide in 1897 but lived in Melbourne from the age of four until her death at 86.
The Sutherland clan were quite cosmopolitan by the standards of the time: their homes in Melbourne's inner-east were filled with music, art and robust discussion of philosophy and the affairs of the day. Her Aunt Jane was a well-regarded visual artist.
Living among extensive gardens and taking routine hikes with an uncle instilled in Sutherland a lifelong awe of the natural world.
Schooled in a private home in Kew until she was 16, Sutherland was a quick study. She achieved consistently high marks but to the frustration of the school's principal, she never completed her final exams.
Instead, Sutherland was determined to pursue a career in music.
Having learnt the piano since she was a child, Sutherland received a scholarship to continue her studies in composition at the then-private Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Studying abroad
Feeling frustrated by the limits of the Australian music scene, Sutherland went to Europe in 1923, where she was mentored by British composer Arnold Bax.
During this time, she wrote one of her more well-known works, a sonata for violin and piano. Bax famously declared it, "the best work I know by a woman".
Although Sutherland's gender was almost always raised in connection to her work, musicians today take a different attitude.
Zoe Knighton, Melbourne-based cellist and founding member of the Flinders Quartet, has played a lot of Sutherland's music.
"Quite simply put, her compositional craft is exemplary.
"Her focus on artistic integrity and forging her own musical path is as inspirational today as it must have been to all composers of her time regardless of their background or gender," Knighton says.
Violinist Sophie Rowell thinks the Violin Sonata is "extraordinary".
"It celebrates moments of romanticism alongside moments of edgy rhythm. It is written in a language unique to Margaret Sutherland, and that language is an intriguing and beautiful one.
"It is most certainly one that deserves listening to and celebrating," says Rowell, who is now artistic director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
The obstacle of marriage
Sutherland returned to Australia in 1925 and married physician and psychiatrist Norman Albiston two years later. The marriage was not a happy one.
Albiston was not supportive, even dismissive of Sutherland's independent pursuits as a composer, irrespective of the welcome income she brought into the household.
In spite of these difficulties, Sutherland composed close to half of her musical output during her marriage to Albiston.
Once their two children, Mark and Jennifer, were in their late teens, the couple separated.
During her marriage, the ABC provided a significant outlet for Sutherland's music.
It was a fraught relationship, with Sutherland frequently criticising the ABC for inopportune placement of Australian works.
 |
| Margaret Sutherland with fellow composer Esther Rofe in 1941. (ABC Archives) |
Sutherland's own music was written to be played, usually with specific performers and colleagues in mind.
The majority of her compositions are chamber music, particularly piano or piano with voice. She also wrote choral and symphonic works, string quartets and an opera.
"Her writing is bristling with intelligence, wit and clarity but the moments that stay with me the most are the emotional ones," Knighton says. "Even though she had the reputation of being a spiky character, she obviously had a heart of gold."
A blossoming career
By the late 1940s, as Sutherland's children grew more independent and with keeping house for Albiston no longer her concern, she was free to explore her career and her activism for Australian composition more broadly.
Some of Sutherland's most enduring works came out of this time, including her Violin Concerto.
When the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra presented it with Sophie Rowell, it had only been performed in Australia a handful of times.
Rowell says playing the concerto was inspirational.
"I was struck by the sheer scale of the work, and also by the world of colours it invokes. It is very much a conversation with the orchestra … I love that aspect of the concerto, when you get to feel like a chamber musician rather than a soloist out the front."
In addition to composing, Sutherland was always looking for opportunities to promote the arts in Australia.
During World War II, she raised money for the Red Cross through running a series of Wednesday lunch-hour concerts, known as the "Middays'.
Sutherland played a leading role in the Combined Arts Centre Movement, which campaigned for a multipurpose cultural centre for the public in Melbourne.
The centre began construction in 1973, with the present-day Arts Centre Melbourne still a significant cultural hub in the city.
An enduring legacy for the arts in Australia
A near-fatal stroke brought Sutherland's composing career to a halt in 1969. But Sutherland continued to be a formidable presence in the Australian arts scene.
She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne that same year, an OBE in 1970 and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. In 1981, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Sutherland lived to attend the opening of the Melbourne Concert Hall at the new Arts Centre in 1982.
Now known as Hamer Hall, its concertmaster's suite, which Rowell occupied during her tenure at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, is named in Sutherland's honour.
Rowell acknowledges Sutherland's pivotal role in convincing the state government to create a dedicated space for the performing arts.
"How lucky we are today as musicians, actors, artists, dancers, to have those spaces for performance and to bring the artistic life of Melbourne together."
Sutherland proved that a woman could have a sustainable musical career alongside her domestic responsibilities, something a lot of her peers thought was impossible.
"Her legacy lives on not only in her music," Knighton says. "She opened many doors for composers and musicians and paved the way for artists to stay true to their own identity and voice.”
First published at ABC News Classic FM, November 14, 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment