Musical Analysis of ‘Festival Overture on Australian Themes’

The first poem I will be discussing is “Fellow Being” by Lionel Fogarty. Sound techniques such as consonance are used in this poem to invite the reader to understand how Australia can function as an unwelcoming home to the Indigenous Australians. Fogarty writes in the poem that “The kissing of winds to trees are the love between aborigines”. Through the repetition of the soft drawn out “s” sound in the words “kissing” and “trees”, the quality of the sound portrays a sense of love and safety. Furthermore, the word “kissing”, with its connotations of affection and love, and “trees” with its inferences of freedom and life emphasises the connection indigenous Australians had with the old Australia. The reminiscent style of the poem reveals the inhospitable nature of modern Australia towards Aborigines.

From the exposition it is clear that Stenders goal is to idealise the affirmation of the Australian cultural identity. Throughout the film Stenders uses both diegetic and non-diegetic music to anchor the text in the 1970’s. Stenders uses an

Section A’’ (mm. 51-65) repeats the MT with variation mostly in rhythmic changes leading up to the PAC in A♭ major at m. 66 where the coda (m. 66-73) begins. The coda essentially acts as a tonic expansion with some added 9ths to the dominant as seen in m. 67 and m.69. The piece works the V-I in a decrescendo to the final PAC in A♭ major in m. 73.

Mackellar introduces the idea of Australia’s distinctiveness firstly in the opening two stanzas, by juxtoposising Australia’s

The chorus line “God help me, I was only nineteen” is a fundamental part of this song. It expresses the innocence and childhood that was lost by thousands of involuntary Australian soldiers during the war. This exact line is repeated four times throughout the song. On one occasion it is slightly

Gilbert’s poem portrays many Aboriginals plight’s within Australia and conveys notions of despair, anguish and anger for his fellow Aboriginal comrades. Again, Gilbert uses strong visual imagery in “the anguished death you spread” which helps convey the persona’s feeling of horror and anger at the Europeans. This is further emphasised through the poet’s vehement and repetitive use of second person pronouns in “you” which conveys a sense of blame and accumulates into an accusatory tone and generates a strong sense of detachment between the author and the European settlers. Furthermore enjambment enhances the accusatory tone in “you pollute all the rivers and litter every road” because the lack of punctuation and pauses makes the lines sharp and quick, creating a sense of anger in the author. In addition the author’s use of metaphors in “humanity locked in chains” creates a sense of struggle and inability to escape the oppression the Aboriginals are in, whereby the word “chain” is symbolic for trapped and lack of freedom. Kevin Gilbert’s emotional poem brings light to the pain and suffering Aboriginals are going through, which is a stark contrast to the image of Australia, being a free and accepting

After a repeat of the exposition, the performance moves on to the development with the soft material from the second half of closing theme two. It begins a whole step higher than its first appearance and immediately begins to modulate. Eight bars later new arpeggiated material enters on a Bb7 chord, beginning a twelve bar chromatic bass line moving to C# right before measure 109. Here the opening theme enters, similarly a whole step higher than at the beginning. Hearing the principal theme in the wrong key is a sure sign of a false recapitulation, and the P theme is

Throughout the piece, the brass plays the theme in alteration with the timpani and tam-tam. Although the theme is simple, together they create a long musical idea. The overall dynamic of the brass grows throughout creating a sense of power especially when

values, assumptions and voice of the poem and of Australia at that time, one that shows courage and

Theme-wise, the first movement is mostly bases itself on the opposition of two themes, one "military" in character (denoted hereafter by a and its variants a1, a2 a3 etc)

The development starts very similarly to the exposition with the first violin part once again playing the sunrise theme with the only differences being the distribution of the motifs ‘x’ and ‘y’ (The opening sunrise theme of the exposition was in the order of motif ‘y-x-x’ then ‘x-x-y’ compared to the opening

As to dealing with repetition, The two lines “The Negro / With the trumpet at his lips” are repeated (1-2, 9-10, 33-34). The repetition of this picture fills in as both a steady indication of the difficult memories that inconvenienced the trumpet player and an approach to fortify his enthusiasm for music to facilitate that pain. Additionally, the repetition of these two lines implies that the trumpet player has in some ways end up plainly reliant on music. This idea is affirmed by the third stanza, in which the speaker states, "the rhythm/from the trumpet at his lips/is ecstasy/distilled from old desires—," alluding to his waiting desire "that is longing for the sea/where the sea's a bar-glass/sucker size" (21-24, 29-32). This shows he utilized alcohol in the past to overwhelm his agony, before supplanting it with music for the help. Additionally, the last stanza portrays music just like a "hypodermic needle/to his soul," alluding that he has an addiction to music (39-40). Without the music

After a minor wobble of the director stand, a few adjustments and giggles, Symphony No.1 in D major began. The first movement started off with an eerie introduction, with the first two notes morphing into a birdcall as well as main theme but a very magical sound. It made for a very soothing, romantic time. Throughout the piece I felt as if it told a story as most music does, what I came to believe it was a love story. The Allegro begins in the cello with the second Wayfarer song, “Ging heut morgen Ubers Feld,” (I Walked this Morning over the Field). With a light and happy tone in the beginning as if two lovers had just met, this was the main theme of this movement. Suddenly there was a deep, heavy part maybe one of despair in paradise but that only lasted for a short period as it came to a victorious ending of happily ever after. (Kahn)

A great contrast was found in the second movement, a hymn-like happy mediation of andante. Three phrases of the tune which was given to clarinets and bassoons, has its cadence echoed by low strings. Passages developed from the first theme then led gradually to its return in its original calm mood after a brief climax. A brief coda was made by a new and happy melody referring to the main theme.

The 1st movement is in sonata form. The slow introduction to this symphony is unusual in that it begins in the subdominant key - E minor, solemnly introduced by the bassoons. It modulates into B minor and the tempo increases for the principal subject. This theme is elaborated and developed, and a march-like motif forms a bridge passage leading to a climax. The strings then introduce an amorous, song-like second subject in D major. The development section enters with a bang. This section brings no startling thematic growth or transformation, but is