A guide to dating music published in Sydney and Melbourne, 1800-1899

Author

Prue Neidorf, University of Wollongong

Year

1999

Degree Name

Master of Arts (Hons)

Department

School of Creative Arts

Recommended Citation

Neidorf, Prue, A guide to dating music published in Sydney and Melbourne, 1800-1899, Master of Arts (Hons) thesis, School of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 1999. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/2926

Abstract

In 1974 The International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) published Guide for Dating Early Music, edited by D W Krummel. In 1981 Maria Calderisi's Music Publishing in the Canadas 1800-1867 was published. Both of these publications have prompted m e to embark on A Guide to Dating Nineteenth Century Music in Australia. Maria Calderisi produced her publication as a result of an M A project, and gave m e every encouragement to do the same for Australia. For the M A , I have covered only the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, and the rest of Australia will be covered in a further study.

Music in the nineteenth century was almost never dated in any country, and as this represents Australia's 'early music,' this is the period covered, from 1800 to 1899.

For the purpose of this study, music refers to printed music which is published and which has as its raison d' etre music in a notated form - that is music which is intended for performance and is called a musical score for bibliographic purposes. This study excludes other forms of music, such as music manuscripts, sound recordings and texts of musical works without music notation, such as some song books, h y m n books and librettos. It also excludes music printed in other publications such as newspapers, periodicals, programs, educational and church publications.

The study tends not to emphasise music which is already dated, although it often furnishes essential information about its participants which in turn helps with the dating process of other items. Australian music in the nineteenth century which was dated often refers to specific events, some of which generated a flurry of musical works not all of which were dated. A s elsewhere, music reflected the social, historical and recreational activities of the time.

Information from the music itself is the primary source for dating purposes, and so every element needs to be examined to see if it can assist in this process. The elements which help most in this work are not only those found in major bibliographic descriptors, such as composers' and authors' names, the title, place of publishing and publisher's name but also other elements which are frequently omitted in the cataloguing process, such as the printer's name and address, the publishers' address, and the names of illustrators, lithographers, engravers, photographers, performers, dedicatees and any other people associated with the item. B y building up a matrix of all these variables, w e can possibly narrow down the period in which a work emerges. Guides to dating music frequently have at their core a directory of all or most of these major participants in the publishing and printing process, with names, descriptors, dates, addresses and changes of addresses.

The directories for both Sydney and Melbourne form the core of this study. As well as using the music itself, the directory elements have been expanded from other sources such as city directories, newspapers and periodicals. They also contain a short biography of the major firms and a selection of the titles associated with each entry. Once these directories for both Sydney and Melbourne were completed, information from them and other sources was used to develop a narrative of the development of music publishing and printing in both Sydney and Melbourne.

A short Chronology provides not only the sequence of events, but also the juxtaposition of those participants who were working at the same time.