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Articles

Music, Finance, and Politics: Henry Verbrugghen and the New South Wales State Orchestra, 1919–1923

 

Abstract

This paper examines the musical, financial, and political difficulties that beset Henri Verbrugghen's attempts to establish a permanent professional orchestra in New South Wales between 1919 and 1923. Appointed as the founding Director of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in 1915, Verbrugghen established a Conservatorium Orchestra in 1916 and then, with government financial support, a State Orchestra in 1919. This was the first permanent professional symphony orchestra in Australia. It played hundreds of concerts in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and New Zealand. In 1923, however, the orchestra collapsed when Verbrugghen took leave of absence from Sydney to work in the United States. Verbrugghen's personal difficulties, it is argued, placed the State Orchestra in a vulnerable position, although consideration of the circumstances under which he gave concerts suggests he was placed under considerable duress. The organizational shortcomings of the orchestra and the difficulty in attracting continuing funding and political support from the New South Wales government eventually combined with Verbrugghen's personal predicament to make the orchestra unviable.

Acknowledgements

Research for this paper was supported by a research grant from the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, London, UK, by a visiting professorship at the University of Sydney in 2006, and by a Harold White Fellowship at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, in 2009. Professor Carl Bridge, Professor Richard Waterhouse and Ms Robyn Holmes all helped to create circumstances in which the author was able to carry out this research. The author is very grateful for their support. The author's thanks also goes to the staff of the Manuscripts Departments at the Mitchell Library, Sydney; the City of Sydney Archives; the National Library of Australia; the New South Wales State Archives, Kingswood; the Grainger Museum, Melbourne; and the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, for their help in locating some of the research materials cited.

Notes

  1 Diane Collins, Sounds from the Stables: The Story of Sydney's Conservatorium (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2001), ch. 2; Diane Collins, ‘Henri Verbrugghen's Auditory Utopianism: Sound, Reform, Modernity and Nation in Australia, 1915–1922’, History Australia 6/2 (August 2009), 36.1–18; and Grace Karskens, ‘“The House on the Hill”: The New South Wales Conservatorium and “First Class Music”’ in Significant Sites: History and Public Works in New South Wales, ed. Lenore Coltheart (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1989), 121–41.

  2 For the Marshall-Hall and Heinicke orchestras, see Thérèse Radic, G.W.L. Marshall-Hall: A Biography & Catalogue (Melbourne: The Marshall-Hall Trust, 2002); and Julja I. Szuster, ‘Hermann Heinicke, a Champion of Professional Orchestra Music in 1890s Adelaide: A Professional Counterpart to Marshall-Hall in Melbourne’, in Marshall-Hall's Melbourne: Music, Art and Controversy 1891–1915, ed. Thérèse Radic and Suzanne Robinson (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2012), 109–24 and 227–8.

  3 Geoffrey Bolton, The Muses in Quest of a Patron (The Callaway Lecture 1996, Nedlands, WA, 1996), 3.

  4 John Mansfield Thomson, A Distant Music: The Life and Times of Alfred Hill (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1980), 136; John Carmody, ‘Verbrugghen, Henri Adrien Marie (1873–1934)’, in Australian Dictionary of Biography. 12: 1891–1939, ed. John Ritchie (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), 317–18; Suzanne Robinson, ‘Henri Verbrugghen’, in The Oxford Companion to Australian Music, ed. Warren Bebbington (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1999), 569–70; and New South Wales State Archives, Kingswood (NSW State Archives), undated memorandum, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12594.

  5 John K. Sherman, Music and Maestros: The Story of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1952), 153–4; and Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 8–9 and 19.

  6 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 22, 25, 29 and 32; and Collins, ‘Henri Verbrugghen's Auditory Utopianism’, 36.1–18.

  7 Roland Foster, Come Listen to my Song (Sydney: Collins, 1949), 189 and 193.

  8 Karskens, “The House on the Hill”, 122. Programmes for Hazon's Orchestra and for the inaugural concert of the Sydney Amateur Orchestral Society in September 1891 are included in Mitchell Library, Sydney (ML), Ann Carr-Boyd Papers: Series 04: Wentzel Family Papers, box 17, and Ephemera Collection—Performance Programs: Concerts pre-1920 and undated.

  9 Ron Wills, ‘The First Sydney Orchestra’, The Australasian Sound Archive 16 (Autumn 1994), 14–19; ML, Performance Program Collection: ABC Sydney Symphony Orchestra, box 1 (1908–1945).

 10 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 30; and Clare Thornley, ‘The Royal Philharmonic Society of Sydney: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Organisation’ (M.Mus. thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 2004).

 11 ML, Verbrugghen notes (n.d.), Verbrugghen Papers, box 2.

 12 ‘New South Wales State—The Conservatorium Orchestra’, in Souvenir Programme for the New South Wales State Orchestra Tour of Queensland and New South Wales (1921). Copy at the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Music Concert Programs: Brisbane, 1900–1925.

 13 Collins, ‘Henri Verbrugghen's Auditory Utopianism’, 36.9.

 14Stead's Review (Melbourne) (28 May 1921), 611.

 15 City of Sydney Archives, Deputation from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to the Lord Mayor, 29 February 1916, item 455/16.

 16 Sydney Symphony Orchestra programme (15 October 1946), 17. Copy in National Library of Australia, Canberra (NLA), W. Arundel Orchard Papers, box 3.

 17 Foster, Come Listen to My Song, 192; Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 36; and Karskens, “The House on the Hill”, 138.

 18 Thomson, A Distant Music, 143; and Karskens, ‘The House on the Hill’, 137–8.

 19The Sun (Sydney) (31 October 1915).

 20Ibid.

 21 Ernest Wunderlich, All My Yesterdays: A Mosaic of Music and Manufacturing (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1945), 55.

 22 Phillip Sametz, Play On! 60 Years of Music-making with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Sydney: ABC Books, 1992), 6.

 23 Sydney Symphony Orchestra programme (15 October 1946), 17.

 24 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to P. Board, 19 July 1917, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12589.

 25 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 34–5.

 26 W. Arundel Orchard, Music in Australia: More than 150 Years of Development (Melbourne: Georgian House, 1952), 74.

 27 Kevin J. Cameron, ‘A Fantastic Symphony: The Life of Henri Verbrugghen’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Newcastle [Australia], 1999), 120–1 (quotation). This expands the same author's ‘Henri Verbrugghen: Master Conductor or Vital Director?’ (B.M.E. thesis, University of Sydney, Conservatorium of Music, 1994).

 28 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to Ernest Wunderlich, 22 December 1921, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

 29 ‘Music and the State. Mr Verbrugghen interviewed’, Argus (Melbourne) (4 October 1919), 6.

 30 Thomson, A Distant Music, 147.

 31 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to the Minister of Public Instruction, 6 December 1918, Education Department records, 4/7575.

 32 NSW State Archives, Augustus James, Memorandum: Conservatorium of Music: Preservation of Orchestra, 17 January 1919, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 33 Thomson, A Distant Music, 146.

 34 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 2 April 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3; and NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to Augustus James, 27 December 1918, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 35 ‘Conservatorium Orchestra’, The Sydney Morning Herald (13 March 1919), 4.

 36 ‘Mr Verbrugghen’, The Sydney Morning Herald (19 December 1917), 8.

 37 ‘W. A. Holman Personal Reminiscences’, Argus (Melbourne) (9 June 1934), 4; and ML, Verbrugghen notes (n.d.), Verbrugghen Papers, box 2.

 38 NSW State Archives, W. A. Holman to Augustus James, 26 February 1919, Education Department records, 4/7575.

 39 Thomson, A Distant Music, 147–8; and NSW State Archives, Ernest Wunderlich to Sir Arthur Rickard, 21 December 1921, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

 40 ML, New South Wales State Orchestra: Statement concerning the present position (n.d.), Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

 41 ML, Verbrugghen notes (n.d.), ibid., box 2.

 42 ‘Music and Drama’, The Sydney Morning Herald (15 March 1919), 8.

 43 ‘The Verbrugghen Orchestra’, Advertiser (Adelaide) (4 October 1919), 15.

 44 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 40.

 45 NSW State Archives, Augustus James to W. A. Holman, 19 December 1918 and 24 February 1919 (quotation), Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 46Stead's Review (Melbourne) (28 May 1921), 621.

 47 ‘A Master Musician. Chat with M. Verbrugghen’, The Register (Adelaide) (18 October 1920), 7.

 48 ‘Music and the State. Mr Verbrugghen Interviewed’, Argus (Melbourne) (4 October 1919), 6.

 49 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to [P. Board], 23 October 1919, and P. Board to Verbrugghen, 19 November 1919, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 50 NSW State Archives, Augustus James, Memorandum: Conservatorium of Music: Preservation of Orchestra, 22 January 1919, Department of Education: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 51 NLA, Memorandum to E.J. Tait, 18 September 1919, Tait Family Papers, box 9, MS 309/46.

 52 NLA, F.S. Tait to E.J. Tait, 21 June 1921, ibid., box 19, MS 309/87.

 53 ‘A Master Musician. Chat with M. Verbrugghen’, The Register (Adelaide) (18 October 1920), 7.

 54 ML, Verbrugghen, undated memorandum written at Greensboro, N.C., Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

 55 ‘New South Wales State—The Conservatorium Orchestra’. Copy at the John Oxley Library. Concert programmes for the Conservatorium Orchestra and the New South Wales State Orchestra are available in the ML, in the John Ingram Bloor Papers, the Henri Verbrugghen Papers, box 3, and the Ephemera Collection—Performance Programs: Concerts 1920–1995, and at the NSW State Archives, New South Wales Conservatorium of Music Collection, 12/1480/1. See also New South Wales State Orchestra Tour of New Zealand 1920: Souvenir Programme, Christchurch, 1920, copy at the Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales.

 56 ‘Verbrugghen Concerts’, The Argus (Melbourne) (19 October 1921), 12; and ‘Verbrugghen Orchestra’, The Argus (Melbourne) (27 October 1921), 11.

 57 NLA, E.J. Tait to J. and N. Tait, 6 March 1920, Tait Family Papers, box 18, MS 309/83.

 58 ‘Henri Verbrugghen—A Lovable Martinet’, The Mail (Adelaide) (16 October 1920), 2.

 59 Thomson, A Distant Music, 152–3.

 60 Katherine Brisbane (ed.), Entertaining Australia: An Illustrated History (Sydney: Currency Press, 1991), 184.

 61 NLA, F.S. Tait to J.H. Tait, 20 July 1920, Tait Family Papers, box 18, MS 309/82.

 62 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 39.

 63 Grainger Museum, Melbourne, Verbrugghen to W.A. Laver, 6 August 1919, W.A. Laver Papers, folder 14.

 64Ibid.

 65 ‘The Verbrugghen Orchestra’, The Advertiser (Adelaide) (3 November 1920), 6.

 66 NLA, J. & N. Tait to F.S. Tait, 2 August 1919, Tait Family Papers, box 10, MS 309/50.

 67 Kenneth Morgan, ‘Sir James Barrett, Musical Patron in Melbourne’, in Radic and Robinson (eds.), Marshall-Hall's Melbourne, 89–107 and 222–7.

 68 NLA, [J. and N. Tait] to J.H. Tait, 4 May 1920, Tait Family Papers, box 11, MS 309/54.

 69 Cameron, ‘A Fantastic Symphony’, 151–2, 158 and 164; Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 38–41; NLA, J. Sutton Crow, ‘Orchestral Music’ (typescript, n.d.), 6–7, Herbert and Ivy Brookes Papers, box 95; and ‘Music in Melbourne. Plan for State Orchestra’, Argus (Melbourne) (22 February 1921), 8. For the repertoire performed by the Verbrugghen Orchestra in Melbourne, see NLA, Kenneth Hince Papers, box 9.

 70 NSW State Archives, Concert programmes for the New South Wales State Orchestra, 12/1480; and Thomson, A Distant Music, 152.

 71 ML, New South Wales State Orchestra, Souvenir programme for the tour of New Zealand (1920), Verbrugghen Papers, box 3 folder 4.

 72 ML, New South Wales State Orchestra, programmes for the New Zealand tour (1922), ibid., box 3 folder 4.

 73 See, for example, press clippings on Verbrugghen's concerts in NLA, Scrapbook for 1920, Melba Conservatorium Collection, box 54.

 74 Cameron, ‘A Fantastic Symphony’, 226–7.

 75 ‘Verbrugghen's Orchestral Festival’, The Register (Adelaide) (7 October 1920), 9.

 76 ‘Verbrugghen's Orchestra’, The Register (Adelaide) (14 October 1920), 8.

 77 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 38.

 78 Thomson, A Distant Music, 157.

 79 Collins, ‘Henri Verbrugghen's Auditory Utopianism’, 36.12; and Michael Hogan, ‘William Arthur Holman (30.06.1913–12.04.1920)’, in The Premiers of New South Wales 1856–2005. Volume 2. 1901–2005, ed. David Clune and Ken Turner (eds.) (Sydney: The Federation Press, 2006), 136.

 80 Thomson, A Distant Music, 160.

 81 Jim Hagan and Ken Turner, A History of the Labor Party in New South Wales 1891–1991 (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991), 117–19; Peter J. Tyler, Humble and Obedient Servants: The Administration of New South Wales. Volume 2. 1901–1960 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2006), 71.

 82 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to Ernest Wunderlich, 13 September 1921, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

 83 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to the Under Secretary of Education, 12 July 1920, Education Department: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

 84 ‘Sydney Day by Day’, Argus (Melbourne) (10 June 1920), 6.

 85 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 2 April 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

 86Stead's Review (Melbourne) (28 May 1921), 610.

 87 NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to ‘My dear friend’ [Ernest Wunderlich], 4 June 1920, Conservatorium of Music Miscellaneous Correspondence, 12/1474.

 88 ‘N.S.W. Orchestra. Hawera Visit Definitely Announced’, Hawera & Normanby Star (New Zealand) (6 January 1922), 4.

 89 ‘No Verbrugghen Orchestra for Hobart’, The Mercury (Hobart) (30 April 1921), 6; and NSW State Archives, N.L. Salmon to W.H. Cummns, 1 September 1920, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

 90 ‘Verbrugghen Orchestra. Proposed Visit to Western Australia. Question of Expense Guarantee’, The West Australian (Perth) (17 January 1922), 6.

 91 ML, [Verbrugghen] to T.D. Mutch, 20 September 1921, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

 92 ‘State Orchestra. Movement to Secure Guarantee. Director's Statement’, The Sydney Morning Herald (3 March 1921), 8.

 93 ‘The Orchestra. Why Public Support is Needed’, The Sydney Morning Herald (16 April 1921), 13.

 94 Peter John Tregear, The Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne: An Historical Essay to Mark its Centenary, 1895–1995 (Melbourne: Centre for Studies in Australian Music, University of Melbourne, 1997), 72.

 95 ‘Music in Melbourne. Plan for State Orchestra’, Argus (Melbourne) (22 February 1921), 8.

 96 ML, ‘New South Wales State Orchestra: Statement concerning the present position’ (n.d.), Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

 97 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 2 April 1922, ibid., box 1 folder 3.

 98 ML, Prospectus of the New South Wales State Conservatorium Orchestra Guarantee Fund (Limited), Sydney, 16 May 1921, ibid., box 1 folder 3.

 99 Thomson, A Distant Music, 161.

100 ‘Jascha Heifetz with State Orchestra. Appeal for Permanency’, The Sydney Morning Herald (4 July 1921), 7.

101 Thomson, A Distant Music, 160–2. For the appeals in 1921 to keep Verbrugghen and a permanent orchestra in Australia, see Jane E. Hunt, ‘Finding a Place for Women in Australian Cultural History: Female Cultural Activism in Sydney, 1900–1940’, Australian Historical Studies, 124 (October 2004), 233–5. Detailed material on the Guarantee Fund is available in NSW State Archives, Conservatorium of Music, miscellaneous correspondence, 12/1474.

102 NLA, Verbrugghen to Sir James Barrett, 7 October 1921, Hince Papers, box 10.

103 ML, Verbrugghen, undated memorandum written at Greenboro, N.C., Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

104 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir James Barrett, 2 December 1921, ibid., box 1 folder 2.

105 ML, [Verbrugghen] to Peter Board, 1 December 1921, ibid., box 1 folder 2.

106 NSW State Archives, Ernest Wunderlich to Sir Arthur Rickard, 21 December 1921, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

107 Thomson, A Distant Music, 162.

108 ‘M. Henri Verbrugghen—Health Trip to Europe’, The Brisbane Courier (31 December 1921), 6.

109 Thomson, A Distant Music, 164–5.

110 ML, Under-Secretary of the Education Department, Minute to Minister, n.d., Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

111 ML, ‘List of Musical Conductors Approached re: 50 Orchestral Concerts to be Given in Australia Over a Period of 4 Months, Beginning 1st May 1922’, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2; and Martin Buzacott, The Rite of Spring: 75 Years of ABC Music-Making (Sydney: ABC Books, 2007), 198.

112 NSW State Archives, Conservatorium of Music, concert programmes, 12/1481, and N.L. Salmon to G.D. Portus, 26 July 1922, Conservatorium of Music miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

113 Thomson, A Distant Music, 163.

114 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 4 February 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2; and ‘Mr Verbrugghen's Terms. Salary of £3,000 a Year. “Parting of the Ways”’, Argus (Melbourne) (3 June 1922), 19.

115 Thomson, A Distant Music, 166–7; and Foster, Come Listen to my Song, 197.

116 ML, ‘New South Wales State Orchestra: Statement concerning the present situation’ (n.d.), Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

117 Karskens, ‘The House on the Hill’, 140; and Tregear, The Conservatorium, 72.

118 ML, N.L. Salmon to Verbrugghen, 19 April 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

119 ML, New South Wales State Orchestra: Statement concerning the present position (n.d.), ibid., box 1 folder 3.

120 ‘The Orchestra. Conductor's Optimism. A New York Interview’, The Sydney Morning Herald (6 June 1922), 10.

121 ML, [Verbrugghen] to Sir Arthur Rickard, 24 January 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

122 ML, Verbrugghen to Noel Salmon, 26 January 1922, ibid., box 1 folder 2.

123 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 4 February 1922, ibid., box 1 folder 2.

124 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 2 April 1922, ibid., box 1 folder 3.

125 ML, New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, State Orchestra Board of Advice, Minutes of a meeting held at the Education Department, 22 February 1922, ibid., box 1 folder 3.

126 ‘The State Orchestra—Retention Efforts’, The West Australian (Perth) (13 June 1922), 7.

127 ML, Noel Salmon to Verbrugghen, 23 June 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3; and ‘Mr Verbrugghen absent till mid-June’, The Sydney Morning Herald (10 October 1922), 8.

128 Jim Davidson, Lyrebird Rising: Louise Hanson-Dyer of Oiseau-Lyre 1884–1962 (Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 1994), 119.

129 ‘National Orchestra. Why Appeal is Timely. Influence of Broadcasting’, Argus (Melbourne) (11 January 1933), 6, quoted in James Grant and Geoffrey Serle (eds.), The Melbourne Scene 1803–1956 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1957), 276.

130 ‘The Orchestra. Nearing the End. Players to receive Notice’, The Sydney Morning Herald (2 June 1922), 8.

131 ‘Henri Verbrugghen. His Salary Requirements’, The Register (Adelaide) (3 June 1922), 11.

132 ‘Woman's Melbourne Letter’, Western Mail (Perth) (15 June 1922), 27.

133 ML, Verbrugghen to Sir Arthur Rickard, 2 April 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3; and ‘Harmony and Hard Cash’, The Register (Adelaide) (10 June 1922), 8.

134 Sherman, Music and Maestros, 157. Verbrugghen's ultimatums about what was necessary to preserve the New South Wales State Orchestra were listed in the Australian Musical News XI/12 (1 July 1922).

135 ML, Verbrugghen to the Minister for Public Instruction, 28 May 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

136 NSW State Archives, N.L. Salmon to G.D. Portus, 21 July 1922, Conservatorium of Music Miscellaneous files, 12/1478.

137 ML, Under Secretary and Director of Education to Verbrugghen, 21 August 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2; and NSW State Archives, Verbrugghen to the Minister for Public Instruction, 21 September 1922, Education Department: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12587.

138 ‘A Noted Pianist. Mr André Skalski in Adelaide’, The Advertiser (Adelaide) (2 April 1924), 8.

139 ‘N.S.W. State Orchestra. Plans for the Future. M. Skalski's Generous Offer’, The Brisbane Courier (22 July 1922), 8.

140 ‘Why Mr. Skalski Resigned’, Argus (Melbourne) (20 October 1922), 12.

141 ‘Paling-Chappell concert’, Sydney Morning Herald (22 September 1922), 13.

142 Carmody, ‘Verbrugghen’, 318.

143 ‘Verbrugghen May Not Return—Negotiations Proceeding’, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) (28 November 1922), 1.

144Theatre Magazine (Sydney) XXI/2 (1 February 1923), 17.

145 NSW State Archives, Cablegram from Verbrugghen to the Under Secretary and Director, Department of Education, 18 November 1922, Education Department: Conservatorium of Music files, 20/12591.

146Theatre Magazine (Sydney) XXI/2 (1 February 1923), 19.

147 NLA, Verbrugghen to Herbert Brookes, 24 April 1925, Brookes Papers, box 95; and ML, Verbrugghen to the Hon. Minister for Public Instruction, 19 January 1923, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2 (quotation). Verbrugghen outlined the ‘aggravating circumstances’ that led to his leaving Australia in ML, undated memorandum, written at Greenboro, N.C., Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 3.

148The Theatre Magazine (Sydney) XXI/2 (1 February 1923), 17.

149 ‘Orchestra Guarantee Fund’, Argus (Melbourne) (23 March 1923), 8.

150 ML, Verbrugghen to the Hon. Minister for Public Instruction, Sydney, 28 May 1922, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2; and Sherman, Music and Maestros, 151.

151 Orchard, Music in Australia, 76.

152 Quoted in Thomson, A Distant Music, 166–7.

153 Collins, ‘Henri Verbrugghen's Auditory Utopianism’, 36.11.

154 ‘Mr Verbrugghen. The Resignation. Minister's Regrets’, The Sydney Morning Herald (14 December 1922), 8.

155 ‘Mr. Verbrugghen’, Argus (Melbourne) (14 December 1922), 16.

156 ML, Verbrugghen to the Hon. Minister for Public Instruction, 19 January 1923, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2; and ‘Mr Henri Verbrugghen’, The Sydney Morning Herald (4 January 1923), 11.

157 ML, Minister for Education to Verbrugghen, 19 March 1923, Verbrugghen Papers, box 1 folder 2.

158 Orchard, Music in Australia, 77.

159 Quoted in Sherman, Music and Maestros, 157.

160 Collins, Sounds from the Stables, 43–4.

161Ibid., 54–5 and 60; and Sametz, Play On!, 6 and 7 (quotation).

162 ‘Decline of Culture. Pianist Pessimistic. Melbourne Music Old-fashioned’, Advertiser (Adelaide) (19 November 1929), 19.

163 Kenneth Morgan, ‘Cultural Advance: The Formation of Australia's Permanent Symphony Orchestras, 1944–1951’, Musicology Australia 33/1 (2011), 69–93.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth Morgan

Kenneth Morgan was educated at the University of Leicester, UK; New College, Oxford, UK; King's College, Cambridge, UK; and the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is Professor of History in the Department of Politics and History at Brunel University, London, UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His publications cover British imperial history, the history of Australia, and music history. He is the author of Fritz Reiner: Maestro & Martinet (University of Illinois Press, 2005), which was awarded the Deems Taylor Prize of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2006. His articles on music history have appeared in The Opera Quarterly, The Journal of the Conductors' Guild, Classical Recordings Quarterly, and Musicology Australia.

Email: [email protected]

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