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Frederick Cowen in the Public Press Preceding Melbourne's Centennial International Exhibition, 1888-89

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Frederick Cowen in the Public Press Preceding Melbourne's Centennial International Exhibition, 1888-89 Centennial lntemational Exhibition 53 'Preparing to Exhibit': Frederick Cowen in the Public Press Preceding Melbourne's Centennial International Exhibition, 1888-89 Melbourne's most ambitious celebratory event of the nineteenth century, the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition, celebrated not only one hundred years since white settlement in Australia but also the self-conscious assertion that the colony had reached a significant stage on the path to full industrial and artistic development. Indeed, the act of displaying progress in the form of an International Exhibition was to comment on the perceived strengthening of Australia's position within the Western world. The Argus, on 31 July 1888, (the eve of the I Exhibition) wrote: The International Exhibition appears to be permanently adopted as the fit and proper mode of celebrating the centenary of great national events. The occasion of the Philadelphia Exhibition was the centenary of the declaration of the independence of the United States; the French are about to commemorate the outbreak of that world's earthquaketheir Revolution; and we are in the current when we call attention to the Centenary of the birth of Australia in the same fashion.' For music historians, the Centennial International Exhibition is important for its orchestral I and choral concert series directed by English conductor and composer, Sir Frederick Cowen. I Born January 1852, Cowen had shown talent in composition from the age of six and was a I piano concerto soloist in his early teens. At the age of thirteen he received further training in 1 Leipzig and in 1867 studied conducting at the Stem Conservatorium in Berlin. On his rehun to I London in 1868 he composed a symphony and a concerto both of which received performances. I Although better known for his compositions, by the 1880s he had obtained considerable I experience as a conductor and prior to his Australian visit, had conducted several concerts for I the London Philharmonic Society, a position he took up permanently on his return to England 54 Context 14 (Summer 1997-98) To engage the services of such a notable musician, the Australian authorities were willing to pay an enormous price. Endorsed by Exhibition Commissioner, George Leavis Allan, and Exhibition Vice President and Treasurer, Sir Frederick Sargood, Cowen's demand of £5000 was met on the condition he remained Musical Director for the duration of the Exhibition. Accompanying Cowen were fifteen professional English instrumentalists whose role was to support the locally formed Centennial Orchestra. Local instrumentalists were recruited by Alberto Zelman and George Peake. With Cowen's additional players, the Centennial Orchestra numbered seventy-threeU3 The Centennial International Exhibition opened on 1 August 1888 and continued until 9 March 1889. The total attendance figures amounted to 2,003,593. During this time Cowen directed 263 concerts-211 were orchestral, thirty were partly choral, and the remaining twenty-two were popular concerts, consisting of operatic excerpts and ballads. Attendance figures for the Exhibition concerts amounted to 467,299 which was, according to the Official Record, twenty- four per cent of the total attendan~e.~ The organisation of such a long series of concerts has sometimes been used as a natural starting point for the history of orchestral music in Australia. It has been stated that the effectof Cowen's higher musical standards 'swayed the public mind' and that after 1888 'music ceased to be treated as a diversi~n.'~Yet the largely positive response to these concerts can readily be linked to Cowen's reception into the colony before the actual Exhibition opening. The Exhibition Commissioners and the public press leant heavily on the central theme of cultural progress to justify Cowen's presence in the colony, and kept the public well-informed of his engagement, arrival and activities during the months prior to the Exhibition opening, generating widespread expectations and desires. According to a report in the Official Record, the Exhibition Commissioners 'anticipated that not only would [the] concerts be a source of pleasure to those visiting the Exhibitions, but that the stimulation of a love of good music for its own sake, and the consequent elevation of the public taste would amply repay the expenditure that would necessarily be incurred.I6Rather than Cowen's success in the colony being solely the result of public enthusiasm for orchestral music, the story of the Exhibition concerts may have been substantially prescribed well before the Exhibition opening. This article will therefore focus on a range of press reports relating to Cowen directly preceding the Exhibition's opening ceremony, and will also consider how his presence in the colony related to the official aims of the Exhibition. Melbourne had seen other organised music festivals, especially during the 1880 International Exhibition for which the Victorian Exhibition Building was designed. The 1888 Exhibition differed, however, in that it made both music and art symbols of progress, refinement and the Peter Game, TheMusic Sellers (Melbourne:The Hawthorn Press, 1976) 83-85. George Leavis Allan, (1826 1897), founder of the Melbourne music warehouse, Allan and Co., was a member of Fine Art Committee and the Ceremonial Committee for the Exhibition. Hi son, George Clarke Allan, (1860-1934), is believed to have first suggested the engagement of Cowen. Oficial Record of the Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888-1889 (Melbourne: Executive Commissioners, 1890) 303. Th6r&seRadic, "Some Historical Aspects of Musical Assodations in Melbourne, 1888-1915," PhD diss., U Melbourne, 1978,47. Oficcial Record of the Centennial International Exhibition, 259. Centennial International Exhibition 55 maturation of public taste. To foster appreciation for orchestral music and fine arts within the general public was to demonstrate to the world that the nation was ready for its next stage of development. As one daily newspaper commented: The slowness of artistic as compared with the industrial development involves no disparagement to the colony, and no slur upon those who attempt to render the best works of European musicians or who endeavour to carry out the principles of the most famous schools of art. It is the law of history and of evolution. The tree must come to a certain age before it can carry the full burden of its fruit: the man must establish himself in life before he has time for mental culture; and so the nation must come to some maturity before it can develop an art of literature that is distinctively its Press coverage of the arrival of Cowen and his group of instrumentalists from England amplified this theory of cultural evolution, not only to international visitors but to the Australian public as well. Almost every day the public received information about Cowen and the progress made by the musicians of the Centennial Exhibition. With Cowen came the guarantee of "first- class" concerts. The press thoroughly supported these assurances, unanimously championing Cowen as being superior in matters of musical direction to those locally available. Even Table- Talk, considered by visiting French critic, Oscar Comettant the 'most daring and characteristic of colonial atrn~sphere,'~wrote the following of Cowen's musical direction: After hearing Mr. Cowen's Exhibition Orchestra, I am perfectly satisfied that the talented conductor is not alone not overpaid-but that £5,000 is quite inadequate for his ten months' services. The Australian public have never before heard anythmg equal to the orchestration produced under Mr. Cowen's baton. ..He appears to you as a real "master" or rather as a most exacting schoolmaster, who will not allow the slightest mistake to pass without correction? Similarly, on the opening day of the Exhibition, the Age newspaper informed readers that 'a new era in music commences from to-day, and the concerts to be given during the next six months daily, and sometimes even more frequently, may be expected to contribute greatly to the enlightenment of the public as to what is excellent, and to the advance of general musical cult~re.''~The impact of such a statement, where one is told of a "new era" and of the presence of indisputable excellence, would have been widespread. According to a circulation report printed on 19 June 1888, the Age newspaper was selling 76,484 copies per day." This made it 'Argus 2 Aug. 1888: 7. noscarComettant, In the Land of Kangaroos and Gold Mines, trans. Judith Armstrong (Melbourne: Rigby Press, 1980) 221. 9Table-Talk 27 July 1888: 1. lo Age 1 Aug. 1888: 13. *I Age 19 June 1888: 5. 56 Context 14 (Summer 1997-98) the most widely read newspaper in Victoria and, according to Comettant, the 'organ of the working ~lasses."~Furthermore, press commentary and reviews of the musical preparations for the Exhibition held considerable authority. Melbourne theatre critics during the 1880s were, according to Ken Stewart, more informed and influential than their Sydney counterparts and reflected a 'serious intellectual commitment to guidance of public taste, an informed awareness of dramatic convention and recent experiment.'13 Preliminary studies into the role of the Melbourne's music press reveal that music critics were also aware of their position within wider issues of public instruction and political and national concerns for cultural advancement.I4Such issues shaped much of the contemporary discourse surrounding the Centennial Exhibition, itself a mammoth educational display showcasing imperial certainty and colonial progress. By placing Cowen so prominently within the framework of perceived "high culture," critics endorsed the Exhibition's educative design to engender widespread artistic appreciation. Prior to the Exhibition opening, performances of Cowen's compositions were paid particular attention by the press, who invariably used them to support Cowen's engagement as musical director of the Exhibition. On the 21 May 1888, Cowen's cantata, The Rose Maiden, was performed by the Metropolitan Liedertafel.
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