National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 61 | February 2003


Peter Sculthorpe: Composer and Archivist
Peter Sculthorpe with a display of items from his collection
Peter Sculthorpe with a display of items from his collection

On the evening of 5 December a special event was held in the foyer of the Library to celebrate the career of Peter Sculthorpe. The composer and members of his family were present, as were many of his old friends and colleagues. The well-known broadcaster, composer and writer Andrew Ford presented a portrait of Sculthorpe, both reflective and entertaining, linking performances of five representative compositions. The first work Djilile was performed by Gary France and the Percussion Quartet of the Australian National University’s School of Music, with the players positioned around the balcony of the foyer. The cellist David Pereira and the pianist Ian Munro performed four works, reflecting the close individual relationship between Sculthorpe and Australian performers. At the end of the concert Senator Richard Alston, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, accepted the Sculthorpe Collection on behalf of the Library.

As the Minister stated, for as long as most people can remember, Sculthorpe has been Australia’s most famous composer. His earliest works date from 1947, when he was still a teenager, and he has never retired. He is the most performed, the most recorded and the most honoured composer in Australian history. He has also been a highly influential mentor for younger composers and at the University of Sydney he taught outstanding composers like Anne Boyd, Ross Edwards and Barry Conyngham.

Left to right: Tim Freedman, Adrienne Levenson and Peter Sculthorpe at the event held at the Library to celebrate Sculthorpe's career
Left to right: Tim Freedman, Adrienne Levenson and
Peter Sculthorpe at the event held at the Library to celebrate Sculthorpe's career

As early as 1970 the Library wrote to Sculthorpe suggesting that he might place his papers in its custody. This approach was too early, but 30 years later he decided that it was time to take steps to ensure that his comprehensive archive was preserved for all time. Negotiations proceeded smoothly and the staff of the Library soon realised that, in terms of comprehensiveness, they were dealing with an extraordinary personal archive. Sculthorpe has said he should have been an archivist and all his life he has carefully preserved, organised and filed his papers. The papers, which now occupy 115 boxes, include family letters dating from his childhood onwards, correspondence with his publishers in London and with other composers, writers and artists, drafts and fair copies of over 300 compositions, business papers, speeches, lectures, articles, programs, reviews and photographs. In addition, there are books and theses, sound recordings and videos, and paintings, drawings and prints by artists of the calibre of Russell Drysdale, Judy Cassab, Eric Smith and John Coburn. During 2001–02 all this material was listed, valued, packed and transferred to the Library.

The Sculthorpe Collection offers a formidable array of source material for biographers or anyone studying aspects of his career or writings. It also provides a great deal of material on the writing, performing and teaching of music in the last half century and on the relationship between music and the other arts in Australia. There are letters and other papers of such notable musicians as Don Banks, Anne Boyd, Ross Edwards, John Williams and Roger Woodward, as well as the writers Randolph Stow and Patrick White, the dancers Robert Helpmann and Peggy Van Praagh, and the painter Russell Drysdale.

The Library’s music holdings are very strong, whether it be of sheet music, manuscripts, personal papers of musicians or sound recordings. In the last two years there have been some notable acquisitions, including papers of Elena Kats-Chernin, Andrew Ford and Don Banks and the Symphony Australia Collection. The Sculthorpe Collection immeasurably strengthens the music holdings. In its scope and research value it compares with the great literary archives and its acquisition is an important event in the history of the Library.
—Graeme Powell, Manuscript Librarian

Learn more about Peter Sculthorpe and the Sculthorpe collection in our new electronic publication.
http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/sculthorpe/

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