Purpose of the study 

In this thesis I will demonstrate Edwards’ place in Australian music and how these specific oboe and English horn pieces, Four Bagatelles (1994), Yanada (1998), Ulpirra (1993), Water Spirit Song (2003), and the Bird Spirit Dreaming (2006), epitomize the Australian voice. The development of a connection to place, by obtaining musical training domestically rather than abroad and embracing non-Western influences, in Australian music evolved into a distinctive Australian musical voice as demonstrated in the oboe and English horn works. This was facilitated by several factors: the establishment of the Schools of Arts and Mechanics and the University Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne, European musicians coming to work in Australia, several key composers opening up to non-Western outside influences in and around Australia, and institutions like the Australian Broadcasting Company, the Jindyworobak Club, and the Sydney Opera House. These events helped to expand and define Australian arts culture and an Australian musical voice resulting in the unique composer Ross Edwards. Edwards has created his own musical style and system that he uses to compose his works. It is through an understanding of where Australia’s musical heritage begins, and how it develops, that we may gain a greater knowledge of contemporary Australian composers like Ross Edwards. 

I will demonstrate through an analysis of Edwards’ compositions and compositional techniques, his place in Australian musical history and unique personal compositional style. These works span a range of pedagogical issues across all students’ abilities. The oboe and English horn works of Ross Edwards deserve to be a part of the standard repertoire for oboists due to their unique place in Australia’s musical history culminating in the development of an Australian national sound. 

State of scholarship 

The history of Australian Western classical music follows a similar pattern to most other colonies, including the United States. Australia retained the major cultural markers from England, including but not limited to, English music. As nearly all of the initial European population of Australia emigrated from the British Empire, mainly England, Ireland, and Scotland, the music retained its essential Englishness throughout the first 100 years of the colony’s life.1 Once Australia outgrew its function as a penal colony, music began to play a greater role in the general population’s lives. After the initial foundation of a musical culture, the influences on composers and performers began to evolve.2 It was common practice, until as recently as the 1970s, to begin musical training with a private tutor in Australia and then move on to more formal training in Europe. Initially this training was pursued exclusively in England, though as the population of immigrants began to diversify so did the musical landscape.3 By the 1880s a large number of aspiring musicians were furthering their training in England and Germany, particularly in Leipzig.4 

The academic writings detailing Australia’s musical background are extremely limited at this time. If we look back through American musical history and academia we will see the establishment of both the American voice in music and academics experienced the same emerging state and developmental process that Australia is experiencing today.5 Though one of the primary differences in the musical progress between the United States and Australia was the level of connection maintained by Australia and England. The first book exclusively about Australian music was written by Roger Covell and published in 1967 titled Australia’s Music: Themes of a New Society. 

1 Roger Covell, Australia’s Music: Themes of a New Society (Melbourne: Sun Books, 1967), 25.

2 Covell 16.

3 Frank Callaway and David Tunley, eds., Australian Composition in the Twentieth Century, (Melbourne: Oxford, 1978), 226.

4 Callaway 234.

5 In fact, it is not until 1931 that the first attempt at an exclusively American music history text was written by John Tasker Howard entitled Our American Music.