Raymond Hanson

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name = Raymond Charles Hanson


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birth_date = November 23 1913
birth_place = Sydney, Australia
death_date = December 6 1976
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nationality = Australian
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occupation = Composer, teacher
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Raymond Charles Hanson AM (23 November 1913-6 December 1976) was an Australian composer and lecturer in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. A highly regarded teacher and mentor to many prominent Australian musicians, such as Don Burrows and Roger Woodward, Hanson himself was largely self-taught.

As a composer, Hanson was not a follower of prevailing trends, and consequently his music was unfashionable and ignored by many of his contempories. Late in life however, his distinctive personal style began to receive greater recognition, and his work is now held in high esteem by some critics. ["Review: The Centre for Studies in Australian Music", Number 20, October 2005. See Sitsky piece.]

Early years

Hanson was born in Burwood, Sydney on November 23, 1913, the youngest of five children to Australian-born railroad engineer William Hanson, and his English-born wife Lilian, nee Bennett. The marriage broke up when Hanson was quite young. Hanson was sickly as a child, suffering from bronchial complaints and a recurring ear infection that left him almost deaf in his left ear. He began experimenting in musical composition from the age of eight, inspired by his older sister's piano practice. Hanson's mother brought him up as a Baptist, and though he later left the faith he retained a lifelong interest in spirituality.

Hanson attended Burwood Public and Fort Street Boys' High Schools, but left before completing his third year. He continued however to pursue piano lessons, aided by teacher Anne Spillane who kindly provided him with free lessons as his family was too poor to pay for them. He was thereby eventually able, in 1930 at the age of seventeen, to gain the Licentiate (piano) of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. From 1930 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he made a living by teaching piano and by working in a variety of menial jobs.

Hanson was able to give a number of recitals of his own compositions in the late 1930s, and had the opportunity to gain some formal training in composition after being awarded the Gordon Vickers Scholarship at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music (later the Sydney Conservatorium). Unfortunately, his Conservatorium studies last only two months before the war interrupted them. He joined the Army in 1941, eventually rising to the rank of Sergeant in the Army Education Service. During the war he was exposed to, and developed a lasting interest in, jazz music, an interest that would come to have some influence on his own work. He left the Army in 1946.Australian Dictionary of Biography Online.]

Teaching career

As the recipient of a Fellowship in Composition, Hanson after the war was able to resume his studies at the Conservatorium. Following a year of study with Alex Bernard, the Conservatorium offered Hanson a place on the staff which he accepted. He became a teacher of Aural Training, in which he was considered something of an innovator, and later a Lecturer in Harmony and Composition, Counterpoint and Aesthetics of Music. He was also active in curriculum development and assisted in the introduction of the Bachelor of Music Education degree.

As a teacher, Hanson's kind, thoughtful and unpretentious manner was appreciated by students, while his abilities and dedication were greatly respected. He became a teacher and mentor to many future Australian composers and musicians, such as Nigel Butterley, Richard Meale and Barry Conyngham, as well as to noted performers such as jazz clarinettist Don Burrows and piano virtuoso Roger Woodward. In addition to his work at the Conservatorium, he also gave private lessons, which not infrequently ended in long discussions about philosophy or politics.

Political activity

Hanson himself became active in political matters when, in the early 1950s, he joined the Australian Cultural Defence Movement which sought to protect Australian culture from being swamped by foreign influences, particularly that of the United States. In the prevailing mood of the times however, the movement was painted as leftist and pro-communist, and quickly crumbled. Hanson believed that his association with this movement, along with his membership in the Australian-Soviet Friendship Society, was one of the factors that held back his professional career.

Music

While his teaching abilities were widely acknowledged, Hanson struggled to gain recognition for his talents as a composer for much of his career. He was fifty-four years old before receiving his first commission for a piece of music,Australian Music Centre.] and many of his works lay unperformed for decades. Part of the problem lay with his independence of mind. Hanson ignored prevailing trends in the pursuit of his own muse. In the 1940s and 1950s, his work was regarded by his Australian contemporaries as too avante-garde, but by the 1960s it was being dismissed as not avante-garde enough. Hanson's rejection of serialism, responsible for the latter dismissal, was ultimately vindicated by history, but this vindication came late in his career.

tyle

Hanson's unique qualities as a composer were noticed early by English critic Sir Neville Cardus, who perceived, after attending a concert featuring Hanson's works in 1941, "an originality that avoided Anglocentrism".New Grove Dictionary.] His music has also been described as "of a style not usually associated with Australian composition". [ [http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20051110.160444/index.html Australian Digital Thesis Program] , University of Wollongong Library.] Hanson himself eschewed the notion of a uniquely "Australian" style, but some have nevertheless heard an "unmistakeable" influence of the Australian landscape in his works.Sitsky & Martin.] Others, by contrast, have detected traces of English pastoralism.

Hanson's own acknowledged influences were primarily the musical theories of German composer Paul Hindemith, and the work of Indian poet and musician Rabindranath Tagore. Hanson's deep spirituality (he once considered becoming a missionary to India) is also considered an important influence on his work. His appreciation of jazz is apparent in the sense of spontaneity and rhythmic fluidity that he strove to bring to his compositions. He had a gift for improvisation and often composed directly at the keyboard. Technically speaking, Hanson rejected serialism with its rigid rules of development, but retained a fascination with the twelve-note scale and its full potentialities. This should not be taken to indicate, however, that he disdained melody. On the contrary, he has been described as "a lyrical composer who thought naturally in evolving lines".

Personal life

On 15 September 1956, Hanson at the age of 43 married a 23-year-old Conservatorium student, Moira Winifred Young, at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Manly. The marriage proved difficult and the couple moved house several times over the next few years. Hanson's health deteriorated and in 1967 he suffered a heart attack. Young passed away in 1975, and after being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in January 1976, [ [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=869935&search_type=advanced&showInd=true It's an Honour: AM] ] Hanson himself died of myocardial infarction later that year, on 6 December. The couple were survived by three daughters.

During his life, Hanson sometimes commented on his pride in being born within 24 hours of the birth of his musical hero Benjamin Britten.Fact|date=June 2008 His death, also, came only two days after Britten's.

Works

Hanson left behind over 100 major works, including a symphony, four concerti, a ballet, an opera, an oratorio, cantatas, chamber works and piano music. He also wrote film, television and radio scores, as well as jazz music and arrangements.

More notable works include his 1948 "Trumpet Concerto", released worldwide on the RCA label, the technically demanding "Piano Sonata" (composed between 1938 and 1941, and reflecting his feelings about the Fall of France), the piano "Preludes", and his "Violin Concerto". Hanson also set many of Tagore's poems to music, his most ambitious work in this regard being the 1976 oratorio "The Immortal Touch". Many of Hanson's works, such as the "Violin Concerto", went unperformed for many years, and his 1941 "Piano Sonata" was only finally published in 1976, on the day of his death.

elected list of major works

;Dramatic: "Dhoogor" (ballet), 1945 : "Three in One" (film score), 1955 : "The Lost Child" (radio or TV op), 1958 : "Surfing" (film score), 1958 : "Captain Cook (Cook’s Voyage)" (film score), 1959 : "Temptation" (film score), 1960 : "Jane Greer" (opera), 1964 : Also other film scores.;Orchestral: "Violin Concerto", 1946 : "Novelette", 1947 : "Overture for a Royal Occasion", 1948 : "Trumpet Concerto", 1948 : "Symphony", 1952 : "Trombone Concerto", 1955 : "Gula", 1968 : "Movement "Homage to Alfred Hill", 1969 : "Piano Concerto", 1972 : "Fanfare", 1973;Vocal: "I dreamt that she sat by my head" (Tagore), for mezzo/baritone and piano, 1935 : "Fallen Veils" (D.G. Rossetti), for soprano and piano, 1938 : "This is my delight" (Tagore), soprano and piano, 1941 : "Spindrift" (M. Memory), mezzo/baritone and piano, 1946 : "Do not keep to yourself" (Tagore), voice and piano, 1952 : "My love, once upon a time" (Tagore), 1960 : "The Web is Wove" (T. Gray), 1968 : "Fern Hill" (D. Thomas), violin and orchestra, 1969 : "The Immortal Touch" (Tagore), violin and orchestra, 1976 : Many others. ;Chamber and solo instrumental: "Piano Sonata", 1938–40, revised 1963 : "Procrastination", piano, 1939 : "Violin Sonata", violin and piano, 1939 : "Quizzic", piano, 1940 : "Preludes", 1941 : "Flute Sonata", flute and piano, 1941 : "Idylle", 1942 : "Piano Quintet", 1944 : "Fancies", violin and piano, 1946 : "Legende", violin and piano, c1946 : "Episodes on Tarry Trowsers", piano, 1948 : "Five Portraits", piano, 1948 : "Piano Sonatina", 1949 : "Seascape", violin and piano, 1953 : "Sonatina", 1956 : "Still Winds", flute, guitar, double bass and vibraphone, 1956 : "String Quartet", 1967 : "An Etching", violin and piano, 1969 : "Divertimento", wind quintet, 1972 : "Dedication", 2 flutes, clarinet, 1973

Footnotes

Recurring references

* [http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=732 Raymond Hanson] , Australian Music Centre website.
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140435b.htm?hilite=raymond%3Bcharles%3Bhanson Hanson, Raymond Charles] , Australian Dictionary of Biography Online.
* [http://www.grovemusic.com New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians Online] , (subscription required).
*Sitsky, Larry; Martin, Ruth Lee (2005): "Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century", Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 35-42, ISBN 0313322864. [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3g8PGmIHm3cC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=+piano+%22raymond+hanson+%22&source=web&ots=v2N-aailO_&sig=tvJnWGNRhy-aHHtY-p07x1wO3dw&hl=en#PPA37,M1 Extract] .