Call of the Huia: 100 early New Zealand Art Songs
'Love’s Entreaty' & 'Night'
Music by Vera Beauchamp (1885 – 1974). Words by Kathleen Beauchamp (Katherine Mansfield) (1888 – 1923)
Vera Beauchamp Photo: National Library
In 1903 the Beauchamp family set sail for Britain in order to further the girls’ education. Katherine wrote the poetry on the ship on the voyage over and her older sister, Vera, must have set them to music very shortly afterward as the songs were published by the German music company of Bote & Bock in 1904, undoubtedly paid for by their father, Sir Harold Beauchamp.
The first song is dedicated to their parents and the second to their younger sister, Charlotte, although there is a copy of the song in the Auckland Public Library with a hand written dedication from Katherine to ‘Tom’ – cellist Arnold Trowell, for whom Katherine had an infatuation.
There is no evidence that Vera composed any further music.
Recorded 12 February 2021, St Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer: David McCaw for RNZ Concert
Engineer: Darryl Stack for RNZ Concert
Video: Chris Watson for SOUNZ
The Call of the Huia research project by music historian Michael Vinten is funded by the Lilburn Trust with support from the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Hocken Library, SOUNZ Centre for NZ Music, RNZ Concert and others. The scores with CDs for Call of the Huia can be purchased in hard copy or as digital download from SOUNZ.
