Call of the Huia: 100 early New Zealand Art Songs
Alice Forrester Mackay (née Rowley) (1870 – 1940).
Alice Forrester Mackay Photo: Public Domain
My heart’s oppressed – Words by Johann von Goethe
This text comes from Goethe’s ‘Faust’, most famously set as ‘Gretchen am spinnrade’ (Gretchen at the spinning wheel) by Schubert.
Hero Song – Words by Heinrich Heine
The music critic of the Canterbury Times writing in 1913 said ‘had she lived in the musical atmosphere of England her songs would no doubt, long ago have been heard in many countries.’ But he also observed ‘Her compositions are much above the average merit, and I think it only right to say that her songs should be printed and disseminated far and near.’ He mentions 'Song of the Cradle', 'My heart’s oppressed', and 'Hero Song' in his article, so they must have been composed before 1913.
Song of the Cradle – Words by Johannes C. Andersen (1873 – 1962)
Johannes Anderson was a Danish-born writer who settled in New Zealand in 1874. He was a polymath, writing books on many subjects, as well as poetry. In 1919 he became the first librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library. The notated Huia call on the cover of the programme is taken from his book on New Zealand birds and bird song. He undoubtedly met Alice Mackay in Christchurch where he lived before moving to Wellington, so that this song may be amongst her earliest. Part of the manuscript collection in the Alexander Turnbull Library is a collection of Scottish and Irish folk music Mackay collected from the workers on her first husband’s farm, and it is the Celtic nature of Andersen’s poem that undoubtedly attracted her to it.
The Kingfisher – Words by Eileen Duggan (1894 – 1972)
Eileen Duggan became one of New Zealand’s first internationally recognised poets. Her first volume of poetry was published in 1922 and she was to produce four more, however by the late 1950s she felt she was out of step with poetry trends in New Zealand and refused to let her poems be included in Allen Curnow’s 1960 ‘Penguin Anthology of New Zealand Verse’ after he wrote a critical article condemning her for writing out-dated and sentimental verse. She was a devout Roman Catholic all her life, writing for Catholic newspapers. This song is one of two poems by Duggan that Mackay set.
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.
