Dulcie Holland
Encyclopedia
Dulcie Sybil Holland AM
(5 January 1913 – 21 May 2000) was an Australian composer
and music educator. Best known for her contributions to music education through her energetic involvement with the Australian Music Examinations Board
, Holland has in recent decades gained greater recognition as a composer. She is now regarded by some critics as one of the more significant Australian composers of her generation.
in 1913. She began taking piano lessons at the age of six, and attended Shirley School for Girls, known for its academic excellence. In 1929 she entered the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music (now the Sydney Conservatorium
) to continue her studies. At the Conservatorium she studied piano
with Grace Middenway and Frank Hutchens
, cello
with Gladstone Bell, and composition with Roy Agnew
and Alfred Hill
, eventually completing both the Diploma course (DSCM) and the Licentiate
of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) in 1933.
In 1936, Holland travelled to London
to study composition at the Royal College of Music
with John Ireland
. At the end of her first year, she won the Blumenthal Scholarship for composition, which entitled her to another three years of study at the College. The following year she won the Cobbett Prize for chamber music
, but with the outbreak of World War II
in 1939, decided to return to Australia.
Several years after the war, in 1951, she returned to the United Kingdom for a year to study serialism
with Mátyás Seiber
.
Alan Bellhouse, with whom she would have two children. During the 1940s, in addition to her childrearing and composing, she wrote a number of children's books, under her married name of Dulcie Bellhouse. She also began to write music for the North Shore Sydney Orchestra (founded and conducted by her husband), an association that would continue for 25 years.
In the 1950s, Holland was commissioned to write musical scores for the Department of the Interior
, which was then producing a number of documentary films about Australian life for the new wave of migrants entering the country. She eventually wrote the scores for forty of these films.
In 1967, Holland joined the Australian Music Examinations Board
(AMEB) as an examiner. During her long association with the Board, her prolific output of musical studies and pieces for students at all levels of development, along with her authorship of numerous music theory books, were eventually to make her a familiar name in thousands of Australian households. Sales of her didactic writings made her Australia's most celebrated music author.
After her retirement from AMEB in 1983, Holland continued to compose, but chose to focus more on the writing of music text books, on the ground that she believed "making new converts to music" to be more important than adding to the volume of existing music.
In 1977, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia
(AM). In 1993, along with Miriam Hyde
, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) by Macquarie University
.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(5 January 1913 – 21 May 2000) was an Australian composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and music educator. Best known for her contributions to music education through her energetic involvement with the Australian Music Examinations Board
Australian Music Examinations Board
The Australian Music Examinations Board is a privately funded corporation which assesses music, speech, and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide in 1887; the organisation now has a Federal Office in Melbourne, and offices in each...
, Holland has in recent decades gained greater recognition as a composer. She is now regarded by some critics as one of the more significant Australian composers of her generation.
Education
Dulcie Holland was born in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1913. She began taking piano lessons at the age of six, and attended Shirley School for Girls, known for its academic excellence. In 1929 she entered the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music (now the Sydney Conservatorium
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
) to continue her studies. At the Conservatorium she studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
with Grace Middenway and Frank Hutchens
Frank Hutchens
Francis "Frank" Hutchens OBE was a pianist, music teacher and composer originally from New Zealand. He became a popular concert pianist in Australia, and was a founding member of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, where he taught for fifty years.-Early life and education:Hutchens'...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
with Gladstone Bell, and composition with Roy Agnew
Roy Agnew
Roy Ewing "Robert" Agnew was an Australian composer and pianist. He has been called the most outstanding Australian composer of the early twentieth century.-Early life and education:...
and Alfred Hill
Alfred Hill
Alfred Francis Hill CMG OBE was an Australian/New Zealand composer, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1869. His year of birth is shown in many sources as 1870, but this has now been disproven. He spent most of his early life in New Zealand...
, eventually completing both the Diploma course (DSCM) and the Licentiate
Licentiate
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...
of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) in 1933.
In 1936, Holland travelled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to study composition at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
with John Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
. At the end of her first year, she won the Blumenthal Scholarship for composition, which entitled her to another three years of study at the College. The following year she won the Cobbett Prize for chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, but with the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, decided to return to Australia.
Several years after the war, in 1951, she returned to the United Kingdom for a year to study serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
with Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás György Seiber was a Hungarian-born composer who lived and worked in England from 1935 onward.-Career:Seiber was born in Budapest, and studied there with Zoltán Kodály, with whom he toured Hungary collecting folk songs. In 1928, he became director of the jazz department at the Hoch...
.
Career
After returning to Australia from the Royal College in 1939, Holland embarked on a career as a recitalist and freelance composer. In 1940 she married the Australian conductorConducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Alan Bellhouse, with whom she would have two children. During the 1940s, in addition to her childrearing and composing, she wrote a number of children's books, under her married name of Dulcie Bellhouse. She also began to write music for the North Shore Sydney Orchestra (founded and conducted by her husband), an association that would continue for 25 years.
In the 1950s, Holland was commissioned to write musical scores for the Department of the Interior
Minister for Home Affairs (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Home Affairs has been Brendan O'Connor since 6 June 2009. The Home Affairs portfolio brings together agencies such as the Australian Customs Service , the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which were previously the...
, which was then producing a number of documentary films about Australian life for the new wave of migrants entering the country. She eventually wrote the scores for forty of these films.
In 1967, Holland joined the Australian Music Examinations Board
Australian Music Examinations Board
The Australian Music Examinations Board is a privately funded corporation which assesses music, speech, and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide in 1887; the organisation now has a Federal Office in Melbourne, and offices in each...
(AMEB) as an examiner. During her long association with the Board, her prolific output of musical studies and pieces for students at all levels of development, along with her authorship of numerous music theory books, were eventually to make her a familiar name in thousands of Australian households. Sales of her didactic writings made her Australia's most celebrated music author.
After her retirement from AMEB in 1983, Holland continued to compose, but chose to focus more on the writing of music text books, on the ground that she believed "making new converts to music" to be more important than adding to the volume of existing music.
In 1977, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(AM). In 1993, along with Miriam Hyde
Miriam Hyde
Miriam Beatrice Hyde AO, OBE was an Australian composer, pianist, poet and music educator.She composed over 150 works for piano, songs and other instrumental and orchestral works and performed as a concert pianist with eminent conductors including Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Bernard Heinze and...
, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) by Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
.
Music
Throughout the course of her seventy-year career, Holland produced a considerable body of serious (as opposed to educational) music. Her work includes orchestral pieces (including a symphony), vocal and choral works, a large output of chamber music featuring different combinations of instruments, and many pieces for piano and other solo performance. She wrote in both the contemporary and neo-classical genres.Style
Dulcie Holland has been described as "less conservative and more appealing than many of her contemporaries". Her music is generally "melodic, optimistic and sunny", and even her darker moods are "reflective and lyrical". She employs "non-traditional key relationships and swiftly changing tonal centres", and is "fond of the pentatonic scale with its built-in ambiguities, and the possibilities thus given to modulate to unexpected keys". Overall however, her music is said to convey a "sense of balance, of confidence, of individuality [and] of formal structure".Major works
In addition to the symphony and string quartet, Holland's Piano Sonata has been called "undoubtedly a landmark work in the Australian oeuvre", while her 1944 Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano has been described as "one of the greatest treasures of Australian music". Reflecting Holland's difficulty in gaining recognition as a serious composer through much of her lifetime, the latter work did not receive its first public performance until 1991, 47 years after it was first written.Awards
- ABC/APRAAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
awards, 1933, 1944, 1951, 1955 - ANZAC Festival Awards, 1954, 1955, 1956
- General MotorsGeneral MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
Theatre Award, 1963 - Henry LawsonHenry LawsonHenry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
Award, 1965 - Member of the Order of Australia, 1977
- Honorary D.Litt. from Macquarie University, 1993
- AMEB Fellowship in Music, 1994
Recurring references
- Dulcie Holland - Australian Music Centre website.
- Dulcie Holland - Music Australia website.
- Dulcie Holland: Building a Foundation by Rita Crews, Resonate magazine, 18 April 2008
- Fuller, Sophie and LeFanu, Nicola (1994): Reclaiming the Muse, Routledge, p. 153, ISBN 3718655284. Extract.
- Sitsky, Larry; Martin, Ruth Lee (2005): Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century, Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 43–46, ISBN 0313322864. Extract.