Chamber Music New Zealand (CMNZ) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to presenting, advocating and developing chamber music in New Zealand. CMNZ presents chamber music concerts in ten cities: Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. CMNZ provides touring artists for affiliated regional music societies. CMNZ also administers the annual secondary school Chamber Music Contest, established in 1965.

Chamber Music New Zealand is the contemporary name for an organisation formed in 1950 that was initially known as the New Zealand Federation of Chamber Music Societies. The organisation was renamed The Chamber Music Federation of New Zealand in the early 1960s, The Music Federation of New Zealand in 1972, and Chamber Music New Zealand in 1992.

Early history

In his 1985 book Into A New Key: The Origins and History of The Music Federation of New Zealand 1950-1982, John Mansfield Thomson wrote:

The early history of chamber music in New Zealand is not a spectacular, but a sustained one, with occasional peaks such as Alfred Hill's concerts in the 1890s, his tours with Michael Balling, usually playing his viola-alto ... and with Maughan Barnett, an English-born organist, choirmaster and composer. In this setting the rare visits from European ensembles exerted untold influence as did that of the Cherniavsky Trio ... who toured in 1908, 1915 and 1924. In 1920 the Verbrugghen Quartet ... gave New Zealand audiences a taste of the quality that had enlivened Sydney's musical life.

There were long gaps between these New Zealand tours - pianists and singers were favoured much more than string quartets, so much so, that when the Budapest Quartet were engaged by the [New Zealand] Broadcasting Service for a national tour in 1937, it proved to be, in the words of John Gray ...'a quite extraordinary affair ... When [the Broadcasting Service] realized the Budapest - then at the height of their powers - would play three quartets one after the other, they decided the programme needed vocal interludes. They engaged Mary Pratt, the number one contralto in the country, with Noel Newson, a splendid Christchurch pianist. They made sure that in between the quartets she sang groups of songs by Wolf, Brahms or Dvorák.' ... This episode shows the low tolerance of string quartets expected by the broadcasting service and the mixed type of programmes in vogue at the time.

Prior to the Federation, independent regional music societies presented touring artists. Prominent amongst these were the Auckland Chamber Music Society, formed in 1929, and the Wellington Chamber Music Society, formed in 1945.

In 1947, Wellington Chamber Music Society secretary Ray Weston offered a proposal for a chamber music cooperative. With a view towards pooling resources to enable more visits from international artists, the idea of a Federation was increasingly discussed and supported during the late 1940s. The idea was avidly promoted by Fred Turnovsky (1916-1994), an émigré from Czechoslovakia who had fled from Prague with his wife Liselotte (Lotte) following the German occupation in 1939.

File:Fred Turnovsky, photographed in 1983, was the first President of the Chamber Music Federation of New Zealand.jpg
Fred Turnovsky, photographed in 1983, was President of the Federation, later CMNZ, from 1950-1960

Prior to sailing to their new home in New Zealand, Turnovsky had been disabused of New Zealand's musical culture by a noted NZ parliamentarian and author, Ormond Wilson. 'He shattered every illusion I might have had' said Turnovsky. 'I had fully expected that there would be a professional orchestra, a professional opera of some sort ... but I was unprepared for the total absence of anything.'[1]

Almost all European refugees had been raised in families where the arts, music in particular, were greatly appreciated. Many emigrated to New Zealand, Australia and America and immediately became active in supporting the arts. Some were accomplished and gifted musicians, such as Richard Goldner, an Austrian who fled to Australia and was the driving force behind the inception of Musica Viva. Such support and involvement aided the nascent Wellington Chamber Music Society. In Prague, Turnovsky had been part of the Czech Society for Chamber Music, a closed society that offered subscription tickets to concerts performed by some of the leading quartets of the 1930s, such as the Busch, Amar and Kolisch. In Wellington, Turnovsky advocated the same concept of a society with a subscription list and a fixed number of annual concerts. A public meeting was held on 6 March 1945 at Nimmo's small concert hall on Willis Street. Fittingly, the meeting started with a performance of Dvorák and Haydn quartets by Vincent Aspey, May Hyam, Frank Hoffey and Molly Wright - playing under the moniker 'NBS String Quartet'. The individuals responsible for this pivotal meeting included J. C. Beaglehole, Spencer Digby, W. B. Harris, R. S. Parker, E. C. Simpson, C. R. Straubel and Fred Turnovsky. The formation of the society was moved by Beaglehole and seconded by Simpson.

The initiating committee ... had not expected such a warm reception nor that within a few weeks they would have 500 members. The system of selling a whole season in advance was strictly enforced. 'From then on people started fighting for seats' said Turnovsky 'and that was a wonderful way because we had no money worries at all'. In time the idea of a closed led to the feeling that the Wellington Chamber Music Society was run for an elite - an impression reinforced by the high proportion of Europeans who made up the audiences. It was a question which later had to be considered seriously. Eventually, as circumstances changed it was abandoned, but without it neither the Society nor the Federation might have been successfully launched - or survived the early years.

[2]

An elected committee, with Simpson as its founding President, met on 15 March to allocate duties. The Wellington Chamber Music Society's first concert was held on 1 May 1945 and featured violinist Maurice Clare and pianist Frederick Page. The programme included Douglas Liburn's Sonata for violin and piano in C. The Dominion review described Clare as 'perhaps the most polished violinist in the country' and Lilburn as 'New Zealand's most promising and provocative composer. [3]

Over 1945-1950, artists engaged by the Wellington Chamber Music Society included Lili Kraus, the Ellwood Quartet, the Vincent Aspey String Quartet, the Wellington Chamber Orchestra and the Dorothy Davies Trio - the latter an ensemble championed by Beaglehole.

File:Lili Kraus in 1951.jpg
Lili Kraus, photographed in 1951

The arrival of Kraus, whose musical roots connected her to Kodály and Bartók, aroused a furore throughout the country, as she was the first international pianist to reach New Zealand after the Second World War. She was eventually given NZ citizenship.

The announcement that the Wellington Chamber Music Society had engaged the Queensland State String Quartet for a tour in 1948 proved to be something of a catalyst in the Christchurch Press newspaper, where an editorial compared the efforts of local music societies with that of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service:

Chamber music had suffered in cities like Christchurch since the formation of the National Orchestra, which had drawn away many good instrumentalists, or greatly affected their participation. The Laurian Club, which thrived in the 1930s, had to let its plans for revival lapse. 'The chance of organising good groups for steady work in trios, quartets and quintets is less than ever'. The NZBS String Quartet had done nothing to reverse this trend: ' A skinflint, opportunist policy can snatch up occasional performances; it cannot build programmes or develop the strong chamber music groups to sustain them and set the performance standard high'. [This] tour should remind the NZBS 'that since it introduced the superb Budapest String Quartet to New Zealand audiences years ago, it has neglected chamber music, both in arranging overseas artists' tours and in cultivating performances by New Zealand artists.'

[4]

A meeting was held in Wellington on 28 October 1950 to debate forming a Federation. Turnovsky had concerns that the rivalry between the Auckland and Wellington societies would derail cooperation, but these did not eventuate. The inaugural meeting of the New Zealand Federation of Chamber Music Societies was held in Wellington and included representatives from six societies: Auckland, Hamilton, the Hutt Valley, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch. A prominent Auckland lawyer, Julius Hogben, was elected President, with Turnovsky Vice-President, plus four executive committee members. The following day the executive met again at Turnovsky's residence to plan the 1952 season. Other societies were subsequently approached and offered associate membership for the 1951 season, with the promise of outstanding overseas players over 1952 and 1953. Turnovsky succeeded Hogben as President and held that position for the rest of the 1950s.

The 1950 season was the last organised solely by the Wellington Chamber Music Society. Artists featured included the Robert Masters Quartet from London, and from Australia the Musica Viva Chamber Players with pianist Maureen Jones. NZ ensemble the Lindsay String Orchestra opened the season on 27 April performing works by Vivaldi and Purcell, and Schubert's 'Trout Quintet' (for CMNZ's 60th anniversary celebrations in 2010, the 'Trout' was performed in the Wellington Town Hall on 28 October, the date of the organisation's formative meeting).

CMNZ's historic and on-going relationship with its Australian counterpart, Musica Viva, dates back to the Wellington Chamber Music Society's 1948 tour by the Musica Viva ensemble. The group, featuring Richard Goldner on viola, gave 43 concerts and received excellent reviews. They were invited back by the Wellington Chamber Music Society for the 1948, 1949 and 1950 seasons. The pressure of extensively touring both Australia and New Zealand strained the ensemble and Goldner proposed that an overseas group be contracted to add variety and alleviate the tour demands. This proposal was rejected and Musica Viva went into recess. During this period, Kenneth Tribe joined Goldner on the committee.

1950-1959

For the Federation, the 1950s was a decade of growing confidence and solidifying both the organisation's reputation and finances. Compared to orchestras or opera, the portability of chamber music ensembles helped the genre to thrive. Turnovsky recalled that 'You could achieve excellence in chamber music with reasonable financial constraints that you couldn't do in any other form. I give this as the reason why chamber music took on in such a big way, because you could be sure that you would get the very best. The difficulty was always air fares, that was the big problem'.[5]

Due to the costs involved in flying to New Zealand, the Federation's close links with Musica Viva and Indonesia's Kunstkringsbond were critical in enabling tours by European and American ensembles. In 1953, on a visit to Sydney, Turnovsky met with Tribe, Goldner and Charles Berg (another committee member), and pressed them to join with their New Zealand peers to take on a more entrepreneurial role and engage overseas artists. Thomson recorded Turnovksy's recollection of events:

'I got wind of some money that was lying about in Paris, belonging to the New Zealand Government. It was something to do with Lend-Lease during the war, a few thousand pounds, not a great deal, but it was earmarked for promoting cultural exchanges with New Zealand …About that time I went to Sydney … and I told the Musica Viva Society (then in recess); "We're in great straits because the Dutch in Indonesia are on their last legs and there's nothing in Australia. How about we let you chisel in on this £1,000 … and provide you with the Pascal String Quartet at no cost to you as far as overseas fares are concerned, but on condition that you start Musica Viva again." And believe it or not it worked. From that moment Musica Viva never looked back.' When C. J. Berg, the Honorary Secretary of Musica Viva, addressed the Annual General Meeting of the Chamber Music Federation in 1957 he acknowledged the debt: 'We owe a great deal to the encouragement and support which the New Zealand Federation has given us in bringing our Society out of recess …"

[6]

The early days of trans-Tasman cooperation were negotiated by Turnovsky, Tribe, Berg and Sydney Manager Regina Ridge. Thomson cites Kenneth Tribe's assessment:

'Certainly until 1958-59, I think in a way, the initiative was largely with New Zealand. Then from around 1958 onwards - partly because of a larger market - there was a tendency to go our separate ways, with more independence of action. It was coordination, but not complete, not by any reason of discord or misunderstanding, but because of the different markets the two countries represented. We had greater freedom of action, we were not a federation but a central organisation. While we did depend on branches ... we were able to act very quickly without having to consult anyone else. From 1959-60 onwards collaboration has been there continually, but with a very different emphasis, probably because of Australia's greater economic strength, perhaps because we could engage larger groups and take greater risks.'

[7]

During the 1950s chamber music concert programmes encompassed everything from chamber orchestra through to solo piano. French bass-baritone Gérard Souzay toured for the first time in 1959 and audience favourite pianist Lili Kraus also performed twice during the Federation's first decade (1957, 1959). Chamber orchestras often featured, some made up of players from the National Orchestra. Pioneering violinist Alex Lindsay appeared regularly alongside other prominent national musicians. New Zealand composers including Douglas Lilburn also began to be programmed. The first commissioned work was a Piano Trio by Edwin Carr.

The Federation toured some of the finest ensembles and musicians in the world, often in partnership with Musica Viva. The Griller Quartet, resident quartet at the University of California, Berkeley from 1949-61, opened the 1951 season. They returned in 1953 to perform quintets with Hephzibah Menuhin.

File:The Griller Quartet with Hephzibah Menuhin in 1953.jpg
The Griller Quartet with Hephzibah Menuhin in 1953

The decision to invite the Griller Quartet back to New Zealand was quite a daring financial venture. 'They wanted to come back', recalled Fred Turnovsky. 'They didn't get a great deal out of it, there were some difficulties at various times, but we just managed to get enough revenue to balance the books.'

[8]

The Koeckert Quartet from West Germany and Pascal Quartet from France both toured in 1955. In 1956 the American LaSalle Quartet visited; their schedule included a day in a studio performing with school children, a first for a NZ touring ensemble. The Amadeus Quartet made their NZ debut in 1958.

During the 1950s, New Zealand groups and artists predominated, such as the Lindsay String Orchestra (and Quartet), Rosner Chamber Ensemble, Dorothy Davies, Jean McCartney, Janetta McStay, Ruth Pearl and Marie Vandewart. The organisation however saw itself as being far more than just in the business of promoting concerts. The Federation's activities were permeated by a "spirit of newness and exploration" and that they played a vital role in advocacy for better music education. The Federation also strove to create a full-time New Zealand string quartet, a goal that would eventually be realised in the 1980s. It targetted inadequate music criticism in newspapers, advocated for quality pianos and properly-equipped auditoriums.

1960-1969

The Federation's second decade started with the resignation of Turnovsky at the AGM in April 1960. His replacement was Dr R. A. Lucas, a surgeon at Nelson Hospital and amateur musician. Arthur Hilton (born Arthur Hirschbein, 1909-1981), an Austrian émigré who settled in New Zealand in 1939 with his wife Lisl, was elected Vice-President. Performing the functions of President from Nelson became problematic for Lucas and he stepped down as President in April 1961, staying on however as Vice-President for many years. Hilton was elected President.

[[Image:Arthur Hilton, photographed in 1975, was the third President of the Federation, later CMNZ, from 1961-1980 .jpg|thumb|Arthur Hilton, photographed in 1975, was President of the Federation, later CMNZ, from 1961-1980

  1. ^ Thomson 1985, p.29.
  2. ^ Thomson 1985, p.31.
  3. ^ Thomson 1985, p.36.
  4. ^ Thomson 1985, p.51.
  5. ^ Thomson 1985, p.56.
  6. ^ Thomson 1985, p.142.
  7. ^ Thomson 1985, p.143.
  8. ^ Thomson 1985, p.69.
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