Orchestras

BALLARAT'S ORCHESTRAS

Music has always been a part of Ballarat life. Ballarat historian, W. B.Withers, writing in 1856, tells of band musicians from Melbourne and Geelong who brought their instruments with them to the diggings so that "the bugle, and the cornopean, and the flute were often heard at night-fall to echo from tent to tent, from hill to valley; and from the hill beyond again was flung back the refluent melody, while the song, and the laugh, and the merry jest, helped to swell the volume of sonorous harmony."

Withers describes an area on the edge of the Ballarat plateau, above the busy diggings, where diggers would congregate for "associated performances of the whole band of musicians" - "Many an evening 'in the olden times' was passed thus innocently and merrily by the musical diggers, and those of their companions who knew how to be both merry and wise after the day's work was over, as their picks and shovels, cradles and dishes, lay idly in waiting for the next day's labor, for the performance of which these musical recreations were in some sort a preparation."

Ballarat's early tent circuses and theatres employed theatre bands and orchestras to accompany the theatrical performances. The bands were made up of available musicians, and the results were not necessarily ideal. As one commentator noted "they were not the best instruments of their class, and perhaps did not 'discourse most elegant music,' but it was 'a sort of harmony' of sounds to the audience, and that sufficed."

Theatrical work gave employment to generations of professional musicians in Ballarat until the introduction of talking pictures around 1930. Ballarat's professional musicians formed the nucleus of the orchestras which were formed regularly to participate in concerts and theatrical performances for groups like the Ballarat Harmonic Society and the Ballarat Liedertafel.

In 1889, provincial tours by the Victorian Orchestra of Melbourne, under Hamilton Clarke, suggested an alternative model of an orchestra presenting largely orchestral music, rather than as an adjunct to a theatrical performance. In 1895, Harry Monaghan, a well-known Bendigo conductor, initiated the Ballarat Lyric Orchestra. The conductorship was soon taken over by John Robson, conductor of the Liedertafel, and the Lyric's separate, orchestral identity may have been subsumed by the demands of the Liedertafel, but for Walter Gude, formerly Leader of the Lyric, who conducted the Lyric from the early years of the twentieth century until the Orchestra's demise in 1940.

Walter Gude was a notable violinist and teacher, who eventually became head of strings at the Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne. Under his vigorous and committed leadership, the Lyric won a reputation as a very fine orchestra and as a training ground for fine orchestral players, including Sir Bernard Heinze. Many well-known names in Ballarat's musical history were associated with the Orchestra.

The Lyric, and later the Ballarat Orchestra Association, were both fortunate in persuading prominent citizens in the town to give their support. Fred Sutton, of Sutton's Music Store in Ballarat, who was president of the Lyric Orchestra for many years, regularly donated playing sets of orchestral pieces, and music was also donated by interested citizens, patronage that was comparable to gifts of artworks to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

The introduction of talking movies had the consequence of strengthening the orchestra in the early 1930's, as musicians from the silent movie cinemas were forced to find other work and joined the orchestra to keep playing. Both World Wars meant the loss of players to the Army: during the First World War, the Lyric had been suspended; during the Second World War, the shortage of players led to the disbanding of the Orchestra in 1940.

In 1944, the ABC started to tour the Melbourne Symphony to Ballarat, signalling a resurgence of classical music in the city. In 1945, an Arts Festival Week with "something for everybody" was organised by the Ballaarat City Council with the support of a group of Ballarat citizens, including the well-established Music Lovers' Guild. The programme included concerts and performances. The Festival, which was held between 22 and 28 July of that year, was regarded as successful, and funds were held over for the following year, however further festivals failed to eventuate.

In 1949 Lynette Kierce, a young Ballarat musician studying singing and violin at the Melbourne Conservatorium, was asked to provide musical entertainment for a St Patrick's Day Concert at the Alfred Hall. She got together a group of string players for that occasion. All were former students at Ballarat's Sacred Heart College, where they had been taught orchestral playing by Sister Catherine of Siena, formerly Gertude Healy, acclaimed concert violinist and teacher of strings at the Melba Conservatorium.

The success of this string group prompted Kierce to establish a new orchestra for Ballarat along the lines of the now legendary Lyric Orchestra. Many of Gude's old players from the Lyric were reluctant to join a new orchestra conducted by a young woman, but eventually were won over, and additional new players were recruited to form the Ballarat Symphony Orchestra.

The Orchestra gave orchestral concerts several times a year through the 1950's, 60's and 70's, initially under Kierce and subsequently under conductors George Logie Smith, Ronald Smyth, Ronald Knight and Bruce Keck. It was rare that the entire complement of the Orchestra could be filled with Ballarat community players, and the practice was established of bringing in additional players as needed for concerts.

Bass player and Lyric Orchestra veteran George Richmond was long-term president, and the success of the Orchestra over many years is largely a tribute to his organisational ability and commitment. Free Mayoral concerts at the Civic Hall, Begonia Festival concerts and Christmas performances of the Messiah became regular events on Ballarat's community calendar. The Orchestra came to reflect the post-war era: stable and successful, but also conservative and predictable. The attempt to break that conservative mould and find new directions in the 1970's eventually led to the demise of the Orchestra.

For many years after its establishment, the the Victorian Government awarded an annual subsidy to the Ballarat Orchestra Association, the Symphony's formal structure, until changes in funding policies made non-professional arts organisations ineligible for funding assistance. This regular injection of funds enabled the Orchestra to present an annual free concert, to import players when necessary, and to accumulate of a collection of musical instruments and of sheet music. The instrument collection was crucial for the Orchestra, as it had been for the Lyric, as many players in the communuty did not own their own instruments.

One very successful, but short-lived, initiative of the Orchestra Association in the early 1970's, was the establishment of the Ballarat Youth Orchestra, giving the increasing number of students receiving tuition at Ballarat's secondary schools the opportunity to play together in an orchestra. However, the eventual establishment of school-based orchestras reduced the demand for the Ballarat Youth Orchestra and it was closed.

By 1979, the Orchestra was severely short of players and was unable to recruit new orchestra members. The Association decided therefore to run a series of smaller ensemble groups instead of the full orchestra. The resulting administrative complexity, and lack of a clear identity contributed to the decline in support and participation and the Association was eventually wound up. The Association's residual funds, including money from the sale of the remaining instruments, were eventually given to the new Ballarat Symphony Orchestra, but the music library, which included items from the Lyric Orchestra's collection, was donated to the Victorian Music Library.

The impetus for reestablishing a community orchestra in Ballarat came from Professor Frank Hurley of he Ballarat College of Advanced Education, now the University of Ballarat. In 1987, Professor Hurley asked Peter Dale, a well-known Ballarat organiser of community events, to reconstitute a community orchestra for Ballarat, pledging support from the College. The present Ballarat Symphony Orchestra was founded under conductor Adrian Thomas.

The Orchestra is now a well-established community orchestra. It experienced a long period of stability under long-term conductor Hugh McKelvey, who was also Director of the Ballarat Choral Society, they presented a varied and challenging performance program of three annual concerts, often in conjunction with the Choral Society.

Since Hugh McKelvey's retirement in December 2003, the Orchestra and Choir are engaging conductors for projects as required. The Ballarat Symphony Orchestra has plans to release a history of its operation up to date.