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Contributor


Edwin Carr

Composer

Born: 1926 Died: 2003

Biography

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, in August 1926, Edwin James Nairn Carr studied music at Otago and Auckland Universities from 1944 to 1947, then travelled to London on a New Zealand Government Bursary to study composition with Benjamin Frankel at the Guildhall School of Music. He studied under Frankel until 1953, during which period his Mardi Gras Overture won first prize at the Auckland Festival (adjudicated by Eugene Goossens), and his Three Dances and Epilogue for two pianos won him the Overseas League Medal. A British Council Scholarship awarded in 1954 allowed Carr to study with Petrassi at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and another scholarship awarded in the same year enabled him to attend the Accademia di Chigiana at Siena.

In 1955 he was appointed Musical Director of Il Nuovo Balletto d'Italia for their extensive tour of Italy and composed two ballets for this company, Electra and Caccati dal Paradiso. Another British Council Scholarship, awarded in 1957, enabled Carr to study with Carl Orff at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich for a brief period.

Carr returned to New Zealand in 1958, where he completed commissions for the NZ Broadcasting Orchestra, the NZ Chamber Music Federation and the Auckland Association of Organists. He lectured at Victoria University in Wellington in 1959, and in 1960 travelled to Sydney where he worked for the ABC. He did not remain in Australia long, however, and later that year returned to England to teach at the Suffolk Rural Music School and at Civic College, Ipswich. He continued his studies with Benjamin Frankel in 1961 and 1962, and spent most of the 60s in England, where a number of his compositions were performed.

In 1970 Carr received a commission from the British Arts Council for Nastasya, a three-act opera based on Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, and returned to New Zealand to work with librettist Edward Hill in Wellington. This opera was completed in England the following year. In 1973 he took up a two-year Mozart Fellowship at Otago University, Dunedin (NZ).

Carr moved to Sydney in 1975 and became a lecturer at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, as well as teaching piano and composition privately. He continued to compose, receiving commissions from the New Zealand Embassy in Bonn, Musica Viva, Radio NZ, the Australia Council and Sally Mays. He was also commissioned by Alberts to write a harmony book for students in 1976.

Edwin Carr returned to New Zealand in 1984. He continued to teach until the end of 1987, thereafter devoting himself to composition. Carr's works have been performed internationally, and have also been recorded. A conductor as well as a composer, Carr himself conducted some of these recordings, including that of Nastasya, and concerts of his own and other composers' music in New Zealand and Australia.

Edwin Carr died in March 2003 at the age of 76. His autobiography, A life set to music: the autobiography of Edwin Carr, was published by Blanchard Press in 2001.


Composed (121)

A Blake Cantata

for two-part children's choir and two pianos, 9m


Akarana

for orchestra


All'Espagnola

for piano


Alla marcia

for piano


An Easter Cantata

for two-part soprano choir and organ, 12m


An Easter Cantata

for two-part soprano choir, string orchestra and timpani, 12m


An Easter Cantata

for mezzo-soprano, two-part soprano choir, descant voices and organ, 12m


An Edith Sitwell Song Cycle

for mezzo-soprano, oboe and piano, 14m


Arikinui

for soprano, piano and orchestra


Aubade

for clarinet and orchestra, 8m


Aubade

for clarinet and piano, 9m


Auckland '71

ode for male speaker, SATB chorus and orchestra, 12m


Concerto Ballabile

for piano and orchestra


Concerto for Oboe

for oboe and orchestra


Doves of Peace

for piano, 7m


El Tango

for orchestra


Electra

for piano, percussion and orchestra


Elegie (Elegy)

for oboe and piano


Five Bagatelles

for piano, 12m


Five Fragments from The Song of Solomon

for female voice and piano


Five Pieces for Orchestra

for orchestra, 12m


Five Pieces for Piano

for piano, 11m


Five Wolfskehl Songs

for baritone and orchestra, 14m


Five Wolfskehl Songs

for baritone and piano, 14m


Four Pieces

for oboe d'amore, strings and harp, 10m


Four Pieces

for oboe d'amore (or oboe) and piano, 6m


Four Songs

for mezzo-soprano and piano


Foxtrot from "Coup de Folie"

for piano duet, 3m


Foxtrot from "Coup de Folie"

for 2 pianos - 8 hands, 3m


Gaudeamus Overture

for orchestra, 10m


Harlequinade

for piano


In the Rangitaiki Valley

for SSATBB choir


In the Rangitaki Valley

for 2 pianos - 8 hands


Intermezzo

for piano


Lord Arthur Saville's Crime

comic opera in one act, 40m


Mardi Gras

for orchestra, 5m


Moderato Amabile

for piano


Nastasya

opera in three acts, 2h 15m


Ngataringa Nocturne and Scherzo

for oboe, oboe d'amore (or cor anglais) and piano


Night Music

scherzo for orchestra, 12m


No. 7

for piano


No. 8

for piano


O Soldier

for mezzo-soprano and viola


Octet

for wind octet


Organ Sonata

for organ, 12m


Out of Dark

for mezzo-soprano and piano


Out of Dark

for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, 14m


Pacific Festival Overture

for orchestra, 8m


Piano Concerto No. 1

for piano and orchestra, 20m


Piano Concerto No. 2

concerto for piano and orchestra, 20m


Piano Sonata No. 3

for piano, 13m


Poems for piano and orchestra

for piano and orchestra, 25m


Prelude and Aria

for oboe d'amore (or cor anglais) and piano, 6m 30s


Promenade

for orchestra, 18m


Quintet

for piano and string quartet, 12m


Revelations

for piano


Seven Elizabethan Lyrics

for SATB choir and orchestra, 14m


Seven Elizabethan Lyrics

for SATB choir and piano duet


Seven Mediaeval Lyrics

for SATB choir and orchestra, 19m


Seven Mediaeval Lyrics

for SATB choir and piano duet


Seven Waiheke Lyrics

for SATB choir and piano duet


Sinfonietta

for small orchestra, 17m


Six Studies

for string orchestra, 13m


Sonata

for solo violin, 12m


Sonata

for violin and piano, 17m


Sonata

for two pianos


Sonata No. 1

for piano, 12m


Sonata No. 2

for piano, 11m


Sonatina

for piano, 8m


Sonatina di maggio

sonata for musette in F or E Flat (or oboe) and piano


Spring Wind in London

for SATB choir


String Quartet No. 1

for string quartet, 14m


Suite No. 1

for two pianos, 10m


Suite No. 2 - Four Dances from Electra

for two pianists and two percussionists


Suite No. 2 - Four Dances from Electra

for two pianos and optional percussion, 9m


Suite No. 3

for two pianos, 7m


Symphony No. 1

for orchestra, 17m


Symphony No. 2 (The Exile)

for orchestra, 34m


Symphony No. 3

for orchestra, 16m


Symphony No. 4

for orchestra, 25m


Taupo - Te Ao Marama (The Eye of the World)

for soprano solo, SATB choir and orchestra, 40m


Te Tau (The Seasons)

for piano, 14m


Te Tau (The Seasons)

for piano and piano duet, 14m


Ten Concert Studies

for piano, 23m


The End of the Golden Weather

for orchestra, 10m


The Four Elements

for two pianos, 12m


The Mayor's New Coat

for orchestra, 24m


The Maze of the Muses

opera in one act


The Ring

for SATB choir


The Sea Child

for SATB choir


The Snowmaiden

for orchestra, 25m


The Snowmaiden

for piano


The Song of Solomon

for vocal soloists, speaker, choir and orchestra, 55m


The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment

for orchestra (without strings), 28m


The White Notes

for piano


Three Love Songs

for high soprano and piano, 7m


Three Pieces

for cello and piano, 25m


Three Pieces

for bassoon


Three Shakespeare Songs

for mezzo-soprano and piano, 9m


Three Songs from Childhood

for mezzo-soprano and violin, 8m


Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano

for horn, violin and piano, 12m


Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano

for violin, cello and piano


Two Dances

for viola and piano


Two Mansfield Poems

for oboe d'amore (or cor anglais) and piano, 12m


Two Tableaux for Orchestra

for orchestra, 8m


Valse-caprice

for piano


Voices of the Air!

for SATB choir


Waiheke Island

for oboe consort, 13m


Waikato Song

for choir and orchestra


Waikato Song

for two pianos, soprano, contralto and choir


Winter Bird

for SATB choir