McBurney in 1898

Mona Margaret McBurney (29 July 1862 – 4 December 1932) was a British pianist, teacher and composer who lived and worked in Australia.[1][2][3]

Life

Mona McBurney was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, the youngest of six children of teacher and scholar Isaiah McBurney and art and music teacher Margaret McBurney. Mona studied music in Edinburgh with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who was later a principal of the Royal Academy of Music.

The family emigrated to Victoria, Australia, in 1881, and settled in Geelong. McBurney attended the Ladies' College where her brother Samuel was principal and the University of Melbourne in 1881. In 1892 she continued her studies at the University of Melbourne as a music student with G.W.L. Marshall-Hall, graduating in 1896.[4]

After ending her studies, McBurney worked as a composer and educator.[5] In 1907 she conducted a women's orchestra in her Northern Ballad. In 1918 she took a position as an Italian and French teacher at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium, and in 1921 a position as Italian teacher at the Albert Street Conservatorium, working in both positions until her death in 1932.

McBurney was active in literary and music societies and in providing venues for young musicians and composers. She never married and died of pneumonia in Hawthorn, Melbourne.[6][7]

Works

McBurney composed an opera, a concerto for piano and orchestra, a string quartet, two choral odes, a number of piano works and about thirty songs. Selected works include:

  • Ode to Dante, 1902
  • The Dalmatian, opera, libretto adapted from a popular novel by F. Marion Crawford, Marietta: A Maid of Venice, 1910.[8][9]
  • Northern Ballad for orchestra, 1907
  • String Quartette in G Minor[10]
  • Bardic Ode From Ossian[11]
  • Persian Song of Spring with 14th century lyrics by Hafiz[12]
  • To my Friends the Birds[13]
  • O Bella Italia, addio[14]
  • Shrine of Remembrance[15]
  • Waldtraut's Song from "Der wilde Jager" by Julius Wolff (writer)[16]
  • An Elizabethan Madrigal[17]
  • A mes amis, les oiseaux with lyrics by Jean Jacques Rousseau
  • Chansonnette on fifteen century French verse[18]
  • Song on May Morning 78rpm recording title 169939 at National Film Sound Archive
  • Gavotte[19]

References

  1. ↑ "There Are Australian Composers". The Age. No. 26, 189. Victoria, Australia. 25 March 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "CONVERSAZIONE". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27, 968. New South Wales, Australia. 25 August 1927. p. 7. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Australian Music". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 714. Victoria, Australia. 7 August 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ Dorum, Eileen (1997). Composers of Australia: a chronological guide to composers.
  5. ↑ "MUSIC". The Australasian. Vol. CXXXV, no. 4, 430. Victoria, Australia. 2 December 1933. p. 15 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Mona Margaret McBurney (1862–1932)". McBurney, Mona Margaret (1862 - 1932). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  7. ↑ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  8. ↑ "MUSIC". The Australasian. Vol. CXXI, no. 4, 044. Victoria, Australia. 3 July 1926. p. 47 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "State Library Victoria - Viewer".
  10. ↑ "ART NOTES". Table Talk. No. 2002. Victoria, Australia. 20 December 1923. p. 25. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "OLD STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION". The Australasian. Vol. CXXI, no. 4, 065. Victoria, Australia. 4 December 1926. p. 57 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "SOCIAL EVENTS". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 25, 597. Victoria, Australia. 25 August 1928. p. 28. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ "L.A.B. MUSIC CLUB". The West Australian. Vol. 50, no. 15, 022. Western Australia. 14 August 1934. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ McBurney, Mona; Fiocchi, A, O bella Italia, addio [music] : song / the words written by A. Fiocchi ; the music composed by Mona McBurney, Novello and Co
  15. ↑ McBurney, Mona; McCrae, K. F (1932), The shrine of remembrance : song, Sutton's Music Warehouse, retrieved 6 September 2019
  16. ↑ McBurney, Mona; Wolff, Julius (1920), Waldtraut's song : from 'Der wilde Jager', Novello and Co, retrieved 6 September 2019
  17. ↑ McBurney, Mona; Downes, Nathaniel (1920), An Elizabethan madrigal : S.A.T.B. quartette, Enoch & Sons, retrieved 6 September 2019
  18. ↑ McBurney, Mona; Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778 (1925), Melodies, Ch. Hayet, retrieved 6 September 2019{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ McBurney, Mona (2005), Gavotte in Nostalgia: Piano Music by Australian Women, NAXOS / Wirripang / Jeanell Carrigan, retrieved 6 September 2019


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