Guide to the Papers of Richard Meale, 1890-2009

 

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Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
MS 10076, MS Acc10.182
Creator:
Meale, Richard
Extent:
32 metres and (55 ms boxes + 35 large folio-boxes + 3 medium folio-boxes + 1 small folio box + 1 map-folio + 88 sound/av carriers + 5 digital carriers)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as ['Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Richard Meale, National Library of Australia,, [class/series/file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers in this collection extend from Meale's childhood until the early 2000s. They include correspondence, music manuscripts, contracts and financial records, programs, speeches, radio scripts, lectures, research material, notebooks, diaries, recordings, photographs, family history papers, published music used and collected by Meale, newspaper cuttings, ephemera and publications generally about Meale.

The papers cover many facets of Meale's life, but primarily his creative output. The largest series and the great strength of the collection is Meale's music manuscripts, which cover the period 1945-2002 and consists of full orchestral scores, orchestral parts and other drafts of sketches.

Meale has noted that some manuscripts are missing and were probably lost when he moved from Adelaide to Mullumbimby in far northern NSW in the 1980s. Nonetheless, the papers are a wide-ranging record of Meale's intellectual and creative activity from his early teens to 2004.

Papers added in 2010 include music scores, correspondence, ephemera, awards and photographs. The music scores are largely manuscript, printed and published works of Richard Meale, with a smaller number of compositions and published works by other composers, including Andrew Ford and Freeman McGrath.

Biographical Note:

Richard Meale was born in Sydney on 24 August 1932. Between 1946 and 1955 he studied piano (under Winifred Burston), clarinet, harp, history and theory at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, but he remained self-taught in composition. In 1960 Meale won a Ford Foundation Grant for his composition, Sonata for flute and piano. Meale used the grant to study non-Western music at the University of California in Los Angeles and concentrated on Japanese court music and Javanese and Balinese gamelan.

After visiting Europe in 1961, Meale joined the Music Department of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and developed special programs of Asian and contemporary music. He remained at the ABC until 1968.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Meale's music gained considerable interest. In 1965 Homage to Garcia Lorca was performed at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in the Royal Festival Hall, London, by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Dean Dixon. In the same year, Meale was solo pianist in the first Australian performance of Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques in Sydney. With such works as Nocturnes (1967), Very high kings (1968), Clouds now and then (1969), Soon it will die (1969), Interiors/exteriors (1970), Coruscations (1971), Incredible floridas (1971), Evocations (1973) and String quartet (1975), Meale achieved international recognition and was represented at festivals, including the Warsaw Autumn Festival and the Paris Rostrum, as well as being frequently broadcast on European radio.

In 1969 Meale took up an appointment as Lecturer/Teacher at the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide, where he was a reader in Composition until 1988.

By 1979, Meale had completed Viridian and began work on his first opera, Voss. Voss, based on the novel by Patrick White, premiered in Adelaide in 1986 by the Australian Opera and had subsequent performances in repertoire in Sydney (1986, 1990) and Melbourne (1987).

Meale was awarded an Australian Creative Fellowship in 1989 and in 1991 his second opera, Mer de Glace, premiered in Sydney by the Australian Opera. Like Voss, the libretto for Mer de Glace was by David Malouf. Later works included Melisande for solo flute which premiered in 1996, and in 2002 his Three Miro pieces was performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In 1985 Meale was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to music. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Australian National University in 1996, and in 2000 was conferred Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of New England.

Sources:Richard Meale: list of works. Sydney: Boosey Hawkes, 1991. 'Richard Meale', Australian Music Centre, 2003, viewed 20 January 2009, http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=449

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

The majority of the records appear to have been created or collected by Richard Meale. The papers were transferred to the Library in six accessions (instalments) throughout 2004, with three transferred directly from Meale. The remaining three were transferred by associates and friends of Meale - two former students and Meale's former agent, Barbara Mobbs. It does not appear that any of these custodians rearranged or added to the records during their period of custodianship.

The papers from Barbara Mobbs comprise letters from Patrick White to Meale. They were received at the same time as another collection MS 10106, which also relates to Richard Meale.

All six accessions were acquired from Meale in 2004.

Further papers were transferred by Amanda Meale in 2010.

Arrangement:

The original consignment was transferred to the Library in six instalments in 2004. The largest instalment was packed and sent from Meale's Mullumbimby house by the Library's Curator of Music who worked with Meale during this process. Three instalments were transferred by associates who were custodians of some of Meale's papers - two former students and his former agent, Barbara Mobbs. Of the remaining two instalments, one was transferred directly by Meale from his Sydney home; the other was sent from Meale's house in Mullumbimby and was packed and sent by a friend of Meale's hired by the Library.

Given the range of instalments, it became clear to the archivists that an over-arching original order was almost non-existent. The Curator of Music who visited Meale in Mullumbimby in 2004, spent several days assisting with sorting, labelling and packing the papers. The staff member, together with a colleague and Meale, put the papers into semi-organised piles and foldered and labelled the papers. The remaining papers arrived in an array of different size cartons and folios - some were foldered while others were loose.

With no distinct original order apparent, Library staff imposed order onto the collection and arranged the papers into 15 series. It should be noted that a large part of the collection had been foldered and titled - either by Meale himself or by the Curator of Music in consultation with Meale. These files have been kept intact and file titles have been retained.

Details of how the original consignment has been arranged have been outlined for each series in the relevant series scope and content note.

A further consignment was added in 2010.

Container List:
Series File Box (MS 10076)
1 1-5 1 (MS 10076)
1 4a Elephant folio (MS 10076)
1 6 Folio box 85 (MS 10076)
1 7-10 1 (MS 10076)
1 11-14 2 (MS 10076)
2 1-4 2 (MS 10076)
2 5-9 3 (MS 10076)
2 10-14 4 (MS 10076)
2 15-20 5 (MS 10076)
2 21-29 6 (MS 10076)
2 30-41 7 (MS 10076)
3 1-9 Folio box 8 (MS 10076)
3 10-17 Folio box 9 (MS 10076)
3 18-28 Folio box 10 (MS 10076)
3 29-37 Folio box 11 (MS 10076)
3 38-43 Folio box 12 (MS 10076)
3 44-53 Folio box 13 (MS 10076)
3 54-58 Folio box 14 (MS 10076)
3 59-64 Folio box 15 (MS 10076)
3 65-69 Folio box 16 (MS 10076)
3 70-72 Folio box 17 (MS 10076)
3 73-74 Folio box 18 (MS 10076)
3 75-76 Folio box 19 (MS 10076)
3 77-83 Folio box 20 (MS 10076)
3 84-93 Folio box 21 (MS 10076)
3 94-99 Folio box 22 (MS 10076)
3 100-103 Folio box 23 (MS 10076)
3 104-111 Folio box 24 (MS 10076)
3 112-114 Folio box 25 (MS 10076)
3 115-116 Folio box 26 (MS 10076)
3 117-118 Folio box 27 (MS 10076)
3 119-120 Folio box 28 (MS 10076)
3 121-122 Folio box 29 (MS 10076)
3 123-124 Folio box 30 (MS 10076)
3 125-127 Folio box 31 (MS 10076)
3 128-131 Folio box 27 (MS 10076)
3 132-141 Folio box 32 (MS 10076)
3 142-152 Folio box 33 (MS 10076)
4 1-9 34 (MS 10076)
4 10-18 35 (MS 10076)
4 19-24 36 (MS 10076)
5 1-48 37 (MS 10076)
5 49-85 38 (MS 10076)
5 86-88 39 (MS 10076)
6 1-3, 5-7 39 (MS 10076)
6 4 folio box 85 (MS 10076)
6 8-11 40 (MS 10076)
6 12 folio box 85 (MS 10076)
6 13-14 40 (MS 10076)
7 1-7 41 (MS 10076)
7 8-15 42 (MS 10076)
7 16-22 43 (MS 10076)
7 23-26 44 (MS 10076)
8 1 folio box 86 (MS 10076)
8 2-7 45 (MS 10076)
8 8-12 46 (MS 10076)
8 13-21 47 (MS 10076)
8 22-29, 32 48 (MS 10076)
8 30-31, 33 folio box 86 (MS 10076)
8 34-41 49 (MS 10076)
9 1-5, 7-16 50 (MS 10076)
9 6 folio box 86 (MS 10076)
9 17-29 51 (MS 10076)
10 1-4 52 (MS 10076)
10 5-8 53 (MS 10076)
10 9-12 54 (MS 10076)
11 1-3, 6, 9 Folio box 55 (MS 10076)
11 4-5 56 (MS 10076)
11 7-8, 10 57 (MS 10076)
12.1 1-3 58 (MS 10076)
12.1 4-5 59 (MS 10076)
12.1 6-8, 13 Folio box 60 (MS 10076)
12.1 9-11 61 (MS 10076)
12.1 12, 14, 17-18, 20 62 (MS 10076)
12.1 15-16, 19 Folio box 63 (MS 10076)
12.2 1-5 64 (MS 10076)
12.2 6-8 65 (MS 10076)
12.3 1, 3 65 (MS 10076)
12.3 2 folio box 63 (MS 10076)
12.3 4-6 66 (MS 10076)
12.3 7-8 67 (MS 10076)
12.4 1-3 67 (MS 10076)
12.4 4 68 (MS 10076)
12.4 5 Folio box 63 (MS 10076)
13 1-4 68 (MS 10076)
13 4a, 5-7 69 (MS 10076)
13 8-11 70 (MS 10076)
13 12-14 71 (MS 10076)
13 15 Folio box 86 (MS 10076)
14 1-3 71 (MS 10076)
14 4-8 72 (MS 10076)
14 9-14 73 (MS 10076)
14 15-18, 20 74 (MS 10076)
14 19 Folio box 86 (MS 10076)
14 21-24 75 (MS 10076)
14 25-28 76 (MS 10076)
14 29-33 77 (MS 10076)
14 34-38 78 (MS 10076)
14 39-41 79 (MS 10076)
15 Monographs 80-81 (MS 10076)
15 1, 4-5 Folio box 82 (MS 10076)
15 2-3 folio box 83 (MS 10076)
15 6-7 79 (MS 10076)
15 8-10 Folio box 84 (MS 10076)

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Performing arts

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Available for research. Not for loan.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as ['Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Richard Meale, National Library of Australia,, [class/series/file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: