(1904 - 1986)
John Antill was born in Sydney in 1904 and received his early musical training at St. Andrew's Cathedral Choir School.Antill was first stimulated by Aboriginal music when he attended in 1913 a real corroboree - the ritual dance ceremony of the Aboriginal - at La Perouse, an area traditionally settled by Aboriginals, on Botany Bay. In the following years he made continual research on the subject of Aboriginal music and collected many recordings, many on Edison cylinders. After having assimilated and gestated this material, Antill eventually produced a shimmering, evocative and propulsive score (published by Boosey and Hawkes). Another major orchestral score is Symphony on a city (1959), commissioned by the City of Newcastle in New South Wales. Sir Eugene Goossens first conducted Corroboree in 1946 and it caused a sensation as a concert suite. Originally conceived as a ballet, it was finally produced by the National Ballet in 1950, with choreography by Rex Reid and decor by William Constable.
John Antill Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
Corroboree (c1935-46)
Timpani + 5 percussion + celeste
Gong, vibraphone, xylophone, tom tom, suspended cymbal x 2, sleigh bells, triangle, castanets, temple blocks, trora sticks, wood block, whip, orchestral bass drum, snare drum, tambourine, bull roarer (wind machine), ratchet, sandpaper blocks, thunder sheet
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