Misplaced Pages

#259740

63-633: Hart was born in Brockley , originally in the English county of Kent but now part of the London Borough of Lewisham , the eldest child of Frederick Robinson Hart and his wife Jemima (Jemmima) Waters, née Bennicke. Both his parents were musical. From the age of six, Fritz sang in the parish choir his father ran, and his mother was a piano teacher. He spent three years as a chorister at Westminster Abbey , under Sir Frederick Bridge , and then went to

126-526: A Grade II* listed building , is situated at the top of the hill. The School hall contains the ' Brockley murals '. Dating from 1932 to 1935 by Charles Mahoney , Evelyn Dunbar and other students of the Royal College of Art , they are considered some of the best examples in the country of the Neo-Romantic style and illustrate many local scenes. Close by, a stone circle was erected in 2000 as

189-551: A classical approach to teaching; before a student could even pick up a brush they had to first master charcoal drawing to a level that their work could be included in the school's annual exhibition. He believed painting should “proceed from breadth to detail, from general to particular truths, but always to see them in their order of importance; that is, to draw.” In addition to classes at the National Gallery, Meldrum also studied under George Coates . Coates' classes, held at

252-427: A company contracted by J. C. Williamson's to play the operetta King of Cadonia . The initial contract for 12 months was extended to four years. In 1913 Hart and Alfred Hill founded the short-lived Australian Opera League. The first programme, on 3 August 1914, included the first performance of Hart's opera Pierrette . In 1913 George Marshall-Hall , who founded Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and subsequently

315-623: A composer. He had the overall responsibility for her students' musical training, many of whom made their marks internationally. The institution was renamed the Melba Conservatorium in 1956, after Hart's deeath. In 1924 Hart was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. In 1927 he became acting conductor for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and in 1928, after the death of Alberto Zelman ,

378-518: A girl who is later found out not to be from their native Brockley. Laura Wilson, the series' narrator and protagonist of ongoing comic book series The Wicked and the Divine lives in Brockley at the start of the series. Max Meldrum Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism ,

441-551: A millennium project by a group of local artists, which won a Civic Trust Award in 2002. The Hilly Fields Midsummer Fayre has been running for over 30 years and is a much celebrated annual community event. At 160 ft above sea level, Hilly Fields has wide views from Canary Wharf and Shooters Hill to Crystal Palace and the North Downs in Kent . West of the railway between Brockley and New Cross Gate railway stations lies

504-399: A painting competition, the winner of which was awarded the prestigious National Gallery Travelling Scholarship. Students at the school were invited to submit a work based on a common subject which were judged by Melbourne’s art establishment. The winner was awarded the tidy sum £150 per annum for three years to continue honing their skills abroad. In 1899, Bernard Hall chose “Welcome News” as

567-520: A representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwar period. He also won fame for his portrait work, winning the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1939 and 1940. Max Meldrum was born in 1875 in Edinburgh , Scotland . His father, Edward Meldrum, was an analytical chemist and his mother, Christina Meldrum ( née Macglashan), a schoolteacher. Products of

630-512: A small council flat, the other in a large house. The Rivoli Ballroom has featured in numerous films, TV shows and fashion shoots, and was used for the debut album launch for Florence and the Machine , the video for Tina Turner 's Private Dancer and a secret gig by The White Stripes . The Metros ' song "Last of the Lookers" from their 2008 album More Money Less Grief mentions meeting

693-490: A theatre company, during which time he wrote incidental music for Julius Caesar . He also wrote music for Romeo and Juliet , which he conducted himself. He then worked for various touring companies, which gave him exposure to operettas, musical comedy, dramatic incidental music and opera. He married in 1904, and his first child was born the following year. Hart sailed to Australia aboard R.M.S. China in May 1909, as part of

SECTION 10

#1732802494260

756-539: Is a district and an electoral ward of south London , England, in the London Borough of Lewisham 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Charing Cross . The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood where badgers are seen ( broc is the Old English for badger) or Brook (Stream) by a wood (Ley). In the late 12th century, a small Premonstratensian house was founded there, before being transferred to Bayham (Sussex) in 1208. Formerly part of

819-586: Is now protected from demolition. Being under the bomber flight path to the London docks, the area suffered significant V-2 rocket and other bomb damage in World War II . The post-war blocks of council flats at the south end of Wickham Rd and at the west end of Adelaide Avenue are evidence of this. During the Second World War , an anti-aircraft gun emplacement was located on Hilly Fields. After

882-598: Is often the case in London, the location of the station defines the geography of the district and areas to the north and west of Brockley Station, previously considered as Hatcham , New Cross , Telegraph Hill (SE14) and St Johns (SE8), are now considered Brockley. Ordnance survey maps of Brockley up to the 1940s tend to centre on the location of the Jack, the Hall, and Crofton Park railway station, but recent maps are now more centred on Brockley Station and nearby areas, such as with

945-690: Is roughly how it sounds in Jamaican patois : The musician Nick Nicely 's 1982 cult psychedelic track " Hilly Fields " was inspired by the park of the same name. Two early novels by Henry Williamson (who lived on Eastern Road) describe Brockley in great detail, as it was in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Edgar Wallace 's fictional 1920s detective J. G. Reeder lived in Brockley Road. Wallace himself lived in Tressillian Crescent, Brockley, for over 30 years. His book The Duke in

1008-633: The Brockley Jack Theatre . Brockley Hall (demolished 1931) stood nearby and now gives its name to a road on a 1930s housing estate. Crofton Park railway station was built nearby in 1892 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway . Situated just west to what is now the Brockley conservation area, Brockley railway station was opened on 6 March 1871 and is currently served by London Overground and Southern in Travelcard Zone 2 . As

1071-476: The Brockley Nature Reserve (formerly known as New Cross Gate Cutting Nature Reserve). This ten acre woodland is home to over 30 species of birds including greater spotted woodpecker and sparrowhawk . The reserve is managed by London Wildlife Trust , access (when open) is from the entrance on Vesta Road. Gorne Wood is a three acre piece of ancient woodland , the closest such piece of land to

1134-706: The Celtic Twilight , and used librettos by W. B. Yeats , J. M. Synge , Augusta Gregory , and George Russell (AE). He also set texts by Shakespeare , Edmond Rostand , Molière , Edwin Arlington Robinson , and the Bible. He wrote 514 songs, of which about half were composed in Melbourne and a quarter each in England and Hawaii; four large choral works, unaccompanied choruses, and part-songs. He

1197-578: The City of London . Like its neighbour Telegraph Hill , Brockley has a reputation as a focus for the arts in South London. The mid-1960s saw the beginning of a ' bohemian ' influx of artists, musicians and alternative types attracted by the neglected and (at the time very cheap) Victorian houses and vast rambling gardens and the close proximity to Goldsmiths College and Camberwell School of Art . Many artists have built studios in their back gardens and

1260-825: The Commons Preservation Society and local groups in the 1880s and 1890s (including Octavia Hill , one of the founders of the National Trust ). In 1896, after being bought with the proceeds of private donations and funding from the London County Council , the fields were transformed from old brickpits and ditches into a park. The park became a regular meeting place for the Suffragette movement between 1907 and 1914. The old West Kent Grammar School (later renamed Brockley County Grammar School), now Prendergast Hilly Fields College ,

1323-533: The River Thames via Deptford Creek . It is now covered over. Industrial development arrived in 1809 in the form of the Croydon Canal running from Croydon to Bermondsey . This was later filled in and replaced by the London & Croydon railway which runs through the original canal cutting between Brockley (opened in 1871) and New Cross Gate stations. Some of the oldest houses in Brockley are

SECTION 20

#1732802494260

1386-512: The Royal College of Music in 1893, where he became acquainted with Gustav Holst , Samuel Coleridge-Taylor , William Hurlstone , Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Ireland . At one student concert in 1896, Hart played the cymbals, Vaughan Williams the triangle, Holst the trombone, and Ireland also played. Composition was not one of Hart's subjects at the RCM, but he nevertheless came under the influence of Charles Villiers Stanford . Hart toured with

1449-494: The Scottish enlightenment , both parents fervently embraced scientific progress and empiricism. His mother was said to be particularly zealous in her beliefs in scientific progress, having “inverted Calvinism into an equally fierce agnosticism…[her] eyes would gleam with holy fire while she would orate upon her favorite scheme of filling the churches with scientific instruments and the cathedrals with mighty telescopes.” Edward, who

1512-574: The University of Melbourne in 1915, and open to a merging of the two institutions but such was the anti-German attitude during World War I that the predominantly German staff expected adverse discrimination from the strongly pro-British University. Their fears were well-founded, as the brilliant pianist Scharf was dismissed on account of his birthplace, and ended up in a camp for enemy aliens . Nellie Melba established her school of singing there in 1915, and she and her pupils helped shape Hart's work as

1575-462: The electoral ward map demarcating Brockley. While the name Crofton Park was invented by the railway company, it was given official sanction with the naming of Crofton Park Library, a fine arts and crafts building, in 1905, and is now the name of an electoral ward to the south. The oldest surviving house in the area of what is now considered to be the northern extent of Brockley is the " Stone House " on Lewisham Way (opposite LeSoCo ) built in 1773 by

1638-705: The Louvre to work on his copy of Paolo Veronese’s The Flight of Loth (AKA Flight from Sodom) . While he again took up places at the academies, it was more for want of a place to work, later remarking that he “took little interest” in their teaching. He ran the Meldrum School of Painting there between 1916 and 1926. Among his students were Clarice Beckett , Colin Colahan , Auguste Cornels, Percy Leason , John Farmer, Polly Hurry , Justus Jorgensen , Arnold Shore and Gray Smith , and had considerable influence on

1701-498: The North Melbourne Trades Hall, became a gathering point for Melbourne’s bohemian scene and were attended by artists such as Lional and Percy Lindsey , as well as George Bell . To help with his tuition and expenses, Max also produced illustrations for Champion , a short-lived local paper launched by journalist, publisher, and socialist Henry Hyde Champion . Beginning in 1887, the National Gallery held

1764-570: The Second World War, most of the big houses were sub-divided into multiple occupation. In the 1950s and 1960s these houses provided accommodation for the recently arrived African-Caribbean population, many of whom found employment in nearby Deptford . In 1948, five passengers bound for England from Jamaica on the ship Empire Windrush gave Wickham Road as their intended destination on arrival in London. Other migrants came from Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and South Asia (especially Sri Lanka). In

1827-686: The Suburbs is also based in Brockley. The Picturegoers , the first novel by David Lodge , is set in and around a rundown cinema in 1950s Brockley; thinly disguised as 'Brickley'. Blake Morrison 's novel South of the River (2007) is set in Brockley. Colin Wilson's book The Outsider (1956) opens with a reference to Brockley. In 2003, the BBC1 documentary Worlds Apart showed two contrasting Brockley families living within yards of each other; one in

1890-646: The Symphony Orchestra until his death. Hart died on 9 July 1949 at Honolulu of cardiac disorder and was cremated, survived by his son and his second wife. Hart excelled in writing for voices. He wrote 23 operas, of which 18 were composed in Melbourne and 4 in Hawaii. Seven of these were staged in his lifetime in Australia; none appear to have been staged in Britain. He was interested in the writers of

1953-515: The aim of influencing the regeneration of the Brockley Cross area and has been instrumental in the restoration of Brockley Common and the greening of several other derelict sites. Brockley contains several attractive open spaces, amongst them Blythe Hill , Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries (opened in 1858 and now a nature reserve) and Hilly Fields . The latter was saved from development by

Fritz Hart - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-416: The annual 'open studios' weekend is a good opportunity to visit some of these. The Lewisham Art House , housed in a grand Edwardian building (which was formerly Deptford Library) on Lewisham Way, provides art classes, studio and exhibition space. The Grade II listed library building is a Carnegie Library , made possible by the philanthropy of the industrialist Andrew Carnegie . It opened in 1914 and

2079-565: The architect George Gibson the Younger . which is a Grade II* Listed building and was historically considered to be in Deptford . Brockley market gardens were famous for their enormous Victoria rhubarb which were fertilised by ' night soil ' from London. There were orchards too and some ancient fruit trees survive in local gardens. Until the late 19th century a small river flowed northward from Crofton Park and east of Malpas Rd to join

2142-469: The cottages and shops which form a small terrace on Coulgate Street, just east of Brockley station. These are believed to date from 1833 and were probably originally associated with the canal. From 1872 until 1917, Brockley Lane railway station provided access to the Greenwich Park branch line and the remains of the old station entrance are still visible at Brockley Cross . In the latter half of

2205-545: The county of Kent , Brockley became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham in the County of London in 1889, and subsequently was brought into the London Borough of Lewisham with the creation of Greater London in 1965. Brockley has its origins in a small agricultural hamlet of the same name located in the area of the " Brockley Jack " (rebuilt 1895), a large Victorian public house that today houses

2268-603: The current conservation area. However, open farmland remained south of Brockley Grove and west of the railway line into the early 1930s. Many grand houses in Brockley were occupied by the owners and managers of factories in neighbouring industrial areas such as Deptford and Bermondsey . At 63 Breakspears Road lived Edwin Watts , owner of 'ER Watts and Son', a mathematical instrument making company in Camberwell Road. Charles Booth 's Map of London Poverty (1900) describes

2331-494: The group released a statement describing their central tenet: We desire nothing but sincerity and a humble study of nature, from which alone all art, whether decorative or realistic, draws any enduring life. Meldrum influenced the young Albert Ernest Newbury . Despite his leadership of a group, the Australian tonalists , which has lately come to be regarded as a precursor to minimalism , Meldrum's attitude to modern art

2394-663: The highest number of Green party councillors in the UK. However, in the 2010 Local Elections, held at the same time as the 2010 General Election, the Green party lost all but one of their seats. The remaining seat was held by Darren Johnson in Brockley. In the 2014 Council elections the Green Party retained one of Brockley's council seats, which is held by Councillor John Coughlin. Linton Kwesi Johnson mentions Brockley in his poem "Inglan Is A Bitch" (1980). He spells it "Brackly" as this

2457-486: The mews behind the large houses. The Grade II listed Rivoli Ballroom (originally a cinema) dates from 1913 but was remodeled as a dance hall in 1951. It has a unique and outstanding interior, which has featured in many films, videos and fashion shoots. In 2007 The White Stripes rock band played a secret gig here. Other notable live performances include those by Florence + the Machine (2009, 2012) and Damon Albarn (2014). The building has recently been listed (2007) and

2520-470: The neighbourhood hosted the first annual Brockley Street Art Festival , which saw the creation of more than twenty high quality murals in the area. Brockley ward is represented by three Labour councillors as of the 2022 election. All of Brockley Ward's three councillors were from the Green Party and combined with neighbouring Ladywell ward, Lewisham Council had six Green Party councillors; one of

2583-491: The nineteenth century, the Tyrwhitt-Drake family developed the north side of Brockley with grand villas, large terraces and semi-detached houses (Tyrwhitt Road and Drake Road are named after the family). Development started south of Lewisham Way in the late 1840s with the modest cottages at 2–22 Upper Brockley Rd and spread south and east towards Hilly Fields . In 1900 Chalsey Rd was the last road to be completed within

Fritz Hart - Misplaced Pages Continue

2646-424: The period 1945–60s it was very difficult to get a bank loan to purchase a pre-1914-built property, hence the frequent subdivision of the larger older houses during this period. From the mid-1960s artists (some associated with nearby Goldsmiths College) started to move into the large and at the time neglected houses on Manor Avenue, beginning the process of 'gentrification' which continues today. Much of north Brockley

2709-556: The permanent conductor. In 1932 the Melbourne University Conservatorium Orchestra and the MSO amalgamated under the joint conductorship of Hart and Bernard Heinze . In 1929 the MSO was the first Australian orchestra to play open-air concerts. These were in Melbourne's Alexandra Gardens, under the baton of Hart. These 'Popular Concerts' were made possible through a donation by Sidney Myer . Hart

2772-574: The physical things of life, and to expect them to do some things equally as well as men is sheer lunacy [...] A great artist has to tread a lonely road. He becomes great only by exerting himself to the limit of his strength the whole time. I believe that such a life is unnatural and impossible for a woman." While living in France , he married Jeanne Eugenie Nitsch, a singer with the Opéra-Comique . Meldrum and his wife returned to Australia on board

2835-592: The quality of the training. In a letter to a friend dated June 1900, he compares the painting instruction he received in Melbourne favorably to that in Paris and hints at pursuing a more self-directed approach to his study. By mid-1901, he was living with his uncle in Edinburgh where he continued work on his study of the nude. By the end of that year he had shipped his completed work to the scholarship’s trustees in Melbourne. Meldrum had returned to Paris by 1902 to attend

2898-499: The residents of Wickham Road and Breakspears Road as "well-to-do" or "wealthy". The actress Lillie Langtry was one notable resident during this period. The terraced streets west of Brockley Rd were more mixed: "comfortable and poor". The artist/poet David Jones , whose father was a printer, grew up in Howson Road. Some of David Jones's paintings and illustrations depict his parents' house and garden. The writer Henry Williamson ,

2961-545: The rival Albert Street Conservatorium, left for London and Hart took over his lecturing duties at the latter institution, Eduard Scharf acting as director. A year later Marshall-Hall sent instruction that the Conservatorium was to be closed down, and Scharf found employment with the University, but other staff refused to resign and appointed Hart director. In 1915 Marshall-Hall was re-appointed professor of music at

3024-512: The son of a bank clerk, was born in nearby Braxfield Road. Brockley contains several fine churches: St Mary Magdalen's RC Church, Howson Road (completed in 1901), St Peter's, Wickham Rd (completed 1870), the Grade II listed St Andrews, Brockley Rd (1882) – originally a Presbyterian Church , which contains the modern stained glass New Cross Fire memorial window (2002) – and the Grade II listed St Hilda's, Crofton Park 1908 . The latter

3087-613: The streets such as Ashby Mews and Wickham Mews. This range of 19th-century architectural styles makes Brockley unusual. The extension of the East London Line , now part of the London Overground network, opened in May 2010. It connects Brockley with north London and is encouraging new residential development around Brockley station . In 2000 the Brockley Cross Action Group was set up with

3150-429: The subject of the season’s competition. Eight works were submitted, from artists including Hugh Ramsey , Norman MacGeorge, and Elsie Hake (Barlow) . Meldrum’s submission emerged victorious, with Ramsey’s piece coming second, amid some controversy. Upon winning, Meldrum is said to have slashed his entry to pieces, exclaiming he “would never again put an insincere brush to canvas.” Max chose Paris as his destination for

3213-676: The time. His apartment was a short walk from the Académie Colarossi , where he began studying under L. J. R. Collin and Gustave Courtois , late proponents of the French Academic style . By March 1901, Meldrum was also taking additional classes at Académie Julian under Jean-Paul Laurens , an anti-clerical republican who also taught the Academic style. Despite his dedication to study – classes occupied both his days and his nights – Meldrum quickly became disillusioned with

SECTION 50

#1732802494260

3276-530: The travelling scholarship. Meldrum set off for France in April 1900, arriving first in London before quickly making his way to Paris. The terms of his scholarship required him to produce three paintings over the three-year period: a nude study, a copy of an old master, and an original work. Upon arriving in Paris, he took up residence at 7 Rue Delambre in Montpernasse , an area popular with émigré artists at

3339-591: The work of his friend Alexander Colquhoun, whose son Archibald was also a Meldrum student at that time. In 1916–17 he was elected president of the Victorian Artists' Society , but was dropped from the position amidst controversy the following year, inspiring his students to form a breakaway group, the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society , which remains active in the Melbourne arts scene to this day. Drawing on Meldrum's principles,

3402-451: Was reactionary ; in 1937 he described it as 'savagery', 'crude and vile' and 'likely to debase the taste of our children', condemning one example as 'an explosion in a sawmill' Though women were amongst his followers, with one, Clarice Beckett , whom he held in high regard, Meldrum in criticizing Nora Heysen 's winning the 1938 Archibald Prize , proclaimed: "Men and women are differently constituted. Women are more closely attached to

3465-456: Was deeply attached to the poetry of Robert Herrick , and set his words 126 times . His choral works used texts by Shelley and Walt Whitman . He also wrote a symphony (1934), 14 other orchestral works, numerous chamber and solo instrumental works including 2 string quartets and 3 violin sonatas, transcriptions and arrangements. Selected operas: Choral works: In his student days at the Royal College of Music, Hart wrote verse, some of which

3528-584: Was designated a Conservation Area in 1974 and in the same year the Brockley Society was formed with the aim of preserving and protecting the character of the area. Brockley is today one of the best preserved and most coherent Victorian suburbs in Inner London and contains examples of almost every style of mid- to late 19th century-domestic architecture from vast Gothic Revival piles to modest workmen's cottages. There are also mews behind some of

3591-540: Was designed by J E Newberry in the Arts and Crafts movement style and still contains its original interior. After World War I Brockley began to lose its exclusivity as the wealthy began to relocate to the outer suburbs and the big houses were increasingly sub-divided into multiple occupation. The typical inter-war houses on Upper Brockley Gardens and on Harefield Rd are clearly more modest than their Victorian neighbours. Small industrial workshops also became established in

3654-553: Was designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas . The Brockley Jack Theatre has recently been refurbished and has a high reputation for performances of new plays and is the home of the Brockley Jack Film Club . Each summer local artists host a thriving Brockley Open Studios weekend. Since 2004 Brockley has also hosted the Brockley Max performing arts festival involving many local musicians and singers. In 2015,

3717-404: Was friends with many of the city’s painters, introduced Max to art from an early age - he and his father spent many a day touring the city’s well-regarded art galleries when Max was a young boy. In 1889, the family – Edward, Christina, Max, and Max’s two brothers – emigrated to Australia. His sister Elizabeth was born soon after their arrival in Melbourne. Once there, Max decided the academic life

3780-524: Was highly regarded as a teacher, his pupils including Peggy Glanville-Hicks , Margaret Sutherland , Hubert Clifford and Robert Hughes . After 1937 Hart returned to Melbourne only once, for the jubilee of the Albert Street conservatorium in July 1945 when he conducted several of his works. His portrait was painted by, among other artists, Max Meldrum and is the National Gallery of Australia 's collection. The National Library of Australia has another portrait, by A. D. Colquhoun . In December 1931 Hart

3843-432: Was invited to be guest conductor of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra . He returned annually, remaining there from December to April. Hart's wife died in 1935 and in September 1937 he married an American, Marvel Allison. In 1937 he became permanent conductor of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and first professor of music at the University of Hawaii , a position he retained until his retirement in 1942. He remained conductor of

SECTION 60

#1732802494260

3906-411: Was not for him and quit formal schooling. Initially taking up a clerkship at a wool store, in 1892 he enrolled in the School of Design at the Melbourne National Gallery Art School . Max entered the National Gallery Art School in 1892, the very same year that Lindsay Bernard Hall , a staunchly conservative English-born artist and teacher, began his long tenure as the school’s director. Bernand Hall took

3969-409: Was set to music by Gustav Holst (the unpublished operas The Revoke (1895) and The Idea (1898); partsong Light leaves whisper (1896), and children's chorus Clouds o'er the summer sky (1898)). In Melbourne, his volume of verse Appassionata: Songs of Youth and Love was published by Lothian Press. While in Hawaii he wrote 23 novels, none of which were published. Brockley Brockley

#259740