Arthur Burton Williamson (1884-1939)
Scores ca. 1908-1938

MSS 0200

Biographical Note

Arthur Williamson, aged 50. 1934Arthur (Art) Burton Williamson was born on 10th June 1884 at McLaren Street, Adelaide, and was educated at Malvern College in Malvern. He showed an early interest in music, and attended the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide, studying the organ with Dr Ennis and piano with Mr I.G. Reimann. He won the Elder Scholarship for composition in 1908. He was also organist at several Adelaide churches, including the Wellington Square Methodist Church, and the Flinders Street Baptist Church, played the organ and piano at many public performances, and was honorary accompanist and conductor at the Adelaide Glee Club for many years.

In 1909 Williamson left for London to study at the Royal College of Music, and he toured England and the Continent with his good friend and acclaimed singer, Miss Clytie Hine. He returned to Adelaide to assist in the family business and resumed his musical activities in 1910.

He enlisted in the Australian Medical Corps in November 1916, but was discharged in March 1917 as medically unfit. Arthur organised and played in many concerts to support the war effort and bodies like the Red Cross and the Cheer Up Hut. On 22nd December 1916 he married musician Kathleen Holder in St John’s Church, Adelaide.

Despite a lifetime of poor health, Arthur frequently played at or assisted with numerous concerts, and became associated with a number of leading organisations for the advancement of music, including four years president of the Musical Association of South Australia. He also taught music, acted as an adjudicator at many competitions, and was on the advisory committee of the Adelaide Music Salon, and a vice-president of the Adelaide Junior Orchestra. He was also actively associated with the Corinthian Club.

Arthur died on 30th March 1939 at the age of 54 after collapsing with a stroke while conducting choir practice at Brougham Place in North Adelaide. He was survived by his widow, a son, Edward, and a daughter, Kathleen.

Throughout his life he composed many piano, organ and choral works. His many varied interests included chemistry, amateur medicine, photography and the Repertory Theatre. Along with his close friend, Professor of Dentistry Thomas Draper Campbell, he was a member of the Rationalist Society and the Anthropological Society, and accompanied Campbell and anthropologist Norman Tindale on several expeditions to the outback, where Arthur studied the music of the aborigines while Campbell studied their teeth.

Arthur’s friends also included the Keckwicks, a musical family of father, mother, son Bruce, and two daughters, Evelyn and Beryl, a singer, who owned many of the scores in this collection.

Extracted and adapted from ‘A Family History by A.P. Williamson’ http://users.adam.com.au/easby/ Revision date: 25 April 2011

The scores were transferred from the Elder Music Library in October 2014. Photographs and copies of programs, newspaper clippings and scores were donated by Arthur Williamson's grandson, Phil Williamson, in October 2015.

Digitisation Project

In 2016 Arthur Williamson's son Ted donated funds towards the digitisation of the scores and recordings of some of the songs. These are available through the Adelaide Research & Scholarship database at
https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/100995 and
https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/95690

Contents Listing

Series 1: Scores 

24 scores (18 manuscript and two printed songs - some in several variations).  5 cm.

1.1 Songs

62 works - some in several variations. 11 cm.

1. After Long Years
Words: Samuel Waddington
Composed 15.2.1910
- 6 p MS book ink plus cover page.
- 6 p MS book ink plus cover page with extended accompaniment dated 18.9.1915. Dedicated to Kathleen
- 6 p photocopy (B flat major) dated 18.9.1915
- 6 p photocopy (D major) dated 20.7.1935

2. My True Love Hath My Heart
Words: Philip Sidney
Composed: 13.11.1907
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover page
- 4 p photocopy plus cover page (another 1907 version)
- 4 p photocopy plus cover page (another undated version)
- 4 p MS ink revised version dated 21.7.1912
See also 54 and 60; 1936 setting see 4

3. Morning Song (to a Sleeping Child)
Words: Edith (Nesbit) Bland
Composed: 4.5.1909
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover page
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover page
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover page
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover page with 1 p optional (?) violin part.
See also 47.

4. Elizabethan Song (My true love hath my heart) 2nd setting. 1936
Words: Philip Sidney
Composed: 15.3.1936
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover, with title “My True Love …”, dated 1.2.1935
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover
- 4 p MS ink, with title My True Love (undated)
- 5 p MS ink, with title My True Love (undated) incomplete
- 2 p MS ink and pencil, with title My True Love (undated) incomplete and scored through
See also 2 for 1907 setting

5. O Father Who Didst All Things Make
Words: William Beadon Heathcote
‘To Evelyn’
Composed 21.8.1935
- 4 p MS ink plus cover F major
- 4 p MS ink, plus 1 p Chorus in unison – Ad lib, composed 10/7/1935, plus cover. 2 copies

6. Golden Stars
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed 27.11.1911
- 5 p MS ink plus cover  D major
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover  E major
- 5 p MS ink plus cover  E major (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 5 p MS ink plus cover  E major (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 5 p MS ink, with 1 p cello obbligato E major (3 copies)
-1 p MS ink, violin obbligato E major

7. Thy Remembrance
Words: Henry Longfellow
Composed [ca 1913]
- 3 p MS ink plus cover page (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 3 p MS ink
- 2 p MS ink plus title page (fragile, composition date 29.8.??)
- 3 p photocopy plus title page plus cover page
Sung by Peter Dawson as reported in The Critic 25 June 1913

8. The Elf
Words: John Kendrick Bangs
Composition date unknown
- 3 p MS ink plus cover page in F major (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 3 p MS ink plus cover page in F major
- 3 p MS ink in E flat major
- 4 p MS ink plus title page in E flat major
- 4 p MS photocopy in G major

9. The Sea Hath Its Pearls
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed: 7.9.1907
- 4 p MS ink plus title page plus cover G flat major
- 4 p MS ink plus title page plus cover A flat major (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 4 p MS Ab major
- 4 p MS photocopy Ab major
See also 24, 52 and 59

10. The Nightingale Has a Lyre of Gold
Words: W.E. Henley
Composed: 4.11.1907
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 3 p MS ink plus cover
- 3 p MS ink (dated 4.11.1907)
- 4 p MS ink
- 4 p MS photocopy
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover (dated 11.4.1931)
- 5 p MS photocopy with cover (dated 11.4.1931)
See also 53

11. Love Wand’ring Through the Golden Maze
Words: Thomas Moore
Composed: 8.1.1907
- 2 p MS book in F, ink plus cover (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 2 p MS book in F, ink plus cover
- 2 p MS in F ink plus title page
- 2 p MS in F ink
- 3 p MS in G ink with extended piano introduction and revised ending.
- 3 p photocopy in G ink
See also 49

12. The Lord is My Shepherd
Words: Psalm 23
Composed 5.4.1932
- 6 p MS book ink plus cover in D major
- 7 p MS book ink plus cover in D flat major plus pages 6 and 7 rewritten for mezzo soprano (26.10.1936)
- 7 p MS book ink plus cover in D flat major (dated 26.10.1935)
- plus single detached leaf

13. O My Love’s Like a Red, Red Rose
Words: Robert Burns
Composed: 8.5.1907
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover
Sung by Miss Clytie Hyne as reported in The Critic 19 June 1907
See also 23 and 51

14. All Day I Hear the Wind
Words from ‘Heart of Gold’: Margaret Kiek
Composed: 2.10.1937
- 10 p MS book ink plus cover
- 11 p MS book ink plus cover

15. The Thrush
Words: Edmund Gosse
Composed   31.3.1936
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
- 4 p MS ink
- 2 p print photocopy

16. Where Go the Boats
Words from Child’s Garden of Verse: Robert Louis Stevenson
Composed 28.12.1907
- 3 p MS ink
- 3 p MS ink
- 3 p MS photocopy plus title page
See also 19 and 27

17. The Blue Flame
Words: anon. ‘from the west of England’
- 6 p MS book ink plus cover (stamped Beryl Kekwick)
With typed lyrics sheet for The blue flame, The thrush, Laughter, Rhyme after rain
- 4 p MS ink. Composed 18.2.1908. With address 28 St Mary’s Rd, London
Sung by Miss Clytie Hyne as reported in The Gadfly 9 December 1908
See also 18 and 33

18. Printed music ‘Four Songs by Arthur Williamson’ Book I (London: Breitkopf & Härtel)
- 5 p photocopy of printed music ‘Four Songs by Arthur Williamson’ Book I [The Blue Flame only]
See also 17 and 33

19. Printed music ‘Four Songs by Arthur Williamson’ Book II (London: Breitkopf & Härtel) 2 copies, 1 stamped Beryl Kekwick
-p. 2-5. Sea Way. Words: Ellen Cortissoz. Composed 6.6.1908
See also 20, 35, and 40
-p. 6-7 Where go the Boats? Words: Robert Louis Stevenson. Composition date unknown
- 6 p photocopy with title page
See also 16 and 27

20. Sea Way
Words: Ellen Cortissoz
Composed 6.6.1908
- 4 p MS book ink plus cover
See also 19, 35 and 40

21. O Spirit of the Summertime
Words: William Allingham
Composed 11.12.1907
- 4 p MS book ink
See also 55

22 - 24. MS book ink plus cover

22. O My Love’s Like a Red, Red Rose
Words: Robert Burns
Composed: 8.5.1907
- 4 p ink
Sung by Miss Clytie Hyne as reported in The Critic 19 June 1907
See also 13 and 50

23. Du Bist wie eine Blum
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed 13.8.1907
- 2 p ink
See also 50

24. The Sea Hath Its Pearls
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed: 7.9.1907
- 4 p ink
See also 9, 52 and 59

25. Love and Folly
Words: Whitehead
- Composed: 5.2.1908, 28 St mary’s Rd, Canonbury N.
- 3 p MS book ink plus cover
See also 32

26. The Wind Blows Out of the Gates of the Day
Words: WB Yeats
Undated
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover
- 5 p MS photocopy

27-37. MS book with title page and cover
To Clytie Hine, 1908
34 p

27. Where Go the Boats
Words: Robert Louis Stevenson
Composed: 28.12.1907`
-p. 1-3
See also 16 and 19

28. To the Moon?
Words: Shelley
Composed: 31.12.1907`
-p. 4-5

29. Which?
Words: Christina Rosetti
Composed: 26.1.1908`
-p. 6-8

30. Morning
Words: Emily Dickenson
Composed: 31.1.1908`
-p. 9-11

31. Early News
Words: Anna M. Pratt
Composed: 4.2.1908`
-p. 12-13

32. Love and Folly
Words: Whitehead
- Composed: 5.2.1908
-p. 14-16.
See also 25

33. The Blue Flame
Words: anon. ‘from the west of England’
Composed 18.2.1908
p. 17-20
See also 17 and 18

34. A Pine Tree Standeth Lonely
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed 22.4.1908
p. 21-22

35. Sea Way
Words: Ellen Cortissoz
Composed 6.6.1908
p. 23-26
See also 19, 20 and 40

36. Invictus
Words: WE Henley
Composed 29.6.1908
p. 27-29

37. The Flowers Lift Up Their Lips to the Bee
Words: AH Adams
p. 30-34
See also 38

38. The Flowers Lift Up Their Lips to the Bee
Words: AH Adams
- 5 p MS book ink with cover, 28 St Mary’s Rd, Canonbury N.
- 5 p MS book ink with cover
- 5 p photocopy
See also 37

39 and 40 MS ink 3 p plus cover

39. E’en As a Lovely Flower
Words: Heinrich Heine
p. 1-2 MS ink, with pencil revisions and loose MS pencil ½ leaf with alternative opening.

40. Sea Way
Words: Ellen Cortissoz
p. 3 MS ink incomplete sketch of the concluding lines of song
See also 19, 20 and 35

41. A Mile With Me
Words: Henry van Dyke
Composed 17.4.1909, 28 St Mary’s Rd Canonbury N.
- 5 p MS book ink and pencil draft, plus 6 p final copy
- 6 p MS photocopy
See also 44

42. Marry Me Now: song and chorus
Words: J.B. Fagan, from ‘And So to Bed’
Composed 19.10.1937
- 2 p MS book ink plus cover

43-48. MS photocopy title page and cover
To Clytie Hine, 1909. St Mary’s Rd, Highbury London N.
17 p

43. Calm at Sea
Words: Goethe translated Theo Martin
Composed: 13.3.1909`
-p 1-2

44. A Mile With Me
Words: Henry van Dyke
Composed: 17.4.1909`
-p 3-7
See also 41

45. There’s a Sleek Thrush Sits in the Apple Tree
Words: Edmund Gosse
Composed: 23.4.1909, Adelaide
-p 8-9

46. Crossing the Bar
Words: Tennyson
Composed: 26.4.1909, Adelaide
-p 10-13

47. Morning Song
Words: Edith (Nesbit) Bland
Composed: 4.5.1909, Adelaide
-p 14-17
See also 3

48. Sunset
Words: Brown
indexed – but missing from this collection

49-57 MS ink plus title page and cover
To Clytie Hine, 1907, 28 St Mary’s Rd, Highbury, London N.
17 p

49. Love Wand’ring Through the Golden Maze
Words: Thomas Moore
Composed: 8.1.1907
p. 1-3
See also 11

50. Du Bist wie eine Blume
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed: 13.8.1907
p 4-5
See also 23

51. O My Love’s Like a Red, Red Rose
Words: Robert Burns
Composed: 8.5.1907
p 6-9
See also 13 and 23

52. The Sea Hath Its Pearls
Words: Heinrich Heine
Composed: 7.9.1907
p 10-13
See also 9, 24 and 59

53. The Nightingale Has a Lyre of Gold
Words: W.E. Henley
Composed: 4.11.1907
p 14-16
See also 10

54. My True Love Hath My Heart - 1st setting
Words: Sir Philip Sydney
Composed: 13.11.1907
p 17-20
See also 2 and 60

55. O Spirit of the Summertime
Words: William Allingham
Composed 11.12.1907
p 21-24
See also 21

56. Despair
Words: William Henley
Composed 14.12.1907
p. 25-27

57. p 28-30 [4 Hymn Tunes]
Adelaide, composed 6.2.1909 [later titled Vesper]
Abberton, composed 8.11.1904
Ricare, composed 31.1.1907
Hilary, composed 20.7.1907,
p. 28-30
See also 61

58. A Message
Words: Monico Peveril Turnbull
Composed 27.2.1908
-2 p MS ink with cover

59 & 60. MS pencil [14] p

59. The Sea Hath Its Pearls
Words: Robert Burns
Composed: 8.5.1907
p [1-4]
See also 9, 24 and 52

60. My True Love Hath My Heart - 1st setting.1907
Incomplete
Words: Philip Sidney
Composed: 13.11.1907`
p. [5-14]
See also 2 and 54

61. [Hymn tunes]
Abberton. Composed 8.11.1904
- ½ p ms (2 spirit? copies)
[Untitled] Amen. Composed 31.1.1909
- 1 line ms (spirit? copy)
Ephratah. Undated
- 1 p ms ink
Hilary. Composed 20.7.1907
- ½ p ms (2 spirit? copies)
[Untitled] First words: Let the words of our mouths … Composed 4.12.1919
- ¾ p ms ink (2 copies)
Ricare. Undated
- ½ p ms ink (2 copies)
Vesper.
- ¼ p ms (2 spirit? copies) Composed 6.2.1909. Title added in ms to first copy. Sub-titles ‘Adelaide’
- 1/4/p ms (2 spirit? copies) Composed 15.5.1914
See also 57
Nelvey
- 1 p photocopy

62. The Sweetest Thoughts.
Composed 2.12.1913
- 2 p. plus cover ms ink (2 copies)
- Key G
- words crossed out in pencil

Adelaide choral group, possibly the Adelaide Glee Club, 1912. Williamson is in the centre of the seated row.1:2 Choral works  0.5 cm.

1. The Lord’s Prayer
Composed 1.10.1918
- 2 p MS ink
- 1 p MS pencil
- 1 p MS – 30 spirit? copies

2. Sanctus
Composed 19.3.1931
- 1 p MS book ink
- 1 p MS ink
- 1 p MS ink in E flat major
- 2 photographic copies (copied by Williamson)

1:3 Keyboard works  2 cm.

1. Romance in E flat
Undated
- 11 p MS book ink with cover, with pencil annotations and additions
- 11 p MS book ink with cover, with blue pencil annotations and deletions

2. A Short Story
Composed 3.11.1923
- 4 p MS book ink with cover

3. Caprice in D
Undated
- 12 p MS book ink with cover
- 12 p MS book ink with cover, annotated in blue pencil

4. Theme and Variations
Composed ?
- 7 p MS book ink

5. Variations on an Original Theme (Inside front cover: Variations in A flat, Pastorale in G  for organ)
Composed 5.3.1909, in London
- 13 p MS book ink

6. Dolce far Niente. Organ solo.
Composed 21.7.1931
- 7 p MS book ink plus cover

7. Introspection
Composed 4.1.1924|
- 9 p MS book ink plus cover, with untitled 2 p piece at end composed 9.1.1924
- 9 p MS photocopy (main work only)

1:4 Instrumental works  0.5 cm.

1. Andante espressivo for violin solo with piano accompaniment
Composed 21.11.1912
- 7 p MS book ink plus cover, with 2 p MS ink violin score

1:5 MS copies of scores by other composers, and fragments  0.5 cm

1. Eventide / W.H. Monk. ½ p ms ink
2. How lovely are thy dwellings / Brahms. For voice and organ. 9 p ms book ink
3. The Christ-Child. Christmas carol / words by Gilbert Chesterton; music by Geo. Rathbone.
4. All that I have. Soprano solo from ‘Bethany’ / C.L. Williams. 4 p ms book ink
5. Angelus. Op. 27 no. 5B. Organ solo / Sigfrid Karg-Elert. 2 p ms book ink
6. Fragments, loose pages etc
- 5 p MS book ink plus cover, with 2 p MS ink violin score and 4 p MS pencil sketch

1:6 Photographic plates of Williamson compositions  2 cm.

Williamson would make photographic copies of his music ms, often pinning them on the clothesline to make exposures.

- 17 glass plate negatives 4 1/4 x 4 3/14 inch (manufactured by Imperial Dry Plate Co. Ltd, London)

 

Series 2: Photographs and copies supplied by Phil Williamson 0.5 cm.

The photographs, program and clipping have been added to the Adelaide Research & Scholarship digital archive

Photographs

• Arthur Williamson, aged 27. 1912Arthur Williamson, 1912, aged 27
• Adelaide choral group, possibly the Adelaide Glee Club, 1912 (Arthur Williamson is in the centre of the seated row)
• Arthur Williamson 14/7/1934, aged 50. This photograph appeared in an Adelaide newspaper after he was elected President of the Musical Association of South Australia

Copies

• program for a Musical Evening put on by the Musical Association of South Australia in honour of Sir Granville Bantock, in the Claridge Theatre, Gawler Place, Adelaide, 12/11/1938. (Arthur Williamson was the Vice-President of the MASA at this time.)
• photographic clipping from an Adelaide newspaper of attendees at the above function

 

Cheryl Hoskin
Ashleigh Tobin
18 May 2016