Lindley Evans
Encyclopedia
Lindley Evans CMG was a South Africa
n-born Australia
n composer
, pianist
and teacher. He is best known for his collaboration with Frank Hutchens
in a famous piano duet which lasted 41 years, and as the ABC
's "Mr Melody Man
" for 30 years.
Harry Lindley Evans was born in Cape Town
in 1895, to English parents. He had become an organist
and chorister before he moved to Sydney
when he was 17. He went to the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
to advance his keyboard technique, where he studied with Frank Hutchens
. He also taught piano privately. He later studied with Tobias Matthay
in London
.
He was accompanist to the flautist
John Lemmoné, and accompanied Dame Nellie Melba
on her tours of England and Australia from 1922 until her death, always playing from memory. From 1920 to 1929 he taught at a private girls' school, later adapting his lectures in music appreciation into scripts for an ABC radio program called "Adventures in Music".
He joined Frank Hutchens in a two-piano partnership, which lasted from 1924 until Hutchens' death in 1965. They performed standard piano duet works as well as some of their own compositions, and both played from memory. He and Hutchens included the young and then unknown Joan Hammond
on one of their tours to Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania, over the ABC's misgivings.
He joined the Conservatorium in 1928 as a teacher, alongside colleagues such as Isador Goodman
who became a firm friend, and remained in this position for 40 years. From 1930 to 1946 he was a visiting teacher at another school.
Evans wrote a small amount of solo piano music. His only substantial piano piece is Rhapsody, the rest being mainly light pieces (Vignette: Fragrance, Lavender Time, Berceuse (For a Sleeping Sand Baby) and competition/examination pieces (Tally-Ho!, Merry Thought). There are also songs and choral works. His song Australia Happy Isle, with words by Jessie Street
, won the Victoria
n sesquicentennial prize in 1934. One of his best known works was Idyll for two pianos and orchestra, which was premiered in the Sydney Town Hall
on 4 September 1943 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Edgar Bainton
, along with the premiere of Hutchens' Fantasy Concerto.
He also wrote some film scores, for Charles Chauvel: Uncivilised (1936), Forty Thousand Horsemen
(1940) and The Rats of Tobruk
(1944), and Ken G. Hall
's Tall Timbers (1937).
For thirty years from 1939 Lindley Evans was involved in the ABC Children's Hour and the Argonauts Club
, as "Mr Melody Man". This interest in children led to involvement in the National Music Camp Association as piano tutor, administrator, director and councillor. He worked with the Australian Youth Orchestra
from 1957. He was also a frequent adjudicator at eisteddfods and an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board
.
He was a prominent member of the arts-based Sydney Savages Club, including a stint as president.
Lindley Evans was appointed a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
(CMG) in 1963.
He died aged 87 on 2 December 1982, the same day as his long-time friend and colleague Isador Goodman
. He was survived by his wife Marie; they had no children.
His autobiography Hello, Mr Melody Man: Lindley Evans Remembers, was published in 1983.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and teacher. He is best known for his collaboration with Frank Hutchens
Frank Hutchens
Francis "Frank" Hutchens OBE was a pianist, music teacher and composer originally from New Zealand. He became a popular concert pianist in Australia, and was a founding member of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, where he taught for fifty years.-Early life and education:Hutchens'...
in a famous piano duet which lasted 41 years, and as the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's "Mr Melody Man
Argonauts Club
The Argonauts Club was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio in Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour on 3LO and stayed on when that station was taken over by the Australian Broadcasting Commission...
" for 30 years.
Harry Lindley Evans was born in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in 1895, to English parents. He had become an organist
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
and chorister before he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
when he was 17. He went to the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
to advance his keyboard technique, where he studied with Frank Hutchens
Frank Hutchens
Francis "Frank" Hutchens OBE was a pianist, music teacher and composer originally from New Zealand. He became a popular concert pianist in Australia, and was a founding member of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, where he taught for fifty years.-Early life and education:Hutchens'...
. He also taught piano privately. He later studied with Tobias Matthay
Tobias Matthay
Tobias Augustus Matthay was an English pianist, teacher, and composer.-Biography:Matthaw as born in London in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and were naturalised British subjects...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
He was accompanist to the flautist
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
John Lemmoné, and accompanied Dame Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
on her tours of England and Australia from 1922 until her death, always playing from memory. From 1920 to 1929 he taught at a private girls' school, later adapting his lectures in music appreciation into scripts for an ABC radio program called "Adventures in Music".
He joined Frank Hutchens in a two-piano partnership, which lasted from 1924 until Hutchens' death in 1965. They performed standard piano duet works as well as some of their own compositions, and both played from memory. He and Hutchens included the young and then unknown Joan Hammond
Joan Hammond
Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, DBE, CMG was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.- Early life :...
on one of their tours to Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania, over the ABC's misgivings.
He joined the Conservatorium in 1928 as a teacher, alongside colleagues such as Isador Goodman
Isador Goodman
Isador Goodman AM was a South African-Australian Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. He became a household name in Australia in the 1930s-1970s, taught at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music for 50 years, introduced many Australians to classical music, and contributed hugely to music...
who became a firm friend, and remained in this position for 40 years. From 1930 to 1946 he was a visiting teacher at another school.
Evans wrote a small amount of solo piano music. His only substantial piano piece is Rhapsody, the rest being mainly light pieces (Vignette: Fragrance, Lavender Time, Berceuse (For a Sleeping Sand Baby) and competition/examination pieces (Tally-Ho!, Merry Thought). There are also songs and choral works. His song Australia Happy Isle, with words by Jessie Street
Jessie Street
Jessie Mary Grey Street was an Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner....
, won the Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
n sesquicentennial prize in 1934. One of his best known works was Idyll for two pianos and orchestra, which was premiered in the Sydney Town Hall
Sydney Town Hall
The Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral...
on 4 September 1943 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Edgar Bainton
Edgar Bainton
Edgar Leslie Bainton was a British composer, most celebrated for his church music. Perhaps his most famous piece is the liturgical anthem And I saw a new heaven, but during recent years Bainton's other musical works - neglected for decades - have been increasingly often heard in the concert...
, along with the premiere of Hutchens' Fantasy Concerto.
He also wrote some film scores, for Charles Chauvel: Uncivilised (1936), Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen
Forty Thousand Horsemen is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse cavalry which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and...
(1940) and The Rats of Tobruk
The Rats of Tobruk
The Rats of Tobruk was the name given to the soldiers of the garrison who held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps, during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II...
(1944), and Ken G. Hall
Ken G. Hall
Kenneth George Hall, AO OBE , better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry.-Early years:...
's Tall Timbers (1937).
For thirty years from 1939 Lindley Evans was involved in the ABC Children's Hour and the Argonauts Club
Argonauts Club
The Argonauts Club was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio in Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour on 3LO and stayed on when that station was taken over by the Australian Broadcasting Commission...
, as "Mr Melody Man". This interest in children led to involvement in the National Music Camp Association as piano tutor, administrator, director and councillor. He worked with the Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an Australian organisation for young musicians. It operates the flagship Youth Orchestra as well as Camerata Australia, Young Australian Concert Artists and Young Symphonists. It also runs several other activities including master classes, outreach programmes and...
from 1957. He was also a frequent adjudicator at eisteddfods and an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board
Australian Music Examinations Board
The Australian Music Examinations Board is a privately funded corporation which assesses music, speech, and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide in 1887; the organisation now has a Federal Office in Melbourne, and offices in each...
.
He was a prominent member of the arts-based Sydney Savages Club, including a stint as president.
Lindley Evans was appointed a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(CMG) in 1963.
He died aged 87 on 2 December 1982, the same day as his long-time friend and colleague Isador Goodman
Isador Goodman
Isador Goodman AM was a South African-Australian Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. He became a household name in Australia in the 1930s-1970s, taught at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music for 50 years, introduced many Australians to classical music, and contributed hugely to music...
. He was survived by his wife Marie; they had no children.
His autobiography Hello, Mr Melody Man: Lindley Evans Remembers, was published in 1983.