Magic Gum Tree
1932 musical comedy
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The Magic Gum Tree[1] is a musical comedy written in 1932 with music and lyrics by Australian composer Arline Sauer.[2]
Another example of Nursery Australiana
The story involves an immigrant girl lost in the Australian outback who falls asleep and meets several dreamland characters. She is rescued by a group of Australian Aboriginal boys and returned safely home. The piece is a work of Australiana featuring Australian animals and characters. A Queensland reviewer thought it reminiscent of A. A. Milne.[3]
Musical numbers
- Overture
- Ten Little Aboriginals
- Gumnut Pixies (dance)
- Dear Little Wattle Blossom
- Ko-a-la
- Hail! Thou Fair Land (duet)
- Ten Little Aboriginals (Finale)
Productions
- 1934 Railway Institute, Sydney[4][5]
- 1935 Melbourne[6]
- 1935 Clermont, New South Wales[7]
- 1935 Newcastle, New South Wales[8]
- 1935 Lismore, New South Wales[9]
- 1935 Parkside, South Australia[10]
- 1936 Wayville, South Australia (selections)[11]
- 1937 Trangie, New South Wales[12]
- 1937 St George, Queensland[13]
- 1937 Coffs Harbour[14]
- 1937 Armidale, New South Wales[15]
- 1938 Bundarra, New South Wales[16]
- 1938 Maitland, New South Wales[17]
- 1939 Hobart, Tasmania[18]
- 1939 Canberra, ACT[19]
- 1940 Wellington, New South Wales[20]
- 1940 Carnarvon, Western Australia[21]
- 1941 Cairns, Queensland[22]
- 1941 Mount Barker, South Australia[23]
- 1941 Newcastle, New South Wales[24]
- 1942 Manilla, New South Wales[25]
- 1942 Mudgee, New South Wales[26]
- 1942 Rockhampton, New South Wales[27]
- 1946 Burnie, Tasmania[28]
- 1947 Forbes, New South Wales[29]
- 1950 Pinnaroo, South Australia[30]
Carl and Arline Sauer
Carl Sauer D. Mus., F.S.Sc.A. (died 5 March 1951)[31] was a German-born musician, teacher and composer in Australia,[32] founder of the N.S.W. Youth Symphony Orchestra and Choir.[33]
Arline Estelle Lower (died 1990) was an Adelaide pianist[34] who, at around 16 years of age, achieved considerable success at the Easter 1912 competitions in Launceston.[35] She joined Sauer's concert party sometime around 1915[36] and married him in May 1924[37] and became generally known as Arline Sauer the following month.[38] They divorced in 1946[37] and the following year, as Arline Lower, acted as soloist and accompanist to Rosina Raisbeck on the mezzo-soprano's tour of Australia and New Zealand.[39] She continued to find favor as an accompanist in Sydney: for soprano Eleanor Houston, contralto Florence Taylor, tenor John Dudley, and baritone John Cameron. at the 1948 Carols by Candlelight,[40] and in 1949 for baritone Donald Graham and Betty Kable, the New Zealand violinist.[41]
Other works include:
- Pixie-land (c. 1932): three songs for medium voice by Arline Lower
- 1. Pixie pipers
- 2. Pixie revels
- 3. Lullaby
Lower was active in promoting cross-cultural exchanges, founding president of the New Australians' Cultural Association, and founder of the Arline Lower Art Prize of 100 guineas.[42]