Roy Agnew

Roy Ewing "Robert" Agnew (23 August 1891 – 12 November 1944) was an Australian composer, pianist, teacher, and radio announcer. He was described as "the most outstanding of the early twentieth-century Australian composers" by Morris Hinson.

Early life and education

Agnew was born in Sydney on August 23, 1891, the son of Samuel Agnew, a cordial manufacturer, and his wife Maria Jane (née Miller). His first music work to be published was Australian Forest Pieces for Piano in 1913. However, Agnew's music did not receive much public attention until international pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch gave a recital of his works, Deirdre's Lament and Dance of the Wild Men, at a Sydney Town Hall matinee in August 1920. Partly through funding by friends and supporters, Agnew was able to travel to London in 1923 to study composition and orchestration with Gerard Williams,

Agnew also composed a second program, "Music Through the Ages: The Piano and its Composers," featuring mostly classical composers such as Giles Farnaby, Domenico Scarlatti, Mozart, and Chopin, which Agnew played himself.

In 1939, he won first prize for his sonata ballade from the Musical Association of New South Wales, which he later recorded for Columbia. In 1943, he recorded fifty of his compositions for ABC. While these recordings remain a valuable record of his playing, they are somewhat marred by the fact that the limited technology of the period forced him to hurry over some passages to fit them onto tape. has been described as "the most outstanding of the early twentieth century Australian composers". the overwhelming body of his work was written for solo piano, with only occasional ventures into orchestral or other forms.

All critics have noted the influence of Scriabin on Agnew's music, while others have variously detected affinities with John Ireland, Ravel, Debussy, Liszt, Busoni, Cyril Scott, Frank Bridge, and Arnold Bax. Fantasie Sonata (1927) Sonata 1929 (1929) Sonata Poeme (1936) Sonata Ballade (1939) Sonata Legend (Capricornia) (1940)

Other piano works

Australian Forest Pieces (1913) Dance of the Wild Men (1919) Deirdre's Lament (1922) Poème Tragique (1922) 4 Preludes (1925) – Also some duets, and over 60 other solo pieces Rhapsody (1928) Rabbit Hill (1928) Youthful Fancies (1936) Holiday Suite (1937)

Songs Beloved stoop down thro' the clinging dark (Z. Cross Smith) (1913) O moonlight deep and tender (Lowell) (1913) Dirge (1924) Dusk (R. Williams) (1926) Infant Joy (W. Blake) (1926) Two Songs without Words (for violin and clarinet, 1928) Beauty (J. Masefield) (1935) The flowers of sleep (V. Daley) (1935)

Recordings

The poet sings (Lisa Harper-Brown – soprano, David Wickham – piano), Stone Records 2012 Capricornia for piano 1930 (National Film & Sound Archive, Australia)