Score
Bracefell's story : for baritone and piano / Michael Hannan.
Library shelf no. 783.8854/HAN 1 [Not for loan]
Work Overview
In 1978 I was involved in a music theatre composition
collaboration, Eliza Survivor, with Ian Fredericks and Stephen
Lloyd, and with Barbara Blackman as the writer of the text.
Barbara also supplied the text of Peter Sculthorpe's Eliza Fraser
Sings which was premiered by the Seymour Group together with our
piece. Since then the story of the shipwreck of the "Stirling
Castle" and Eliza Fraser's survival among and rescue from the
Kabi tribe has held a lingering fascination for me, reinforced by
visits to Fraser Island and adjacent mainland areas.
Bracefell's Story (1990) is a different approach to the events
and is based on the alternative to the official story of Fraser's
rescue as documented in Michael Alexander's "Mrs. Fraser on the
Fatal Shore". David Bracefell was a convict who escaped from the
penal settlement at Moreton Bay, and was accepted by and
initiated into the Kabi tribe. The alternative version of the
Fraser story is that, after the shipwreck and the subsequent
slaying of her husband, Eliza formed a romantic attachment with
Bracefell and persuaded him that if he led her back to
civilisation she would marry him and make sure he received a
pardon. At the first sight of settlement however, she reneged on
the agreement, forcing Bracefell to flee back to his tribe.
My angle on the story is that Bracefell represents an early
example of a white person who has come to terms with aboriginal
life, and has received wisdom about the land. The musical
treatment contrasts the oppressive violence of his life in the
penal colony (section I) with the freedom of his tribal existence
(section II). The third section of the work depicts the chaos
resulting from the white intruders from the shipwreck. Their
failure to conform to aboriginal ways in turn leads to their
deaths or degradation. In addition, Bracefell's failure to see
through the middle class trickery of Fraser almost leads to his
downfall, and the loss of all he has received in the tribal
context.
Work Details
Year: 1990
Instrumentation: Baritone voice, piano.
Duration: 17 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Lyndon Terracini with funds provided by Australia Council. Performing Arts Board.
Text by the composer.
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