Revisiting Interiors: Henry Handel Richardson and her music

Henry Handel Richardson (1870-1946) enjoys iconic status as one of Australia’s most important writers. Winner of the Australian Literature Society gold medal in 1929, she was internationally renowned for her novels, short stories and translations. Less well known is her musical legacy. Richardson trained to be a concert pianist at the Leipzig Conservatory and composed works for voice and piano throughout her life. She was one of several prominent Australians who studied in Leipzig in the late 1800’s, and her music displays clear influences from the German Romantic tradition espoused by the conservatory during that period.

A Creative Arts Fellowship from the National Library of Australia in 2022 enabled me to carry out research into Richardson’s musical world. The aim of this research was the creation of a staged work exploring her life from a music perspective. This work is an interdisciplinary production which includes visual images, dramatization, narration, composition and music performance. My research centred around the question: how significant a role did music play in Richardson’s creative output?

My archival research into Richardson’s correspondence, manuscripts of books and music, photographs and ephemera explored the role music played in her life, tracing the fluid exchange between literary and musical works in her creative process. I also examine the impact of her ambiguous attitude to traditional gender roles and identity on her creative output. This seminar presents my findings about Richardson’s musical journey and explores the ongoing creation of an interdisciplinary performance based on her work and persona.

Australian/Sierra-Leonean pianist Tonya Lemoh has made a career of championing forgotten composers. Labelled a "pianist archaeologist” by a leading critic, her concert appearances and recordings have consistently garnered critical acclaim.

A passionate advocate of Australian music, her doctoral research resulted in a world premiere recording of the complete piano works of Raymond Hanson. Awarded Editor’s Choice in Limelight magazine, it received five stars. Tonya was the recipient of a Creative Fellowship Award from the National Library of Australia in 2022, where she pursued research into the musical legacy of Henry Handel Richardson. She has presented research findings on Australian music history at the National Musicological Society, Sydney Conservatorium’s Musicology Colloquium and in lecture recitals in Australia and Scandinavia.

A prize winner in international piano competitions, she has performed in Australia, Africa, America and Europe. She has released numerous CDs, most recently a disc of music by Henry Handel Richardson. Tonya has written articles for Limelight, Australia’s leading classical music magazine, and been a guest on Australian and Danish radio/television as performer and interviewee, including a recent appearance on Andrew Ford’s The Music Show for ABC Radio National. She taught on the piano faculty of Copenhagen University for ten years.