AustLit

'While all lives reflect specific elements of their times to some degree, the lives of musicians in the Western tradition as they intersected Australia's colonial history are often emphatic in declaring this relationship. Earlier arrivals tended to be escaping from debt or notoriety, such as William Vincent Wallace or Isaac Nathan. Nathan, however, coincided in time and sympathy with a brief period of pre-goldrush idealism of an inclusive kind and contributed to that idealism. Musicians in Australia's early colonial period tended to be defined by how and why they left Europe; later arrivals were more like to gain renown from actual accomplishment when post-goldrush affluence beckoned them. Early colonial society required no musical professionals other than versatile military bandsmen. In contrast, the astonishing popularity of touring opera from the 1860s onwards created a local market for swiftly demonstrable skill and prompted colonial emulation, reaching its summit in the career of Melba.' (Author's abstract)