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Louis Isidore Lavater (2 March 1867 – 22 May 1953) was an Australian composer and author born in Victoria, of Swedish extraction.[1][2] He published more than a hundred musical works. He prepared musical settings of popular folklore by collaborating with well known Australian lyricists of his time, including Banjo Paterson,[3] Henry Lawson and Mary Gilmore.[4] He was a leading proponent of the Australian bush ballad as a vehicle for music education.[5][6] In 1938, Alfred Hill composed a musical setting of Lavater's verse Mopoke.[7] Lavater's words were also set by Australian composers Doctor Ruby Davy[8] and Fanny Turbayne.[9]

Notoriety

Lavater was regarded as a gifted leader of music in rural Victoria.[14][15][16] He was fondly known for his direction of Liedertafel concerts held between 1890 and 1920.[17]

In 1927 Gertrude Hart and Bernard Cronin founded the Society of Australian Authors. Cronin was president and Lavater and Hart were vice-presidents.[18] Its aim was to raise the profile of Australian authors across Australia and also to welcome visiting writers.[19] Cronin thought that the society became too political and it ceased to operate in 1936.[20]

An oil portrait of Louis Lavater by Rollo Thomson hangs in the State Library of Victoria.[21] Lavater composed ballet orchestrations which played abroad and arranged light opera.[22] His piano miniatures have been recorded by Larry Sitsky[23] The White Owl was revived in a 1961 recording by Jessica Dix and Arnold Matters.

Performances

Lavater's setting of The Old Bark Hut by Banjo Paterson was revived for a production of bush ballad musical Under the Coolibah Tree produced by the Waterside Worker's Union in 1956.[24]

Musical works

• 1880 Queen Mab Waltz
• 1891 Nina (Ballet)[25]
• 1895 Australis (Australian Hymn words added by Gallipoli correspondent John Sandes)
• 1921 Demon Wind (appeared in a 1921 musical play Laughing Murra by Euphemia Coulson Davidson Nee Kidd[26])
• 1922 Dance of the Saplings
• 1924 Awakening – Sonata in A major[27]
• 1928 Canon in E flat[28]
• 1932 Valse Lente
• 1933 Meadow Clover (two part song based on his 1928 Canon)[29]
• 1923 Hornpipe in G[30]
• 1924 Valse capricieuse[31]
• 1936 Aubade
• 1936 By starlight – serenade for string and piano[32]
• 1936 A summer night – SATB voices[33]
• 1937 We Beseech Thee Almighty God
• 1937 Twelve Preludes for Piano[34]
• 1937 Trav'lin' down the Castlereagh (words by Banjo Paterson)[35]
• 1937 The Old Bark Hut (words by Banjo Paterson)[24]

Books

• 1917 A Lover's Ephemeris[36]
• 1922 This Green Mortality

References

External links

• Free scores by Louis Lavater at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

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