Interview with Emeritus Professor Sir Peter Platt

Interview with Sir Peter Platt, born in Sheffield, England, in 1924. Talks about his family background, and his parents meeting when they were medical students. Refers to his father being awarded a Baronetcy for services as president of the Royal College of Physicians, and his reasons for not using the title in academic life. Discusses his father's political views, and his own view of the importance of research. Describes his musical awakening at the age of 13.

Mentions studying at the Royal College of Music, London, and his service on torpedo boats in the English Channel during World War II that interrupted his studies. Talks about deciding to become an academic, studying at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the character of his Oxford education. Refers to teaching at Sydney University before his appointment as Professor of Music at the University of Otago. Comments on the impact his predecessor Victor Galway had in establishing music as an intellectual and rigorous discipline within the university. Explains how he came to teach medieval music, its strength and its role in the origins of Western music. Refers to his first sabbatical leave from Otago, performances attended in Germany and England, and musicology visits in the United States. Comments on how his interest in musical exploration had developed at the University of Sydney, and discusses the interdependence of musical disciplines and the arts in general. Outline how his teaching of harmony and counterpoint was modeled on the 16th century practice of counterpoint. Discusses restructuring the harmony course at Otago in 1970 in conjunction with Jack Spiers, opening the way to ethnomusicology as well as pop music and composition. Mentions the introduction of performance into the university course in the 1960s. Reflects on his lecturing style, his ideas on linking all branches of music, and the importance to him of the process of renewal.

Talks about the character of Dunedin as a music centre, and the disadvantage to the city of the establishment of the National Orchestra just before he arrived. Comments on the establishment of the Dunedin Civic Orchestra ca.1960, and on his work as musical director of the Dunedin Opera Company. Recalls conducting classical and contemporary music, and playing the oboe in performances. Refers to his busy schedule of rehearsals and performances with various choral, opera and instrumental groups in Dunedin. Talks about visits by notable musicians to Dunedin including Julius Katachen and Istvan Nadas. Discusses his work as the first chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council.

Abstracted by - Rosalind Halton

Interviewer(s) - Rosalind Halton

Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-020284 - OHC-020286

Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 2.47 Hours and minutes Duration.

Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7115.

Search dates: 1924 - 1995

Original recordings not available for playback. Surrogate copies will be provided.