ABSTRACT
The relatively narrow flow of Australian symphonies composed pre-Second World War remained so during the following decade with only Edgar Bainton and James Penberthy completing symphonies between 1940 and 1950. With the stimulus of the 1951 Commonwealth Jubilee Composers’ Competition this flow of symphonies became a flood with over 40 extant symphonies composed by Australian-based composers during the decade. This number does not include many of the 36 Australian entrants in the competition who cannot be traced. Because of the much larger number of symphonies from this period than those covered by earlier chapters, the works will be discussed under three major stylistic categories in the next three chapters. This chapter will focus on Alfred Hill, who composed in a late Romantic idiom, and Edgar Bainton, writing in a post-impressionist/neoRomantic English idiom with links to Bax and Vaughan Williams.
