Music publishing
Most of the history of music publishing and music publishers in New
Zealand remains to be written. Very little has been documented, either
of the companies or individuals involved in the industry, or of the
actual material published by them, so any analysis of output, trends or
influences has not been carried out. John Mansfield Thomson's The Oxford History of New Zealand Music (1991)
does mention a number of early New Zealand music publications, but in
the music history context rather than as a more specific publishing
history. However, his survey does point to the desirability of further
exploring the relationships between the social context and publication
patterns, for example the proliferation in publications of nationalistic
songs which occurred during any period of conflict.
Early music publishing
was usually in the hands of individual printers or lithographers, with
some involvement by the newspaper presses. Identification of the
individuals or firms involved has barely started, nor has the
relationship between many of the publishers, printers and composers.
Entries in works such as the Cyclopedia of New
Zealand are few and far between, and it is apparent that the early
music publishers had this work very much as a sideline, making tracing
their development more difficult. Research through more general printing
and publishing trade listings could well prove fruitful.
Three companies
attained a long term prominence in the industry. Arthur Eady (and its
various off-shoots), Charles Begg, and the Wai-te-ata Press are the most
important New Zealand music publishers, yet there has been almost no
work on either their company histories, or their publications. Work on
other individual firms, including the Brett Printing Co., the Dresden
Pianoforte Agency (later Bristol Pianos), Whitcombe & Tombs,
Price Milburn, Maoriland, Sevenseas, the Lyttelton Times, Daly's, and
Newson & Stroud is also urgently required as the source material
is becoming scarcer and is deteriorating. It is regrettable that the
fates of the publishing records of most of these companies are currently
unknown.
There is no
bibliography of the actual published items. Given that the earlier
national bibliographies did not include sheet music, there is still much
to be found and documented. The somewhat ephemeral nature of some
printed music makes the search for the early published items all the
more urgent. Recent technological developments resulting in the
relatively easy production of scores from the personal computer has made
research into recent publishing history even harder because there has
been an increase in the self-published, or published-on-demand titles.
The lists compiled by Ross Harvey ( Music at National
Archives , 1991b), and Elizabeth Nichol ('New Zealand music
registered for copyright 1879-1900', 1984) act as a starting point for
music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Various issues of The Canterbury Series of Bibliographies, Catalogues
and Source Documents in Music also serve as useful references
and pointers to other avenues of investigation. A survey of the music
publishing history should also take note of the various music
periodicals such as Music In New Zealand
(1931-37) which sometimes contained complete musical works, either of a
New Zealand origin or from overseas.