Elizabeth Bay House
27 February 2022

Presented by Sydney Living Museums and the Hearing the Music of Early NSW 1788-1860 project

The selection of pieces in this concert, held at Elizabeth Bay House in February 2022, recreates a typical household entertainment of songs, dances, and piano music, as might have been ‘got up’ by musical members and guests of wealthier ‘gentry’ and merchant families in 1830s NSW. All of the pieces chosen are documented as having been performed, published, or popularly regarded in Sydney during that decade, many on several or repeated occasions. Two particular families, both with musically active daughters and sons, are ‘channelled’ in our selection; the Macleays of Elizabeth Bay House, who were also at home’ in the country at Brownlow Hill near Camden; and the Helys of Engehurst in what is now Ormond Street, Paddington, who came from County Tyrone, Ireland - to them, the Australian Quadrilles, last on the program, were originally dedicated on their first publication in 1835.