Peter Roennfeldt | Historian

Peter Roennfeldt has contributed much to the wider understanding of Queensland’s cultural heritage. After more than four decades, he continues to research aspects of the state’s history and producing publications in a wide range of formats. Many of the topics are linked, and often one project is an offshoot of another, as shown by the five books Peter has published since 2012.

The stories of Mayne Hall and Albert Hall highlight the work of many local performers and organisations, while the Queensland Music Teachers’ Association is strongly connected to the career of Percy Brier and other leading musicians. Similarly, the histories of the Queensland Conservatorium and the Brisbane Chorale are closely intertwined, while the story of Madame Mallalieu and her legacy connects with the lived experience of many music students, through their hostel years spent in her former home in Toowong.

In addition to these extensive projects, various research themes have led to a long succession of smaller publications. Peter’s involvement as a chamber musician inspired an investigation into this genre of performance commencing with the debut in Brisbane of RT Jefferies in 1872, and which is documented in a series of articles in Queensland Review. A related offshoot is his edition and audio recording for Wirripang of a previously unpublished violin sonata, composed by Percy Brier in 1921.

Similarly, an edition of an organ solo by this same composer is related to a paper on Brisbane’s organ recital tradition in the late 1800s. Surveys of early Brisbane’s concert life and the music teaching profession are featured in recent book chapters, while several articles are included in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and various topics in the Oxford Companion to Australian Music. Another current series, featuring short vignettes from the 1850s to the 1950s and titled Musical Morsels from Queensland’s History, appears in 4MBS FM Radio’s monthly Program Guide.

Peter’s concerts are informed by historical research and some individual programs are explicitly heritage recreations. This knowledge has also been applied to special projects such as the curation of recordings of locally-composed songs and other pieces for the State Library of Queensland’s online Music Queensland project.

While academic rigour is evident in all of Peter’s publications and other research outcomes, his many readers and reviewers confirm that his writing style is accessible to a general audience.

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Books

A Hall For All celebrating Mayne Hall at The University of Queensland. Author Peter Roennfeldt

Selected journal articles and other publications

Journal articles:

Musical Morsels from Queensland’s History

This series of short articles, which commenced in April 2022 as a regular feature of the 4MBS-FM Program Guide, focusses on vignettes from Queensland’s musical heritage including interesting events, unique collaborations and quirky coincidences.

Click here to read articles

The South Brisbane Municipal Chambers: A landmark with many pasts (Queensland Review, 2018)

This article traces the history of one of Brisbane’s iconic buildings and it various owners and users including the local and municipal councils, the US Armed Forces, the Queensland Conservatorium and TAFE.

Click here to read article

Organists and organ recitals of colonial Brisbane (Organ Historical Trust of Australia News, 2015)

This article examines the intensive tradition of organ recitals in Brisbane before 1900, with a focus on ten leading organists and the instruments on which they performed in large churches and civic buildings.

Click here to read article

Keeping a good idea alive: Chamber music in Brisbane in the 1950s and 60s (Queensland Review, 2014)

This article concludes the series focussing on the development of local chamber music, with particular reference to various professional ensembles and concert promotion organisations including Musica Viva.

Click here to read article

Artistic collaboration in challenging times: Chamber music in Queensland, 1901-1950 (Queensland Review, 2013)

This article examines how local chamber prospered despite periods of war and economic challenge, focussing on key figures including Percy Brier, the Jefferies family and the Brisbane Chamber Music Society.

Click here to read article

Music by the few for the many: Chamber music in colonial Queensland (Queensland Review, 2012)

This article surveys the rise of chamber music performance in Queensland from the 1860s to the end of the century, with a particular focus on the Jefferies Quartet, Madame Mallalieu and other key musicians.

Click here to read article

Beyond the ivory tower: Higher education institutions as cultural resource (History Compass, 2011)

This article focuses on how universities and tertiary colleges interface with the wider arts and cultural sectors, with special reference to the Queensland Conservatorium.

Click here to read article

Online publications:

A short history of three very famous Christmas carols (The Conversation, 2016)

This article discusses the genesis of the Christmas carol tradition, with particular focus on three well-known examples, ‘Good Christian men rejoice’, ‘O come all ye faithful’ and ‘Silent night’.

Click here to read article

Decoding the music masterpieces: Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor (The Conversation, 2017)

This article discusses Brahms’s beloved chamber works, with reference to its structure and the instruments of the day such as the Streicher piano, an example of which featured in Peter’s own performance.

Click here to read article

Book chapters and reference works:

Making our garden grow: Training pathways for Queensland’s musicians (Brisbane History Group, 2018)

This chapter in Brisbane: Training, teaching and turmoil: Tertiary education 1825-2018 examines how early Queensland musicians pursued advanced training, prior to the advent of local tertiary courses in music.

Click here to read chapter

Concert music in early Brisbane (Cambridge Scholars, 2018)

This chapter in Diversity in Australia’s music: Themes past, present and for the future provides a survey of Brisbane’s concert performance traditions from the early colonial period up to World War Two.

Click here to read chapter

The nature of fame: Charpentier’s ‘Les plaisirs de Versailles’and Lalande’s ‘Les fontaines de Versailles’ compared (Ashgate, 2010)

This chapter in New Perspectives on Marc-Antoine Charpentier examines two theatrical works dating from 1682, both of which were performed by Peter Roennfeldt in Brisbane in the 1990s using newly created score editions.

Click here to read chapter

Dalley-Scarlett, Robert 1887-1959 (Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1981)

A brief biographical summary of the life and career of one of Queensland’s leading musicians who was active in the mid-twentieth century as composer, conductor, teacher, broadcaster, scholar and critic.

Click here to read article

Score editions and recordings:

Percy Brier, Serenade for viola and piano, composed 1911 (Wirripang, 2022)

The first publication of a critical edition of Brier’s work for viola and piano, composed for his chamber music colleague Alfred Henry, with score edited by Timoth Tate and Serene Yu with critical commentary by Peter Roennfeldt.

Click here for link to score

Percy Brier, A reverie, composed 1912 (Wirripang, 2015)

The first publication of a critical edition of Brier’s solo organ work, composed around the time of his tenure at St Mary’s Church Kangaroo Point and performed frequently by himself and students thereafter.

Click here for link to score

Percy Brier, Sonata in G minor for violin and piano, composed 2021 (Wirripang, 2012)

The first publication of a critical edition of Brier’s major chamber work, composed for the opening concert of the Brisbane Chamber Music Society, with CD recording by Peter Roennfeldt and Margaret Connolly.

Click here for link to audio and score (audio / pdf download is possible, on payment)

Queensland, a musical retrospective volume one: 1880-1930 (State Library of Queensland, 2005)

A compilation of popular songs, piano pieces, choral works and artsongs composed in early Queensland – available as online streaming of individual pieces or on CD through the State Library of Queensland:

Click here for link to catalogue information

Sing ye muses: a baroque miscellany (Cantilena Singers, 1998)

Works for chamber vocal ensemble, strings and continuo including rarely heard works by Purcell, Blow, Vivaldi, Monteverdi and a previously unrecorded psalm setting by Zelenka, CDs available for purchase.

Click here for more information

Peter Roennfeldt

Musician | Historian | Presenter

Peter Roennfeldt

Musician | Historian | Presenter