The Magic Gum Tree[1] is a musical comedy written in 1932 with music and lyrics by Australian composer Arline Sauer.[2]
The story involves an immigrant girl lost in the Australian outback who falls asleep and meets several dreamland characters. She is rescued by a group of Australian Aboriginal boys and returned safely home. The piece is a work of Australiana featuring Australian animals and characters. A Queensland reviewer thought it reminiscent of A. A. Milne.[3]
Carl Sauer D. Mus., F.S.Sc.A. (London) (died 5 March 1951)[31] was a German-born musician, teacher and composer in Australia,[32] founder of the N.S.W. Youth Symphony Orchestra and Choir.[33]
Arline Estelle Lower (died 1990) was an Adelaide pianist[34] who, at around 16 years of age, achieved considerable success at the Easter 1912 competitions in Launceston.[35] She joined Sauer's concert party sometime around 1915[36] and married him in May 1924[37] and became generally known as Arline Sauer the following month.[38]
They divorced in 1946[37] and the following year, as Arline Lower, acted as soloist and accompanist to Rosina Raisbeck on the mezzo-soprano's tour of Australia and New Zealand.[39]
She continued to find favor as an accompanist in Sydney: for soprano Eleanor Houston, contralto Florence Taylor, tenor John Dudley, and baritone John Cameron. at the 1948 Carols by Candlelight,[40] and in 1949 for baritone Donald Graham and Betty Kable, the New Zealand violinist.[41]
Other works include:
Pixie-land (c. 1932): three songs for medium voice by Arline Lower
1. Pixie pipers
2. Pixie revels
3. Lullaby
Lower was active in promoting cross-cultural exchanges, founding president of the New Australians' Cultural Association, and founder of the Arline Lower Art Prize of 100 guineas.[42]
^"Music and the Drama". The Courier-mail. No. 268. Queensland, Australia. 7 July 1934. p. 20. Retrieved 20 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 321. New South Wales, Australia. 6 March 1951. p. 20. Retrieved 6 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia. married to Doris
^"Colac Competitions". The Colac Herald. Vol. XLIII, no. 4593. Victoria, Australia. 29 April 1912. p. 5. Retrieved 6 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Musical Notes". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XLIX, no. 14, 600. South Australia. 27 April 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 6 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Kapunda Herald". Kapunda Herald. Vol. LI, no. 3, 820. South Australia. 27 August 1915. p. 2. Retrieved 6 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"In Divorce". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 004. New South Wales, Australia. 17 December 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 6 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.