The Australian connection: Kabalevsky and Australia

The year 2004 marks the centenary of the birth of the Russian composer and educator D.B. Kabalevsky, and the thirtieth anniversary of his participation in and contribution to the Eleventh International Conference of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) in Perth in August 1974. Kabalevsky¿s connections with Australia were predominantly through his friendship with the late Sir Frank Callaway and his association with ISME. As a result of this association Kabalevsky wrote two major papers outlining his philosophy and two compositions that were dedicated to Callaway. Kabalevsky¿s life and music provide us with a lens through which we can view aspects of the times in which he lived.We see in his compositions and his writings a focus on the political, economic, social, cultural and educational aspects of his times. His works provide us with a means through which we can gain an appreciation of his contribution to music and education both within his and our current time. From the particular standpoint of his place and time we are able to consider and assess our contemporary practices and thinking. Anniversaries provide us with an opportunity to celebrate and to reflect. They are interesting events not only in music but in history as they recognize, relive and reconsider the significance of a person and their contribution to a particular sphere of life. In our teaching of music history we rely on events and people and their music. We attempt to convey some sense of meaning from the perspective of their times.