Auē – A Māori Tone Picture (Braithwaite)

Auē was composed in 1931 and first performed in a studio broadcast by the National Orchestra of Wales on 8 September that year. Its first public performance was given by the Welsh Concert Orchestra in Cardiff on 9 December 1934, and the work was later heard in London at a Vic-Wells Opera Company concert on 20 December 1939. Auē was repeated on 15 April 1940 at the now legendary New Zealand Centenary Concert in His Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, where it was performed by the Sadler’s Wells Orchestra under Braithwaite.

Towards the end of 1943, when Braithwaite’s career took him to Scotland as Musical Director of the Scottish Orchestra, Auē was programmed in Glasgow and on visits to Aberdeen and Dundee. Reviewers found it a quietly effective piece and noted its wistful mood. The Dundee Courier failed to come to grips with the unusual title, but nevertheless appreciated the work and noted that the audience did too:

One of the happiest pieces chosen was a little tone poem by Braithwaite Aua [sic] comprising two Māori folk-songs which imparted a curious wistfulness and breadth of melody that caught the imagination and brought the applause.
Dundee Courier, 14 November 1943.

Auē then disappeared from sight as Braithwaite focussed on his grand opera, Pendragon. No further performances of Auē have been traced.

ISMN: M-801301-46-8