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  Douglas Lilburn (aged 21, 1936) Episode 9, Withdrawing

In the ninth episode, Withdrawing, friends and family of Douglas Lilburn reflect on his last years. After retiring from university teaching at the end of 1979, he also retired from composing. He spent the next twenty years establishing and developing the Lilburn Trust, while at the same time withdrawing from public life.

In his last years Douglas was concerned with divesting himself of a lifetime's accumulation. As friends and family saw him slip into old age, many discovered that he was withdrawing from them too, in what for some became a lengthy farewell.


People who feature in Episode 9: John Murray, Jeannie Lilburn, Martin Lodge, Alistair and Meg Campbell, Gwyneth Brown, Jack Body, Margaret Nielsen, Peter Walls, Ross Harris, Jill Palmer, Ashley Heenan, Joyce Hamilton, Jenny McLeod, John Hopkins and Dorothy McKegg.

Broadcasts:     2pm, Sunday 1st August 2004 nationwide on Concert FM.

Duration: 51'56

Reference (sometimes media) numbers are listed next to archival material that can be sourced from Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero [SA/NTK] or the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand/Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa [ATL].


00:00 Music: Occasional Pieces for Piano (1942-73), performed by Margaret Nielsen (piano), recorded in 1981 [SA/NTK 14358].
00:27 John Murray: The funeral was a private affair.
03:25 Jeannie Lilburn: A letter from Douglas in 1988 about not travelling, withdrawing.
07:33 Martin Lodge: Increased paranoia due to drinking and no daily structure.
09:05 Alistair and Meg Campbell: Drinking changed him.
11:38 Music: Occasional Pieces for Piano (1942-73), performed by Margaret Nielsen (piano), recorded in 1981 [SA/NTK 14358].
13:00 Gwyneth Brown: Describing Douglas's face.
13:40 Jack Body: Shy of the media, self conscious about being known.
14:34 Martin Lodge: Withdrawing from the public, becoming more private.
17:00 Jeannie Lilburn: He was aware of his status, describing Douglas's mother.
20:20 Margaret Nielsen: He had a memory like an elephant.
21:40 Jack Body: Reflecting on relationships.
23:45 Music: Occasional Pieces for Piano (1942-73), performed by Margaret Nielsen (piano), recorded in 1981 [SA/NTK 14358].
24:00 Peter Walls: Coming back to New Zealand and seeing Douglas slip into old age.
26:10 Ross Harris: After he retired he had a chance to compose full time - but he didn't.
27:15 Martin Lodge: Going deaf.
28:26 Peter Walls: He still listened to what other composers were doing.
29:55 Jill Palmer: I asked Douglas why he gave up composing.
31:30 Ashley Heenan: Reading the final letter.
33:49 Margaret Nielsen: Brown paper bag letters.
34:28 Music: No. 7 from Nine Short Piano Pieces (1966), performed by Margaret Nielsen (piano), recorded in 1984 [SA/NTK 14414].
35:35 Jack Body: Falling into old age, defining moments.
36:29 Joyce Hamilton: He didn't leave his house in later years.
37:10 Jeannie Lilburn: His refusal at the possibility of living in a rest home.
37:50 Peter Walls: The Shepherd's Arms group.
39:48 Jenny McLeod: I wrote him a letter before he died.
41:19 Music: Four Preludes (1948-60), performed by Georgina Zellan-Smith, recorded in 1989 [SA/NTK 14483].
42:45 John Hopkins: I regret that we didn't do more.
43:43 John Murray: Douglas never talked about death, more about life and creation.
45:30 Jeannie Lilburn: Letting go of family.
47:14 Music: The Return (1965), electronic sound image - poem by Alistair Campbell, read by Tim Elliot, voices by Mahi Potiki [SA/NTK 14384].
48:00 Music: Elegy (1951), poem by Alistair Campbell, performed by Michael Leighton-Jones (baritone) and Margaret Nielsen (piano), recorded in 1975 [SA/NTK 14360].
50:57 Dorothy McKegg: Production Credits.