Golden Builders: William Blake's Impact on Vincent Buckley (poet) and George Tibbits (Composer)

Abstract

Tibbits had produced a cantata for soprano soloist, choir and chamber ensemble which was performed and recorded in 1972 with Marilyn Richardson as the soprano. This was a unique moment in Australian cultural and artistic history, where William Blake' s radical vision simultaneously touched two twentieth century artists who were both deeply engaged in redefining Australia's religious and social landscape. Buckley had been at the centre of the Catholic revival in the mid fifties in Melbourne; by the sixties and seventies he found himself increasingly at odds with all 'dogmatic definitions about God'. In a Meanjin interview in 1979, he declared,'I recognise Catholicism as a great religion, with some claims on me, but not on my allegiance.'