Don Banks Collection

The Don Banks Collection celebrates the legacy of one of Australia’s most innovative composers. With its rich array of music manuscripts, sound recordings, personal papers, and more, the collection captures the spirit of Banks' groundbreaking work across jazz, classical music, and film scores. A true pioneer, Banks fused diverse musical genres and pushed creative boundaries, leaving a lasting impact on Australia's cultural landscape. This collection is a tribute to his enduring influence and a source of inspiration for generations to come.

Performing arts

Key items in the collection

This collection hosts a range of formats, including:

The Banks Collection contains a comprehensive collection of manuscript scores, sketches and rough drafts.

Orchestral and chamber

Fantasia for String Orchestra
Trio for Flute, Violin and Cello (1949)

Choral

An Australian Entertainment (1979).

Scores and sketches

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (1965)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1968)
Intersections (1969)
Meeting Place (1970)
Equation III (1972).

In addition, there are juvenilia, jazz arrangements, sketches for film music, and other works.

The Banks Collection includes about 450 printed music scores, many of which are signed by Banks. These scores feature works from both classical and modern composers.

Notable classical composers in the collection include:

Bach
Beethoven
Debussy
Haydn
Mendelssohn

However, the collection's main strength lies in modern compositions. Some of the prominent European and American composers represented are:

David Bedford
Alban Berg
Pierre Boulez
Earle Brown
Luigi Dallapiccola
Roberto Gerhard
Hans Werner Henze
Arnold Schoenberg
Mátyás Seiber
Igor Stravinsky
Michael Tippett
Edgard Varèse
Anton Webern

The collection also includes works by Australian composers such as:

Colin Brumby
Nigel Butterly
Barry Conyngham
Ross Edwards
Keith Humble
David Lumsdaine
Larry Sitsky

Reflecting Banks’ broad musical interests, the collection also holds scores of jazz pieces, dances, and folk songs.

The collection includes 321 books and serials that were part of Don Banks' library. These cover a range of topics, including:

Music history
Music theory
Composition
Orchestration
Instrumental techniques
The lives and works of composers
Jazz
Electronic music
Films
Poetry

Some of the books are focused on composers such as:

Béla Bartók
Alban Berg
Hector Berlioz
Pierre Boulez
Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Arnold Schoenberg
Igor Stravinsky
William Walton

There are sets of journals like Classical Music Weekly, Composer, and Musical Times.

Additionally, there are 91 concert programs, dating from 1941 to 1979.

The Don Banks Collection includes a large number of 78rpm, 45rpm, and 33rpm records, primarily featuring twentieth-century European and American music. It also represents some Australian composers, including:

Barry Conyngham
George Dreyfus
Alfred Hill
Robert Hughes
Frank Hutchens
Richard Meale
James Penberthy
Margaret Sutherland
Felix Werder
Martin Wesley-Smith

The collection contains recordings of electronic music and jazz, including performances by the Donny Banks Boptet in Melbourne in 1950.

There are around 550 reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes, most of which feature compositions by Banks. These also include performances of works by other composers, such as:

Milton Babbitt
John Cage
Roberto Gerhard
Keith Humble
David Lumsdaine
Richard Meale
Olivier Messiaen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Michael Tippett
Anton Webern

Additionally, the collection holds recordings of talks, interviews, seminar papers, radio programs, film scores, and several letter cassettes.

The personal papers of Don Banks, covering the period from around 1948 to 1980, are extensive. They include:

Correspondence
Diaries
Notebooks
Notes
Program notes
Analytic sketches
Reports
Subject files
Concert programs
Reviews
Recording schedules
Newspaper clippings
Photographs

The collection also includes records related to:

The Australian Musical Association (1952-74)
The Australian Society for Music Education
The New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music

The personal correspondence, mostly from 1963-80, includes letters from notable figures such as:

Tristram Cary
Helen Gifford
Graham Hair
Keith Humble
Salvatore Martirano
James Murdoch
Mátyás Seiber
Larry Sitsky
Margaret Sutherland
Patrick Thomas
Ken Tribe
Barry Tuckwell

About Don Banks

Donald Oscar Banks (1923-1980) was born in Melbourne, the son of a jazz musician. He attended Middle Park Central School and Melbourne Boys’ High School. Banks started learning the piano at five years old and played jazz piano as a teenager. His first composition, Don Banks Boogie, was recorded in 1941. He served in the Army Medical Corps from 1942 to 1946 and later studied at the Melbourne University Conservatorium, graduating in 1949.

Career and musical style

After his studies, Banks continued playing jazz, leading the Donny Banks Boptet. In 1950, he moved to London, where he would live until 1972. While in London, he founded the Australian Musical Association with Margaret Sutherland and studied composition with notable musicians like Mátyás Seiber, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola. His early works included Duo for Violin and Cello (1952), which won the Edwin Evans Prize. Banks was known for integrating jazz and classical music, creating ‘third-stream’ compositions, such as Settings from Roget (1966). He also had a strong interest in electronic music and worked on film scores, composing for 19 feature films, including 10 horror films by Hammer Productions.

Later years and legacy

In 1972, Banks returned to Australia and became Head of Composition and Electronic Music at the Canberra School of Music the following year. He was the first Chairman of the Music Board of the Australia Council from 1973-74. In 1978, he moved to the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. Although illness slowed his work in his later years, he continued to compose. In 1980, Banks was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Background to the collection

In 1982, the Library bought Don Banks' music manuscripts, printed scores, personal papers, books, programs, and sound recordings from his wife, Valerie. In 1998, we also purchased a large collection of letters written to Don and Valerie from her.

Music manuscripts and personal papers are held in the Manuscripts Collection. They are listed on pages 22-69 of the guide to the Don Banks Collection compiled by Graham Hair and published in 1999.

Books, journals and concert programs are housed in the Music Collection. They are listed on pages 71-85 of the guide compiled by Graham Hair.

books of Don Banks

Printed music scores are also held in the Music Collection. There is a reference to them on page 70 of the guide, but they have not been listed or catalogued.

The sound recordings are held in the Oral History Collection. The discs are listed on pages 86-91 of the guide compiled by Graham Hair, but only about half of the 33rpm discs are listed. The reel-to-reel tapes and the cassettes are listed on pages 92-128 of the guide.