1 - An Immense Stylist Evolves: 1947–87

Summary

Charles Mackerras was was born on 17 November 1925 at Schenactady, New York, where his father Alan, an electrical engineer, was doing postgraduate work with General Electric. The family returned to Sydney – via London – in 1927, and Charles grew up under the benevolent eye of his immensely cultured mother, Catherine, joined in time by six siblings: Alastair (1928–99), Neil (1930–87), Joan (b. 1934), Elizabeth (b. 1937), Malcolm and Colin (twins, b. 1939). The young Charles grew up in a very musical family, and it was at home that he got to know Gilbert and Sullivan: ‘I was sort of brought up with it. Everyone in our family knew Gilbert and Sullivan off by heart – all the operas, all the dialogues and all the jokes. […] Also, when I was a kid I acted in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas because in those days little boys used to sing the girls’ parts as well.’ Mackerras learned the piano and also had a natural talent for woodwind instruments: ‘My first non-keyboard instrument was actually the flute, but then I read that there was a great shortage of oboists, bassoonists and horn players, and that there were scholarships going at the Sydney Conservatorium to study those three wind instruments. So I thought it would be nice to play the oboe.’ During his studies at the Sydney Conservatorium he also worked as a professional oboist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and as a composer and arranger of film scores which already demonstrate a brilliant understanding of the orchestra (within a few years, that gift led to his first popular success, with the ballet Pineapple Poll). He left Sydney aboard the RMS Rangitiki on 6 February 1947, bound for London on a voyage via Panama and Curaçao that took over six weeks to reach Tilbury Docks. The most intriguing stop en route was at Pitcairn Island, a visit described by Charles in a letter sent to his mother after his arrival in London:

We only stopped [at Pitcairn Island] for the Duchess [of Gloucester] to see it and she entertained certain islanders of note in her suite. […]