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Ezra Read's compositions were intended to be played by the amateur pianist entertaining family and friends round the parlour piano. Piano teachers soon found that the melodic tunes and straightforward harmonies made useful and entertaining exercises for their students and used them widely.
Current events were major sources of inspiration for him. Already mentioned were his popular pieces based on the Boer War, but he also wrote, 'Australia - a Grand March in Commemoration of the Federation', 'The Coronation of King Edward VII Grand March', 'President Cleveland's Grand March', 'The Call to Arms', 'The Royal Military Tournament', and many other items based on the news of the times.
During his lifetime he composed hundreds of marches and waltzes, and dozens of 'descriptive fantasias', such as , 'A Charabanc Ride', 'The Christmas party', 'Fireworks!', 'The Miner', 'Christmas Bells', 'The Football Match', 'The Midnight Express' and 'The Wedding Day'. Gallops, polkas, schottisches, mazurkas, barn dances, gavottes, reels, hornpipes, quadrilles and even some sand dances and a few ragtime pieces flowed from his pen. Some of these were later reissued as piano duets or piano accompanied pieces for violin, mandolin and other instruments.
As his works became more popular they were issued as albums, some specially composed, others collected together by his publishers. They included: 'The Royal Albums', 'Premier Selection Albums', 'Rosie's Musical Albums', 'Merry Moments volumes 10 and 22', 'Favourite Waltzes Volume12' and 'Daisy Albums', to which he was a major contributor and which reached at least volume 58.
With success, Ezra began to see instrumental teaching as part of his role and he produced tutors for various instruments - his 'Easy Pianoforte Tutor' was still in print in the 1970s. Always an early riser, Ezra found time to write, 'A Catechism of Music' for students, an examination book used in Australian music colleges and several other works on the rudiments of music, harmony and composition. He was also the music editor for several journals.
At some time, possibly during the Boer War, he was a band master, but little information has come to light on this aspect of his life.
Resources:
'The Catalogue of Printed Music in the British Library', available in main libraries, lists almost 400 of his works.
The National Library of Australia lists a holding of over 80 items of his sheet music, some of which can be downloaded on the internet at www.nla.gov.au/catalogue
The Chesterfield Library, in Derbyshire, holds 'The J. L. Noble Collection' of over 50 of Ezra's pieces.
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