Down In The Brunner Mine
Down in the Brunner Mine was commissioned by The Onslow Brass Band in Wellington, New Zealand, and first performed and broadcast in 1996. It is a short set of variations based on a New Zealand folk song called Down in the Brunner Mine. The folk song describes the Brunner coal mine on the West Coast, near Greymouth, and tells of the disaster that happened there in the 1890s when about 60 men were killed in a mine collapse. Here is the first stanza:
We worked in the heat and the thick black dust,
Sticks to your skin like a burnt pie crust,
We rue each day the miner must
Go down in the Brunner Mine.
Down in the Brunner Mine was commissioned with the financial assistance of Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand. The piece is dedicated to Helen Aldred, who conducted the first performance.
Anthony Ritchie, November 2012