He attended Chatswood and Hornsby public schools, and received his first formal music training from Emanuel de Beaupuis, an Italian pianist then residing in Sydney.
[2] He received further instruction from Daisy Millerand Sydney Moss, and later briefly studied composition under Alfred Hill at the NSW Conservatorium of Music.
However, Agnew's music did not receive much public attention until international pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch gave a recital of his works, Deirdre's Lament and Dance of the Wild Men, at a Sydney Town Hall matinee in August 1920.
[3] Partly through funding by friends and supporters, Agnew was able to travel to London in 1923 to study composition and orchestration with Gerard Williams,[2] and Cyril Scott at the Royal College of Music.
In 1928, Agnew returned to Sydney, where he gave several recitals of his music, and his "poem for orchestra and voice," The Breaking of the Drought, was performed with Alfred Hill conducting.
Clark was a student of Arnold Schoenberg, closely connected to all the members of the Second Viennese School, and went on to become a ground-breaking BBC producer and broadcaster and to conduct some important British and world premieres.
He developed a warm relationship with the piano teacher Winifred Burston, who introduced his works to her students, such as Larry Sitsky and Richard Meale.
Agnew married Kathleen Olive, the youngest daughter of the late judge and former senator Richard O'Connor, at St. Mary's Cathedral on November 8, 1930.
All critics have noted the influence of Scriabin on Agnew's music, while others have variously detected affinities with John Ireland, Ravel, Debussy, Liszt, Busoni, Cyril Scott, Frank Bridge, and Arnold Bax.
Cross Smith) (1913) O moonlight deep and tender (Lowell) (1913) Dirge (1924) Dusk (R. Williams) (1926) Infant Joy (W. Blake) (1926) Two Songs without Words (for violin and clarinet, 1928) Beauty (J. Masefield) (1935) The flowers of sleep (V. Daley) (1935)[6]