Unheard Of

Description

Canadian composer John Beckwith recounts his early days in Victoria, his studies in Toronto with Alberto Guerrero, his first compositions, and his later studies in Paris with the renowned Nadia Boulanger, of whom he offers a comprehensive personal view. In the memoir’s central chapters Beckwith describes his activities as a writer, university teacher, scholar, and administrator. Then, turning to his creative output, he considers his compositions for instrumental music, his four operas, choral music, and music for voice. A final chapter touches on his personal and family life and his travel adventures.

For over sixty years John Beckwith has participated in national musical initiatives in music education, promotion, and publishing. He has worked closely with performing groups such as the Orford Quartet and the Canadian Brass and conductors such as Elmer Iseler and Georg Tintner. A former reviewer for the Toronto Star and a CBC script writer and programmer in the 1950s and ’60s, he later produced many articles and books on musical topics. Acting under Robert Gill and Dora Mavor Moore in student days and married for twenty years to actor/director Pamela Terry, he witnessed first-hand the growth of Toronto theatre. He has collaborated with the writers Jay Macpherson, Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, and bpNichol, and teamed repeatedly with James Reaney, a close friend. His life story is a slice of Canadian cultural history.

Sujets

• Life writing
• Cultural studies
• Music

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554583980
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

UNHEARD OFLIFE WRITING SERIES
In the Life Writing Series, Wilfrid Laurier University Press publishes life
writing and new life-writing criticism and theory in order to promote
autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters, and testimonials written and/or
told by women and men whose political, literary, or philosophical purposes
are central to their lives. The Series features accounts written in English,
or translated into English from French or the languages of the First Nations,
or any of the languages of immigration to Canada.
From its inception, Life Writing has aimed to foreground the stories
of those who may never have imagined themselves as writers or as
people with lives worthy of being (re)told. Its readership has expanded to
include scholars, youth, and avid general readers both in Canada and
abroad. The Series hopes to continue its work as a leading publisher of life
writing of all kinds, as an imprint that aims for both broad representation
and scholarly excellence, and as a tool for both historical and
autobiographical research.
As its mandate stipulates, the Series privileges those individuals and
communities whose stories may not, under normal circumstances, find a
welcoming home with a publisher. Life Writing also publishes original
theoretical investigations about life writing, as long as they are not
limited to one author or text.
Series Editor
Marlene Kadar
Humanities Division, York University
Manuscripts to be sent to
Lisa Quinn, Acquisitions Editor
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
75 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5John Beckwith
UNHEARD OF
Memoirs of a Canadian ComposerWe acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada
Book Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Beckwith, John, 1927–
Unheard of : memoirs of a Canadian composer / John Beckwith.
(Life writing series)
Includes a list of compositions.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued also in electronic formats.
isbn 978-1-55458-358-4
1. Beckwith, John, 1927–. 2. Composers—Canada—Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Life
writing series
ml410.b397a3 2012 780.92 c2011-905721-2
Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
isbn 978-1-55458-398-0 (pdf). —isbn 978-1-55458-385-0 (epub)
1. Beckwith, John, 1927–. 2. Composers—Canada—Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Life
writing series (Online)
ml410.b397a3 2012a 780.92 c2011-905722-0
Cover design by Sandra Friesen. Cover photo, by André Leduc, shows John Beckwith in
rehearsal, Walter Hall, Toronto, September 2010. Text design by Catharine Bonas-Taylor.
Endpapers reproduce pages 47 and 48 from the manuscript score of Circle, with Tangents,
for harpsichord and thirteen strings (1967).
© 2012 Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100%
post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in
this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called
to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or trans mitted,
in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence
from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access
Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.Contents
List of Illustrations • vi
List of Music Examples • ix
life, part 1 1. Father • 3
2. Mother • 21
3. Victoria: Childhood and Adolescence • 41
studies 4. Toronto: Youth • 63
5. Composing • 85
6.Paris • 97
career 7. Writing • 119
8. Academia • 147
9. Politics • 165
compositions 10. For Instruments (1) • 193
11.2) • 215
12. Operas • 245
13. Choirs • 277
14. For Voice(s) • 305
life, part 2 15. Full Length • 319
Notes • 349
Acknowledgements • 371
Recordings and Scores • 373
Index • 375
vList of Illustrations
Great-grandparents Beckwith • 5
Great-grandfather McLeod • 6
The Beckwith family, Victoria, circa 1895 • 8
Grandad Beckwith • 9
Dad (a) aged ten, ( b) the McGill graduate, 1911, (c) the lawyer,
Victoria, circa 1940 • 15
Dad in the mid-1950s • 18
The Dunn family, Victoria, circa 1909 • 22
Gran Dunn • 24
My parents’ wedding, 1922 • 27
Mother, the school trustee, 1943 • 30
Mother in 1971 • 38
The Beckwith family, Victoria, circa 1931 • 42
With Gwendoline Harper, circa 1945 • 49
The high-school newspaper co-editor • 52
Pastel by Peggy Walton, 1944 • 57
Conservatory program, 1946 • 66
James Reaney, 1949 • 73
Ray Dudley, 1948 • 74
With Alberto Guerrero, Vancouver, 1949 • 81
Goldberg Variations advertisement, 1950 • 82
Toronto delegation to the first Student Composers’ Symposium,
Rochester, 1948 • 87
vilist of illustrations • vii
Cover design, Five Lyrics of the T’ang Dynasty, 1949 • 89
Ms. page, The Great Lakes Suite, 1949 • 93
Flyer for CBC Wednesday Night program, 1950 • 94
Program, Union interalliée, Paris, May 1951 • 100 Gene Gash piano recital, Paris, December 1951 • 102
Pamela Terry, Paris, 1950 • 106
Program, Maison canadienne, Paris, May 1951 • 108
With Pamela Terry in the Tyrol, spring 1952 • 114
In front of CBC headquarters, Toronto, 1954 • 121
Toronto Star columns, 1962, 1964 • 126
Advertisement, Toronto Symphony Orchestra house program, 1968–69
season • 131
Editorial board, Canadian Musical Heritage Society, Ottawa, circa
1990 • 137
Cover design, In Search of Alberto Guerrero, 2006 • 145
The teacher, University of Toronto, 1980 • 153
With John and Helen Weinzweig, 1974 • 158
Canadian League of Composers annual general meeting, Toronto,
1955 • 166
Ten Centuries Concerts program cover designs, early 1960s • 168
The faculty dean, circa 1972 • 175
Addressing a meeting of teachers, 1975 • 183
Deans, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, 1970–2000 • 186
Page from the score of Taking a Stand, 1972 • 207
Page 1, ms. score of Quartet, 1977 • 209
Ms. page, Keyboard Practice, 1979 • 211
Rehearsing Keactice, 1979 • 212
Robert Aitken rehearsing A Concert of Myths with the Hong Kong
Sinfonietta, 1996 • 217
Ms. page, Étude no. 3, 1983 • 221
Ms. page, Round and Round, 1992 • 227
Analytical chart, • 228
Title-pages, After-images, After Webern (1993), Blurred Lines (1997),
Ringaround (1998) • 232
Title page, Night Blooming Cereus (1958) • 246viii • list of illustrations
The Shivaree, 1982: Caralyn Tomlin and Avo Kittask; Patricia
Rideout • 252
Fabric hangings by Kathleen McMorrow for The Shivaree, 1979 • 253
With James Reaney, Banff, 1988 • 262
Crazy to Kill, 1989: Paul Massel, Jean Stilwell, doll puppets by Anna
Wagner-Ott • 263
Flyer for Taptoo!, Toronto, 2003 • 269
Cover image, Jonah, 1963 • 279
Co-conducting Place of Meeting with Elmer Iseler, Toronto, 1967 • 284
Ms. page, Mating Time, 1982 • 290
Chart, Mating Time, 1982 • 291
Ms. page, Harp of David, 1985 • 294
CD cover photo, with Doug MacNaughton and William Aide,
2007 • 306
Title-page, Avowals, 1985 • 308
Performing Synthetic Trios with Peter Stoll and Teri Dunn, 2010 • 310
The Beckwith family, Toronto, 1957 • 323
Pamela Terry, the director, circa 1960 • 325
Robin Beckwith, circa 1980 • 331
Jonathan Beckwith, 2002 • 332
Symon Beckwith, 1993 • 334
With Lawrence (Larry) Beckwith, circa 1995 • 336
With Kathleen McMorrow, cycling tour, 1984 • 339
Kathleen McMorrow, circa 2000 • 340
Cycling-tour map, France, 2006 • 344
W, 2010 • 345List of Music Examples
Example 1: Montage, 1953 • 1942: (a) Flower Variations, 1962; (b) The Mother of Us All
(Thomson) • 198
Example 3: (a) Concertino, 1963; (b) Horn Concerto, K447
(Mozart) • 199
Example 4: Circle, with Tangents, 1967 • 2025: Eureka, 1996: (a) basic set, two versions;
(b) corollaries • 234
Example 6: Phrase from Crazy to Kill, 1988, quoted in Back to
Bolivia, 2006 • 240
Example 7: Variations for string orchestra, 2011 • 2448: Song of the shivareers, The Shivaree, 1978 • 255
ixThis page intentionally left blank life, part 1This page intentionally left blank 1
Father
he surname Beckwith is Anglo-Saxon, and