Composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator
John BeckwithCM (March 9, 1927 – December 5, 2022) was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and university administrator.[1][2]
Born in
Victoria, British Columbia, he studied piano with
Alberto Guerrero at the
Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1945. Beckwith received a Bachelor of Music (Mus.B.) in 1947 and a Master of Music (Mus.M.) in 1961 from the
University of Toronto. In 1950-51, he studied with
Nadia Boulanger in
Paris. He began teaching at University of Toronto's Faculty of Music in 1952. From 1970-77, he was the dean of the faculty. He was founding director of the Institute for Canadian Music at the University of Toronto. In 1987, he was made a member of the
Order of Canada.[3] He retired in 1990.
Beckwith wrote over 160 compositions covering stage, orchestral, chamber, solo and choral genres. He also wrote 17 books, the last of which - Music Annals: Research and Critical Writings by a Canadian Composer - was published shortly before his death in 2022.[3]
Education
In 1945, after several years of studying piano at the
Royal Conservatory of Music, Beckwith received a Conservatory scholarship that allowed him to study piano with
Alberto Guerrero at the
University of Toronto where he obtained his Mus.B. His other teachers included
Leo Smith and
John Weinzweig. In 1950 he was awarded a second scholarship, this time from the
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he studied composition under
Nadia Boulanger. Under Weinzweig's supervision, Beckwith earned his Mus.M. from the University of Toronto in 1961.
After studying in Paris, Beckwith returned to Toronto to pursue further studies and became active as a performing musician, actor, critic, radio commentator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster. In 1952, he returned to the
University of Toronto, but this time as a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Music. He was appointed full-time lecturer in 1955. He remained in this position for several years, and eventually became dean of the faculty from 1970-77. Beckwith was the first Jean A. Chalmers Professor of Canadian Music and the first director of the Institute for Canadian Music at the University of Toronto. He retired in 1990 with plans to devote more time to composing. Some of his notable pupils include
Brian Cherney,
Gustav Ciamaga,
Omar Daniel,
John Fodi,
Clifford Ford,
Ben McPeek,
James Rolfe,
Clark Ross, Matthew Davidson, and
Timothy Sullivan.
While teaching, Beckwith remained active in several areas of the musical community. He wrote for the Toronto Star from 1959-65 as an arts critic and columnist, and planned a number of documentaries and music series for CBC radio. Beginning in 1981, he worked as a director for the Canadian Musical Heritage Society, which he had co-founded that same year. He prepared two of the society's 25-volume series of pre-1950 Canadian-composed music. In 1986, a five-record set of his music was included in the Anthology of Canadian Music series. A collection of 25 of his music articles and talks was published by Golden Dog Press in 1997 under the title Music Papers.[4] The Canadian Conference of the Arts awarded Beckwith its Diplôme d'honneur in 1996 and he was made an honorary member of the Canadian University Music Society in 1999. In 2006, his biography In Search of Alberto Guerrero was published by Wilfrid Laurier Press (issued in Spanish translation in 2021). With Brian Cherney, he co-edited Weinzweig: Essays on His Life and Music in 2011. Beckwith's autobiography, Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer, was published by Wilfrid Laurier Press in 2012. With Robin Elliott, he co-edited Mapping Canada's Music: Selected Writings of Helmut Kallmann in 2013.
The festschrift, Taking a Stand: Essays in Honour of John Beckwith, edited by Timothy McGee, was published in 1995.[5]
Compositional style
Beckwith composed over 160 large works. While the majority of his works are settings of Canadian texts for voice, he also wrote for orchestral and chamber groups as well as solo instrumental pieces and choral music.
Beckwith was a
modernist whose music employs 20th-century compositional techniques. Most of his works have themes that connect to historical or regional Canada. Beckwith was deeply interested in Canadian folk song and set around 200 of these songs, including Four Love Songs (1969) and Five Songs (1969–70). Most of the arrangements were written in 1981-91 during his involvement with Music at Sharon, a summer concert series in Ontario. He often collaborated with Canadian writers when setting text for voice including
James Reaney,
Jay Macpherson,
Margaret Atwood,
bpNichol, Georges Sioui, and
Dennis Lee; his most extensive collaboration was with Reaney. Beckwith also set texts of
e.e. cummings,
John Millington Synge,
Samuel Beckett, and poems of the
Tang dynasty translated by
Witter Bynner.[6]
List of works
As recorded in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada at
[1]
Stage
The Killdeer, incidental (Reaney). 1960, rescored 1961. Prepared piano (5 instr). Ms
The Hector, documentary cantata (various). 1990 (Tor 1990). Soprano, early-instr ens. Ms
See also Crazy to Kill, Night Blooming Cereus, The Shivaree, Taptoo!
Orchestra and band
Music for Dancing (orch from piano, 4 hands). 1948 (piano), orch 1959 (Ott 1959). BMI Canada 1961. CBC SM-47/5-ACM 26 (*CBC Van orch)
Montage. 1953, rescored 1955 (Tor 1953). Med orch. Ms
Fall Scene and Fair Dance. 1956 (Tor 1956). Violin, clarinet, strings. BMI Canada 1957. 1977. Lethbridge Symphony Assn LSA-101 (Lethbridge SO)
Papineau (2 Lower Canada folk songs). 1977. 2 equal voices. Gordon V. Thompson 1978. Centrediscs CMC-2285 (*Toronto Children's Chor)
Three Motets on Swan's 'China' (various).'1981. SATB. Waterloo1983. Melbourne SMLP-4041/5-ACM 26 (*
Elmer Iseler Singers)
A Little Organ Concert (vocables). 1982. SATB, organ, brass quintet. Ms
A Canadian Christmas Carol (J. P. Clarke)(arr). 1984. SATB, harmonium (piano or organ). Gordon V. Thompson 1989. CBC SM-5055 (*Elmer Iseler Singers)
Mating Time (bp Nichol). 1982. SATB (20 solo voices), percussion, elec keyboard. Ms
Harp of David (Book of Common Prayer). 1985. SATB. Ms. Centrediscs CMC-CD-3790 (Van Chamb Choir)
The Banks of Newfoundland (arr).1985. Baritone, SATB (oboe, string quartet) Gordon V. Thompson 1987
Three Burns Songs (R. Burns)(arr).1986. SATB. Gordon V. Thompson 1987
Farewell To Nova Scotia (arr).1985. Baritone, SATB, piano, percussion 2 trumpet, viola, cello, double bass. Gordon V. Thompson 1987
The Gowans Are Gay (arr). 1986. SATB, percussion. Gordon V. Thompson 1987 69
Basic Music. 1998. Children's Choir (SA), Youth Choir (SSA) and orchestra. Ms
Derailed: a sound-documentary for SSAATTBB and percussion. 2007
Voice
Five Lyrics of the T'ang Dynasty (various). 1947. High voice, piano. BMI Canada 1949. RCI 148/5-ACM 26 (*Alarie)/Centrediscs CMC-2185 (*Vickers)/(No. 3,4,5) 1988. Phillips 6514-157 (B. Fei soprano, N. Loo piano)
The Journals of Susanna Moodie, incidental (Atwood). 1972, rev 1990 (Tor 1973). 2 kybd players, percussion. Ms
Writings
'Composers in Toronto and Montreal,' U of Toronto Quarterly, vol 26, Oct 1956
'Music,' The Culture of Contemporary Canada, ed J. Park (Cornell 1957)
'Music,' The Arts in Canada, ed M. Ross (Toronto 1958)
'Music Education,' ibid
'Young composers' performances in Toronto,' CMJ, vol 2, Summer 1958
'Jean Papineau-Couture,' CMJ, vol 3, Winter 1959
'Recent orchestral works by Champagne, Morel and Anhalt,' CMJ, vol 4, Summer 1960
- and Kasemets, Udo, eds. The Modern Composer and His World (Toronto 1961)
'Notes on a recording career, (the work of Glenn Gould),' Canadian Forum, vol 40, Jan 1961
Review of A History of Music in Canada 1534–1914 by Helmut Kallmann, U of Toronto Quarterly, vol 30, Jul 1961
'Schoenberg ten years after,' Canadian Forum, vol 41, Nov 1961
'Stravinsky triptych,' CMJ, vol 6, Summer 1962
'The Bernstein experiment,' Canadian Forum, vol 43, Apr 1964
'Notes on Jonah,' Alphabet, 8 Jun 1964
Review of British Composers in Interview, ed R. Murray Schafer, U of Toronto Quarterly, vol 33, Jul 1964
'A "Complete" Schoenberg,' Canadian Forum, vol 46, Jan 1967
'About Canadian music: The P.R. failure,' Mcan, 21, Jul-Aug 1969; reprinted with postscript, AGO/RCCO Music, vol 5, Mar 1971
'What every U.S. musician should know about contemporary Canadian music,' Mcan, 29, final issue 1970
'Music in Canada,' MT, vol 111, Dec 1970
'Trying to define music,' ConsB, Christmas 1970
'Aims and methods for a music-theory program,' CAUSM J, vol 1, Spring 1971
'Healey Willan,' Canadian Forum, vol 52, Dec 1972
'Teaching new music: What? How? Why?' MSc, 270, Mar-Apr 1973
'Canadian music,' 'Harry Somers,' Dictionary of Contemporary Music (New York 1974)
- and MacMillan, K., eds. Contemporary Canadian Composers (Toronto 1975)
'István Anhalt,' MSc, 281, Jan-Feb 1975
'A big song-and-dance,' CME, vol 18, Spring 1977
'Reflections on Ives,' An Ives Celebration, ed H. Wiley Hitchcock and
Vivian Perlis (Urbana, Illinois 1977)
'A festival of Canadian music,' Musicanada: A Presentation of Canadian Contemporary Music (Ottawa 1977)
Music In Canada (Ottawa 1979)
- and Pincoe, Ruth, eds. Canadian Music in the 1960s and 1970s: A Chronicle (Toronto 1979)
'Kolinski: an appreciation and list of works,' Cross-cultural Perspectives on Music, ed R. Falck and T. Rice (Toronto 1982)
- ed. John Weinzweig at Seventy (Toronto 1983)
'Shattering a few myths,' Glenn Gould Variations, ed J. McGreevy (New York 1983)
'Choral confessions,' Anacrusis, vol 6, Fall 1986
'On compiling an anthology of Canadian hymn tunes,' Sing Out the Glad News, ed J. Beckwith, CanMus Documents 1 (Toronto 1987)
'Canadian tunebooks and hymnals, 1801–1939,' American Music, vol 6, Summer 1988
'A "failure" revisited: new Canadian music in recent studies and reference works,' Hello Out There! eds J. Beckwith and D. Cooper, CanMus Documents 2 (Toronto 1988)
- et al. 'From composer to audience: the production of serious music in Canada,' CUMR, vol 9, no. 2, 1989
Review of The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, America's Music, and Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, CUMR, vol 9, no. 2, 1989
'Canadiana realizations for "Music at Sharon," 1981–90,' News from CMHS, vol 1, Spring 1991
'Letter from Canada,' Sonneck Society Bulletin, vol 17, no. 2, 1991
'Music at Toronto: A Personal Account' (Toronto 1995)
- and Kallmann, Helmut. 'Musical instrument building,' Encyclopedia Canadiana
- and Hall, Frederick A., eds. Musical Canada
'Recordings,' Music in Canada
Bibliography
Beckwith, John (1997). Music Papers: Articles and Talks by a Canadian Composer. Ottawa, Ontario: The Golden Dog Press.
Proctor, George A. (1951). Canadian Music of the Twentieth Century. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.