John Beckwith

John Beckwith (March 9, 1927 – December 5, 2022) was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator. 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...

John Beckwith (March 9, 1927 – December 5, 2022) was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator. 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 to 1977, 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. He retired from the university 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. 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. Career 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 to 1977. 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 to devote more time to composing. Among his notable pupils were 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. A co-founder of the Canadian Music Centre in 1959, he wrote for the Toronto Star from 1959 to 1965 as an arts critic and columnist, and was a writer and associate producer 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. The Beckwith portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2003. A collection of 25 of his music articles and talks was published by Golden Dog Press in 1997 under the title Music Papers. 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 edited Weinzweig: Essays on His Life and Music in 2011 and, with Robin Elliott, he edited Mapping Canada's Music: Selected Writings of Helmut Kallmann in 2013. Beckwith's autobiography, Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer, was published by Wilfrid Laurier Press in 2012. He was the recipient of many honours including from the Canadian Music Council in 1972 and 1984, Toronto Arts award in 1995, Diplôme d'honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1996, honorary membership in the Canadian University Music Society in 1999, and honorary doctorates from McGill, Mount Allison, Queen's, Victoria, and Guelph universities. Taking a Stand: Essays in Honour of John Beckwith, a festschrift on the occasion of his retirement, was published in 1995. 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 eclectic compositional vocabulary was sustained "by a broad palette of idioms, colours, and by the availability of a rich variety of forming procedures." Most of his compositions 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. 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, with whom he wrote a number of works for the stage. Beckwith also set texts of e.e. cummings, John Millington Synge, Samuel Beckett, and poems of the Tang dynasty translated by Witter Bynner. List of works Based on the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (2nd edition, 1992) and the John Beckwith website, University of Toronto. Unpublished works are at the Canadian Music Centre and the Beckwith fonds, University of Toronto. Stage Night Blooming Cereus (Reaney). 1953-58 (1959 Toronto). 8 singers, 14 instruments. Ms The Killdeer, incidental music (Reaney). 1960, rescored 1961. Prepared piano (5 instruments). Ms The Hector, documentary cantata (various). 1990 (1990 Toronto). Soprano, early-instrument ensemble. Ms The Shivaree (Reaney). 1964-65, 1977-78. Revisions with prologue added, 1982. (1982 Toronto; 1982 Banff (revised version with prologue)). 12 singers, 20 instr. Ms Crazy to Kill (Reaney, after Ann Caldwell). 1987-88 ( 1989 Guelph). 3 singers, 2 speakers, 2 instruments, tape. Ms Lucas et Cécile. 1808-09 (1990 Sharon). Concert arrangement of a comic opera by Joseph Quesnel with orchestration by Beckwith. Soli, orchestra. Ms Taptoo! (Reaney). 1993-95 (Montreal, 1999). 18 singers, 18 instruments. Ms Orchestra and band Music for Dancing (orchestra from piano, 4 hands). 1948 (piano), orch 1959 (1959 Ottawa). BMI Canada 1961. Montage. 1953, rescored 1955 (1953 Toronto). Orchestra. Ms Fall Scene and Fair Dance. 1956 (1956 Toronto). Violin, clarinet, strings. BMI Canada 1957. 1977. Lethbridge Symphony Assn Concerto Fantasy. 1959 (1962 Montreal). Piano, orchestra. Berandol Flower Variations and Wheels. 1962 (1963 Victoria). Rev. 1979. Orchestra. Berandol Concertino. 1963 (1964 Toronto). Horn, orchestra. Berandol Jonah, cantata (various). 1963 (1963 Toronto). BMI Canada 1969 Place of Meeting (Dennis Lee). 1967 (1967 Toronto ). Speaker, tenor, blues singer, SATB, orchestra. Ms Elastic Band Studies. 1969, rev. 1975 (1976 Toronto). Concert band. Ms Beckwith, John; Reaney, James (1973). All the Bees and All the Keys. Press Porcépic. (1973 Toronto). Narrator, orchestra. Orchestra Berandol, piano arrangement. A Concert of Myths. 1983 (1984 Calgary). Flute, orchestra. Ms Peregrine. 1989 (1990 Toronto). Viola, percussion, small orchestra. Ms Round and Round. 1991-92 (1992 Winnipeg). Orchestra. Ms Fifteen Figural Chorales from J.S. Bach's Das Orgelbüchlein (transcription), 1991 (1993 Halifax). Orchestra. Ms Fourteen Figural Chorales from J.S. Bach's Das Orgelbüchlein (transcription), 1993 (1996 Halifax). Orchestra. Ms Sixteen Figural Chorales from J.S. Bach's Das Orgelbüchlein (transcription), 1997. Orchestra. Ms Madness. 2003 (2003, Toronto) 2 oboes, bassoon, strings. Ms Three Brass Rings. 2007 (1984, Toronto; 2009 Toronto all) 11 brasses. Ms Variations. 2011 (2012, Ottawa). String orchestra. Ms Chamber The Great Lakes Suite (Reaney). 1949 (1950 Toronto). Soprano, baritone, clarinet, cello, piano. Five Pieces for Flute Duet. 1951 (1951 Paris). BMI Canada 1962 Four Pieces for Bassoon Duet. 1951. Ms Quartet for Woodwind Instruments. 1951 ( 1953 Toronto). Ms Three Studies for String Trio. 1956 (1957 Toronto). Ms Circle, with Tangents. 1967 (1967 Vancouver). Harpsichord, 13 solo strings. BMI Canada 1968 Taking a Stand. 1972 (1972 Stratford). 5 players, 8 brass instruments, 14 music stands. Berandol 1975 Musical Chairs. 1973 (1974 Toronto). String quintet, contrabassoon. Berandol 1980 Quartet. 1977 (1978 Montreal). String quartet. Ms. Case Study: a multi-purpose quintet. 1980 (1980 Toronto). Any 5 instruments. Ms Eight Miniatures: arranged from the Alan Ash manuscript. 1981. Violin, piano. Ms Sonatina in Two Movements. 1981 (1982 Toronto). Trumpet, piano. Ms Tunes of the Sharon Band (arrangement). 1982 (1982 Sharon). Brass quintet. Sonante 1984 Arctic Dances. 1984 (1984 Kingston). Oboe, piano. Ms. For Starters G.E.C. [George Edward Connell].1984 (Toronto 1984). 11 brass instr. Ms College Airs. 1990 (1990 Toronto). String quartet. Ms Echoes of Quesnel. 1995 (1997 Toronto). Violin, viola, cor anglais, organ. Ms Echoes of Thiele. 1995 (1996 Kitchener). Chamber orchestra (oboe, 2 trumpets, trombone, percussion, viola, cello, contrabass). Ms Eureka. 1996 (1996 Toronto). 9 wind instruments. Ms Lines Overlapping. 1996-97 (Toronto). Banjo, harpsichord. Ms Blurred Lines (duo in quartertones). 1997 (1997 Toronto). Violin, harpsichord. Ms Ringaround. 1998 (1999 Toronto). Celtic harp, harpsichord. Ms A Game of Bowls. 1999 (2000 Toronto). 3 percussion. Ms Workout. 2001 (2001 Toronto). 4 percussion. Ms A New Pibroch. 2002 (2003 Toronto). Highland pipes, percussion, 7 strings. Ms Back to Bolivia. 2006 (2010 Toronto). Clarinet quartet. Ms Fractions. 2006 (2007 Toronto). 16th-tone piano, string quartet. Ms Animals with Horns. 2007 (2010 Toronto). Trumpet, euphonium. Ms Play and Sing. 2008. cello, soprano (1 performer). Ms After Simpson. 2010 (2013 Toronto). 2 recorders, 2 viola da gamba. Ms Breaking Silence. 2013 (2013 St. John's). Cello. Ms Sonatina on "Mairi's Wedding." 2013 (2013 Toronto). Flute, piano. Ms Follow me. 2013. Clarinet, piano. Ms. Ut re me fa sol la. 2013. Guitar. Ms Quintet. 2015 (2017 Toronto). Flute, trumpet, bassoon, viola, double bass. Ms Calling. 2016 (2017 Toronto). Flugelhorn, euphonium, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, double bass. Ms. Meanwhile. 2018 (2018 Ottawa). Marimba, piano. Ms. Keyboard(s) Four Conceits. 1945, rev. 1948. Piano. Ms. Music for Dancing. 1948 (1948 Toronto). Piano, 4 hands. Ms. The Music Room. 1951. Piano. Frederick Harris 1955. Novelette. 1951 (1951 Paris). Piano. BMI Canada 1954. Six Mobiles. 1959. Piano. BMI Canada 1960. Interval Studies. 1962. Piano. BMI Canada 1962 Suite on Old Tunes (arrangement). 1967. Piano. BMI Canada 1967. Variation piquant sur la `Toronto Opera House Waltz.' 1967. 2 piano. Ms New Mobiles. 1971. Piano. Waterloo 1972 Upper Canadian Hymn Preludes. 1976-77 (1977 Ottawa). Organ, prepared tape. Ms. Keyboard Practice. 1979 (1979 Toronto). 4 players, 10 keyboard. (1986). Etudes. 1983 (1984 Vancouver). Piano. Ms. Counterpoint. On the Other Hand. 1997 (1997 Toronto). Harpsichord. Ms March, March! 2001 (2001 Montreal). Piano. Ms The Cheese Stands Still. 2004. Piano. Ms Light Work. 2007 (2009 Montreal). 16th-tone piano, 4 hands. Ms Yesteryear. 2010 (2013 St John's). Piano, 4 hands. Ms Pages. 2016 (2016 Halifax). Piano. Ms Choir The Trumpets of Summer (Atwood). 1964. Soloists, SATB, narrator, chamber ensemble Berandol. Sharon Fragments (Willson). 1966. SATB. Waterloo 1966. The Sun Dance (various). 1968. SATB, speaker, organ, percussion. Independently published. 1968 Three Blessings (Fisher, Burns, Wesley). 1968. SATB, instruments (optional in No. 2). Gas! (Beckwith). 1969. 20 speaking voices. Berandol 1978 1838 (Lee). 1970. SATB. Novello 1970 Papineau (2 Lowe