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Unheard Of

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The memoir of renowned Canadian composer John Beckwith recounts his more than sixty years in creative output and music education. His life story is a slice of Canadian cultural history. Canadian c...
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  • 01 February 2012
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The memoir of renowned Canadian composer John Beckwith recounts his more than sixty years in creative output and music education. His life story is a slice of Canadian cultural history.
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.

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Price: $31.99
Pages: 408
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Imprint: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Series: Life Writing
Publication Date: 01 February 2012
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781554583584
Format: Paperback
BISACs: MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Classical
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What may surprise you about this memoir by John Beckwith, one of Canada's preeminent composers, is that it will make you laugh. The cheeky title hints at the man's sense of humour and reflects the fact that many, especially those outside the academic and classical music circles in Canada, may not know his name. But within these circles Beckwith is a towering figure. His notoriety and influence arise from his involvement in the world of classical music in Canada for over six decades in several capacities: as piano performer, journalist, teacher, administrator, scholar, and composer. However significant his career in arts and letters was, one might not expect that an account of it would be terribly exciting. But Beckwith is a gifted storyteller, and throughout the book he generously peppers his narrative with charming and sometimes hilarious anecdotes.... For those for whom Beckwith may seem more of an institution than a man, these frequent humourous moments reveal something of the personality behind the legend, while the chronicle of his boundless activities and accomplishments validate his iconic status.... The picture that emerges from this memoir is of a man of great intelligence, energy, wit, and generosity of spirit who enjoyed a career of uncommonly wide breadth and scope. It will certainly appeal to those with an interest in Canadian classical music and twentieth-century music more broadly. Although it makes numerous references to music and music personalities, it is well-written enough to warrant a readership among those who enjoy Canadian history and biography as well.

In his sixty-year career, John Beckwith has drawn attention with performances, broadcasts, and recordings of his more than 150 compositions and with his critical and research writings on personalities and issues of Canadian music past and present. Associated from 1952 to 1990 with the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, he was a witness of, and often a participant in, “the excitement of new creative directions in theatre, painting, and music” (as he once put it) of late-twentieth-century Canada. John Beckwith is a member of the Order of Canada and holds honorary doctorates from five universities.

Table of Contents for Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer, by John Beckwith

List of Illustrations

List of Music Examples

LIFE, PART 1

1. Father

2. Mother

3. Victoria: Childhood and Adolescence

STUDIES

4. Toronto: Youth

5. Composing

6. Paris

CAREER

7. Writing

8. Academia

9. Politics

COMPOSITIONS

10. For Instruments (1)

11. For Instruments (2)

12. Operas

13. Choirs

14. For Voice(s)

LIFE, PART 2

15. Full Length

Notes

Acknowledgements

Recordings and Scores

Index