This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
John Beckwith

CM
Born(1927-03-09)March 9, 1927
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
DiedDecember 5, 2022(2022-12-05) (aged 95)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)Composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator

John Beckwith CM (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.

Over the course of his life, Beckwith also received honorary doctorates from McGill University, Mount Allison University, Queen's University, University of Victoria, and University of Guelph.

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 1970-77. 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

Orchestra and band

Chamber

Piano

Choir

Voice

Collage

Writings

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Nygaard King, Betty; Anhalt, István; Winters, Kenneth; McIntosh, Andrew (2022-12-07). "John Beckwith". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  2. ^ Elliott, Robin (2022-12-16). "Vital and prolific composer John Beckwith was an authority on Canadian music". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  3. ^ a b Hisama, Ellie. "John Beckwith (1927–2022)". music.utoronto.ca. University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  4. ^ Beckwith, John (1997). Music Papers: Articles and Talks by a Canadian Composer, 1961-1994. Golden Dog Press. ISBN 978-0-919614-72-7.
  5. ^ McGee, Timothy J., ed. (1995). Taking a Stand: Essays in Honour of John Beckwith. Heritage. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-0583-0. Retrieved 2023-12-30.((cite book)): CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ Christensen, Bradley (2023). The Repertoire of John Beckwith for Solo Voice and Piano: An Interpretive and Pedagogical Guide (DMA). University of Toronto. Retrieved 2023-12-30.

External links

Archives at
LocationUniversity of Toronto Music Library Edit this on Wikidata
IdentifiersCA OTUFM 10
SourceJohn Beckwith fonds
How to use archival material
Authority control databases
Categories