Growing with Canada: The Émigré Tradition in Canadian Music (Volume 6) (Arts Insights Series)

During the second half of the twentieth century musical life in Canada flourished as never before, due in large measure to a generation of European émigrés who worked to establish a uniquely Canadian culture of classical music by teaching, performing, and composing "in the key of Canada." Based on years of detailed and extensive interviews, and supplemented by a wide range of archival material, Growing with Canada showcases the men and women who came to Canada and the roles they played in developing the country's musical culture. Paul Helmer shows that émigrés were at the centre of the new musical milieu and uses the lively testimony of those involved to weave together the larger story of post-war Canadian music performance, production, and education. By introducing the sounds and techniques of their homelands, émigré artists were able to overcome the dominating British presence in post-secondary music education - vastly expanding the role music played in universities - while pioneering the performance and production of opera in Canada. From British Columbia to Newfoundland, they served as educators, teachers, and administrators as well as outstanding performers, conductors, composers, music historians, radio and television producers, and benefactors. "Based on years of detailed and extensive interviews with some seventy people, and supplemented by a wide range of archival material, Growing with Canada reveals how these men and women came to Canada and the roles they played in developing musical culture here, weaving the larger story of post-war Canadian music performance, production, and education around their testimony. Paul Helmer shows that émigrés were at the centre of the developing musical milieu, particularly in Toronto and Montreal. They were able to overcome the dominating British presence in post-secondary music education and vastly expanded the role music played in universities. They also pioneered the performance and production of opera in Canada. From British Columbia to Newfoundland, they served as educators, teachers, and administrators as well as outstanding performers, conductors, composers, music historians, radio and television producers, and benefactors."--Pub. desc Cover Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Figures and Tables Abbreviations Introduction: Meanings of Exile – A New Perspective PART ONE: EUROPE 1 Facing Totalitarianism: Journeys and Refuges 2 Life in Jurisdictional Limbo PART TWO: CANADA 3 Musical Life in Canada: An Overview of the Interwar Years 4 Rebuilding Canada’s Post-Secondary Music Education System 5 Opera in the University 6 New Faculty Appointments Complete the Transformation of Music in the University 7 Discovering Canada and Canadians Epilogue: Looking Forward, Looking Back APPENDICES A: Bio-bibliographies of Émigré Musicians B: List of Interviews C: Arnold Walter, “Music in the University” D: The German Reich vs. Sophie Eckhardt-Gramatté Notes References Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z During the second half of the twentieth century, musical life in Canada flourished as never before, due in large measure to a generation of European emigres who worked to establish a uniquely Canadian culture of classical music. This title reveals how these men and women came to Canada and the roles they played in developing musical culture here.