Full Description
John Weinzweig (1913â2006) was the pre-eminent Canadian composer of his generation. Influenced by European modernists such as Stravinsky, Berg, and Webern, he was the first Canadian composer to employ serialism, thereby bringing a spirit of innovation to mid-twentieth-century Canadian music. A forceful advocate for modern Canadian composition, Weinzweig played a key role in the founding of the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre during a buoyant and expansive period for the arts in Canada. He was an influential force as a teacher of composition, first with the Royal Conservatory of Music and later with the University of Toronto's music faculty. This first comprehensive study of Weinzweig since his death consists of new essays by composers, theorists, and musicologists. It deals with biographical aspects (the social context of early-twentieth-century Toronto, his activism, his teaching, his early scores for CBC Radio dramas), analyzes his compositional processes and his output (his approach to serialism, his instrumental practice, the presence of jazz elements, the vocal works, the divertimenti), and examines various evaluations of his music (his own â in letters, interviews, talks, and writings â plus those of critics and scholars, of listeners, and of performers). The essays are framed by the co-editors' portrait/assessment of Weinzweig and a brief personal memoir. Much of the content draws on new research in the extensive Weinzweig Fonds at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Included at the end of the book are a [http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/General/beckwith-cherney-list-of-works-discography.pdf List of Works by John Weinzweig by Kathleen McMorrow and a Discography by David Olds ] both available here as pdfs. Supplementing the volume is an audio CD of extracts (some in their first public release), ranging from a 1937 student work to a song cycle of 1994. Read the [http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/General/beckwith-cherney-cd-notes.pdf Notes and Texts for the CD .]
Contents
Table of Contents for Weinzweig: Essays on His Life and Music , edited by John Beckwith and Brian Cherney List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements 1. A Self-Made Composer | John Beckwith and Brian Cherney Part One: Biographical Themes 2. Toronto: The Social and Artistic Context | Robin Elliott, University of Toronto 3. The Activist | Brian Cherney, McGill University 4. The Teacher | John Rea, McGill University 5. Music for Radio and Film | Elaine Keillor, Carleton University Part Two: The Composer 6. The First Canadian Serialist | Catherine Nolan, University of Western Ontario 7. âNaked and Unashamedâ: The Instrumental Practice | Clark Ross, Memorial University of Newfoundland 8. Works with Text | John Beckwith, University of Toronto 9. âJazz Swingâ and âJazz Bluesâ | John Beckwith, University of Toronto 10. âThe Story of My Lifeâ: The Divertimento Series | Kames K. Wright, Carleton University Part Three: The Legacy 11. In His Own Words | Alan Gillmor, Carleton University 12. Critical and Scholarly Views | J. Drew Stephen, University of Texas at San Antonio 13. Ear-Dreaming: A Study in Listeners | Eleanor V. Stubley, McGill University 14. How to Play Weinzweig | Robert Aitken, New Music Concerts 15. Weinzweig as I Knew Him | John Beckwith List of Works, with Discography | Kathleen McMorrow, University of Toronto, and David Olds, New Music Concerts General Bibliography with Annotations Notes and Texts for the CD | David Jaeger, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Index
