John Weinzweig

Biography

Sample Works

John Weinzweig (1913-2006) was born in Toronto on March 11, 1913. The composer recalls his checkered early career: "Between the ages of 14 and 19, I studied the piano, mandolin, tuba, double bass and tenor saxophone, as well as harmony. I played and conducted school orchestras, dance bands, weddings, lodge meetings and on electioneering trucks for a rage of fees between two dollars and a promise. I played Pirates of Penzance, Poet and Peasant, Blue Danube, St. Louis Blues, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, Chopin waltzes and Tiger Rag. At age 19 I got serious and decided to become a composer."

He continued his music studies at the University of Toronto (1934-37), where he also founded and conducted the University of Toronto Symphony during his student years. Upon the invitation of Howard Hanson he enrolled at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., in the Masters program, where he received his first formal guidance in composition under Bernard Rogers. While at Eastman he discovered for himself the music of Alban Berg and the 12-tone method which was to be a lasting influence on his creative thinking. John Weinzweig is regarded as the first composer in Canada to have made use of this technique.

He returned to Toronto in the fall of 1938 to face the difficulties of pursuing a composing career and hostile reactions to his music from both musicians and members of the public. In 1941 he was invited by the CBC to compose the first original background music for dramatic radio presentations, and the following year he composed his first film score for the National Film Board of Canada. These proved to be an invaluable experience in applying his contemporary ideas to a media that tended towards a conservative sonic background.

At the invitation of Sir Ernest MacMillan, he joined the Royal Conservatory in 1939 as teacher of composition and orchestration, and accepted a professorship at the University of Toronto in 1952, where he developed the composition department through to graduate studies. In 1978 he retired from the University as Professor Emeritus. Among his many talented students were: Harry Somers, Harry Freedman, Murray Adaskin and Phil Nimmons (1940s); R. Murray Schafer, Norma Beecroft, Gustav Ciamaga and John Beckwith (1950s); Brian Cherney, Paul Pedersen, Robert Aitken and John Rea (1960s); David Jaeger, Kristi Allik, Peter Paul Koprowski and Tomas Dusatko (1970s).

In 1951 Weinzweig and several of his former students, concerned by the lack of opportunities for music publication or performance of extended works, formalized their ideals and founded the Canadian League of Composers. As the League’s first President, he embarked on a new career dedicated to advocating on behalf of musical creators. For many years he served on the Board of Directors of the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC), including as its President from 1973-75, and later on that of the amalgamated performing rights agency SOCAN. As well, he was co-planner of the Canadian Music Centre in 1959, and Chairman of the International Conference of Composers in 1960.

John Weinzweig’s music is described in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada as characterized by "clarity of texture, economy of material, rhythmic energy, and tight motivic organization." A notable feature of Weinzweig’s output is the series of Divertimenti. After the success of his Divertimento No.1 for flute and strings, he extended this idea of a concerto-like, animated and rhythmic spirit featuring solo winds such as oboe, bassoon, saxophone, tuba, and the latest for English horn. The Harp Concerto (1967) and 15 Pieces for Harp (1983) are major contributions to contemporary harp literature, and secured the composer Honourary Membership in the American Harp Society (1984). Having written for a wide variety of media through orchestra to unaccompanied instrument, film scores to choral settings, in later years Weinzweig has become particularly interested in the exploitation of the sounds of common speech and responding to the events of everyday life. Trialogue (1971), and the more recent Prime Time (1991), are forays into the realm of music theatre.

Richard Henninger wrote of John Weinzweig in 1973 on the occasion of his 60th birthday: "Now, at a time when mainstream twentieth century techniques are a fact of life in Canadian composition, we can look back and realize that, more than any other musician, John Weinzweig was responsible for initiating their usage. With his own music, in the early forties, Weinzweig broke the ground for the rest of us by putting sounds inspired by Berg and Stravinsky before radio and concert audiences at a time when such sounds were sure to meet resistance. By introducing contemporary techniques to a few sympathetic colleagues and students, he generated a small group of like-minded composers which became the foundation of the variety and quality found in Canadian music today."

Centrediscs compact discs featuring the music of John Weinzweig are Crossroads (CMCCD 4392), Private Collection (CMCCD 0582) and Weinzweig in Concert (CMCCD 5295).

2002

CAPAC, Canadian League of Composers

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