Joseph Thomas Hector Gratton (13 August 1900 – 16 July 1970) was a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. As a composer his music is written in an essentially folkloric and popular style which avoids harmonic sophistication. His compositional output includes several

orchestral works ''Orchestral Works'' is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel recorded and released on the Decca label in 1970.

chamber works Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and works for solo piano. He also wrote 4

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s and a considerable amount of music for radio programs. In 1937 his

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

''Légende'' won the Jean Lallemand Prize which led to the work's premiere performance that year by the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orche ...

under conductor

Wilfrid Pelletier Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving ...

. The work was repeated by the orchestra in concerts the following year under conductor

Sir Ernest MacMillan Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, (August 18, 1893 – May 6, 1973) was a Canadian orchestral conductor, composer, organist, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician, from th ...

."Hector Gratton, eminent Canadian composer", ''CRMA'', vol 1, Jan 1943

Life and career

Born in

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadia ...

(now

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

), Gratton studied music theory and composition with

Albertine Morin-Labrecque Albertine Morin-Labrecque (sometimes Labrecque-Morin) (8 June 1886 – 22 or 25 September 1957) was a Canadian pianist, soprano, composer, and music educator. Her compositional output includes 4 ballets, 2 comic operas, the Chinese Opera ' ...

Oscar O'Brien Oscar O'Brien (7 September 1892 – 20 September 1958) was a Canadian folklorist, composer, pianist, organist, music educator, and Roman Catholic priest. A large portion of his compositions were based in folklore and he also arranged and harm ...

, and Alfred Whitehead. He was a piano student of Alphonse Martin and

Alfred La Liberté Alfred La Liberté (10 February 1882 – 7 May 1952) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. He was a disciple and close personal friend of Alexander Scriabin. He was also an admirer of Marcel Dupré and Nikol ...

. From La Liberté he gained a great appreciation for the works and aesthetics of

Nikolai Medtner Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (russian: Никола́й Ка́рлович Ме́тнер, ''Nikoláj Kárlovič Métner''; 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immedi ...

and

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

, two composers which influenced his own compositional style. During the 1920s, Gratton toured with

Charles Marchand Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

performing

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

that was harmonized by O'Brien. He notably performed in concerts with Marchand at the

CPR Festivals The Canadian Pacific Railway Festivals, usually simplified to CPR Festivals, were a series of music and folk arts festivals sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) between 1927 and 1931. The festivals were organized by the writer and publici ...

between 1927 and 1930. He soon after began working for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

during the early years of national radio. He composed and conducted music for ''Je me souviens'', one of the first major Canadian radio series which featured scripts by

Félix Leclerc Félix Leclerc, (August 2, 1914 – August 8, 1988) was a French-Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and '' Québécois'' political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posth ...

. Also notable among his compositions for CBC Radio was the incidental music for

Cécile Chabot Cécile or Cecile is a female given name or surname. People Given name * Ce'cile (Cecile Charlton, born 1976), Jamaican musician * Severin Cecile Abega (1955–2008), Cameroonian author * Cécile Aubry (1928–2010), retired French film actres ...

's 1945 Christmas story ''L'Imagerie''. Gratton died in Montreal in 1970 at the age of 69. He was made an associate of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

posthumously. Several of his original manuscripts are part of the collection at the

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gratton, Hector 1900 births 1970 deaths Canadian classical pianists Male classical pianists Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian music educators Musicians from Gatineau 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian pianists Canadian male pianists 20th-century Canadian male musicians