John Fereday Preston Waterhouse (28 October 1877 - 22 May 1970) was a Canadian
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
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 ...
.
Biography
Born in
Bilston
Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...
,
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, he was educated at the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
(RAM) where he was a pupil of
Émile Sauret
Émile Sauret (22 May 1852 – 12 February 1920) was a French violinist and composer. Sauret wrote over 100 violin pieces, including a famous cadenza for the first movement of Niccolò Paganini's First Violin Concerto, and the "Gradus ad Par ...
counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
), and
Stewart Macpherson
(Charles) Stewart Macpherson (29 March 1865 – 27 March 1941) was an English musician of Scottish descent. He was born in Liverpool, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was a student of the composer Walter Cecil Macfarren. ...
(
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
). He was later named a Fellow of the RAM in 1947. He began his career in England working as a concert violinist, orchestral player, and conductor. During this time he married his wife Cecilia who was a pianist that had been trained by a pupil of
Clara Schumann
Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...
. Their son William Waterhouse also became a notable violinist and pedagogue.
Sometime around the year 1910, Waterhouse left England for the United States to join the
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
History
Em ...
. He left that post in 1914 to move to
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Canada. He lived in Winnipeg for the rest of his life, spending more than five decades teaching and performing in that city. He was responsible for introducing works by several English composers to the city. From 1923-1927 he conducted the Winnipeg Orchestral Club and from 1934-1936 he conducted the Winnipeg String Orchestra. He was named an honorary member of the Manitoba Music Educators Association, the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association, and the Winnipeg Men's Music Club. In 1965 he was awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Associations honored him and five other recipients with a centennial citation. His notable students included
Lloyd Blackman
Lloyd Jason Blackman (born 24 September 1983) is an English retired semi-professional footballer who is assistant manager of Tonbridge Angels. As a player, he played as a forward in the Football League for Brentford and after his release ...
,
George Bornoff
George Bornoff (5 November 1907 – 1998) was a Canadian violinist and string teacher. He notably developed the method of string teaching bearing his name, the Bornoff Method, which emphasizes an early focus on five patterns of half- and whole-st ...
Hugo Rignold
Hugo Henry Rignold (15 May 1905 – 30 May 1976) was an English conductor and violinist, who is best remembered as musical director of the Royal Ballet (1957–1960) and conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1960–1968).
Aft ...
,
Gwen Thompson
Gwendoline Linda Louise Thompson (born 30 March 1947 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian violinist and music educator. She has been a member of two notable chamber music ensembles with whom she has made several commercial recordings: the Master ...