John Francis Oscar Arpin (3 December 1936 – 8 November 2007) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers * Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Athlete * Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Circus performer * Clown * Club Hostess/Host * Comed ...

, best known for his work as a virtuoso

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

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 ...

. Born in Port McNicoll,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Arpin studied piano at

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

, earning his ARCT diploma in 1953. He also studied at the Faculty of Music,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Arpin performed and toured widely. He died 8 November 2007 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Recording career

Arpin recorded more than sixty albums, mostly of

, but also played Broadway music,

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

. In 2002, he recorded seven CDs of piano solo music on the April Avenue record label. These albums consisted of favorite Broadway themes and familiar pop tunes. While just two compilations are still available in CD format, most of the other tracks can still be found on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. Here is a complete list: *A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square *All The Way *An Affair To Remember *Any Dream Will Do *As Time Goes By *Bewitched *Blue Moon *Brian's Song *Cabaret *Call Me Irresponsible *Cheek To Cheek *Climb Every Mountain *Dear Heart *Don't Cry For Me Argentina *Edelweiss *Fly Me to the Moon *Georgia on My Mind *Getting To Know You *Have You Met Miss Jones? *Hello Young Lovers *Here *I Didn't Know What Time It Was *I Left My Heart in San Francisco *I Only Have Eyes For You *I Will Wait For You *If I Loved You *Isn't It Romantic? *It Had To Be You *It Might As Well Be Spring *It's Impossible *I've Got You Under My Skin *Jean *Killing Me Softly *La Mer *Little Girl Blue *Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing *Mame *Manhattan *Memory *Misty *Moon River *More *Mountain Greenery *My Funny Valentine *My Romance *My Way *Nadia's Theme *Oh What a Beautiful Morning *On The Street Where You Live *Once Upon A Time *Over The Rainbow *People *People Will Say We're in Love *Put on a Happy Face *Que Sera *Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head *Sera *Smile *Smoke Gets in Your Eyes *Some Enchanted Evening *Spanish Eyes *Spring Is Here *Star Dust *Stranger on the Shore *Tammy *The Blue Room *The Days of Wine And Roses *The Entertainer *The Look of Love *The Music of the Night *The Shadow of Your Smile *The Sound of Music *The Surrey with the Fringe on Top *The Way We Were *Theme From "Nicholas And Alexandra" *There And Everywhere *There's A Small Hotel *Till There Was You *Tomorrow *Unchained Melody *Unforgettable *We Kiss in a Shadow *What I Did For Love *What Kind of Fool Am I? *When I Fall in Love *Where Or When *Who Can I Turn To? *With A Song in My Heart *Yesterday *You Took Advantage of Me

Performances

Arpin performed as a solo entertainer and with orchestras throughout the world. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, he performed with

Maureen Forrester Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, (July 25, 1930 – June 16, 2010) was a Canadian operatic contralto. Life and career Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in Montreal, Quebec, one of four children of Thomas Forrester, a Scottish cabinetmak ...

and

Peter Appleyard Peter Appleyard, (26 August 1928 – 17 July 2013) was a British–Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer. He spent most of his life in the city of Toronto, where for many years he was a popular performer in nightclubs and ho ...

. He made several appearances at the

Mariposa Folk Festival Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a f ...

, the St. Louis Ragtime Festival, and the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri. In the Toronto area, he performed regularly in bars, clubs, and hotel lounges, notably The King Edward Hotel, The Ports of Call, The Windsor Arms, Mr. Tony's, and Pearcy House.

Awards

Arpin was nominated three times for

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

s, given to show excellence in Canadian music. In June 1998, he won the

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

Award from the Scott Joplin Foundation of Sedalia, Missouri.

Critical acclaim

Ragtime great

Eubie Blake James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote ''Shuffle Along'', one of the first Bro ...

pronounced John Arpin "the Chopin of Ragtime", while

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

labeled him "the Richter of Ragtime". '' High Fidelity'' magazine said of one of his albums: "This is the best recorded collection of piano rags that I know of and is, I suspect, the most authentically performed."

Compositions

Notable among his own compositions are "Jogging Along" (a theme song for the acclaimed CBC radio program '' Morningside''). He also composed the theme for

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

's children's shows, Polka Dot Door and Polka Dot Shorts and wrote the music for the shows. Arpin also composed the themes for several CTV network shows in the 1960s. His "Lyric Suite for Piano, Strings and Percussion" won first prize out of 450 entrants in the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

Second International Original Concert in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He also arranged music for several Canadian recording acts. In 2005, he was commissioned by

St. Michael's Choir School St. Michael's Choir School (also known as SMCS, The Choir School, or St. Mike's Choir) is a semi-Independent school, private Catholic Church, Catholic Cathedral school, choir school for boys from Educational stage, grades 3-12 in Toronto, Ontario, ...

(Toronto) to compose and arrange a "medley" of Christmas tunes which he titled "Yuletide on the Cool Side". It was very warmly received in its premiere on a concert tour across Canada.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Music in Canada entryArpin's personal web siteJohnAndMaryJane.blogspot Blog maintained by Arpin's wife
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arpin, John Francis Oscar 1936 births 2007 deaths People from Simcoe County University of Toronto alumni The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Canadian male composers Canadian pop musicians Canadian classical pianists Male classical pianists Musicians from Toronto 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians