Graham Elias George (11 April 1912 – 9 December 1993) 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 Def ...

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation ( ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

conductor, 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 ...

of English birth. 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 A ...

, his compositional output consists largely of choral works, many written for Anglican liturgical use. He also wrote three

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 ...

s, four

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

s, and some symphonic music. In 1938 he won the Jean Lallemand Prize for his '' Variations on an Original Theme''. At first he employed traditional tertial harmony, but the influence of Hindemith led him to introduce quartal-quintal harmony as integral to his style. Successful completion of RCCO/RCO diplomas and external degrees had demanded he attain very considerable expertise in counterpoint, and so his neoclassic deployment of contrapuntal devices such as imitation, canon and fugue is hardly accidental. His archives 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 t ...

Early life and education

Born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, he moved to Canada in 1928 at the age of 16. He studied the organ and music composition with

Alfred Whitehead Alfred Ernest Whitehead (10 July 1887 – 1 April 1974) was an English-born Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, music educator, painter, whose works are held in a number of important private collections, and an internationally recogni ...

. He earned the Associateship (1934) and Fellowship (1936) of the

Royal Canadian College of Organists The Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), founded in 1909, is a national association of organists and church musicians in Canada, with 28 centres from Victoria, British Columbia to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The National Office is ...

, the Associateship (1935) of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

. The examinations for external

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pre ...

(1936) and

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (D.Mus., D.M., Mus.D. or occasionally Mus.Doc.) is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions and/or scholarly publications on music. Like other higher doctorates, it is granted b ...

(1939) degrees he earned from

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 ...

were very similar in scope and difficulty with the theoretical parts of the RCO/RCCO examinations; the degrees additionally required the successful submission of composition exercises. George, like Weinzweig before him, was open to contemporary techniques. From 1952 to 1953, George studied composition with

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

at the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a join ...

. During 1956 he also studied conducting with Willem van Otterloo in the Netherlands.

Career

George worked as a church organist-choirmaster and private music teacher in Montreal (1932-1937) and Sherbrooke, Quebec (1937 to 1941). From 1946 to 1977, he taught at Queen's University. A university research grant and a

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...

exchange grant facilitated his writing of ''Tonality and Musical Structure'' between 1970 and 1973; he subsequently wrote ''Tonality in Tristan and Parsifal'' and scholarly articles for musical periodicals. In 1953, George established the Kingston Choral Society and in 1954 he founded the

Kingston Symphony The Kingston Symphony (KS) is a Canadian orchestra based in Kingston, Ontario. Since 2014 the principal conductor of the symphony has been Evan Mitchell. The ensemble performs most of its concerts at The Grand Theatre.

; these he conducted until 1957. From the Canadian Society for Traditional Music's inception in 1956, he was a board member; serving as president from 1965 to 1968. He was active as an organist/choirmaster in Kingston and Gananoque from 1946 to 1975. The Royal Canadian College of Organists elected him its president(1972–1974); from 1969 to 1980 he was secretary-general of the

International Folk Music Council The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) is a scholarly non-governmental organization which focuses on the study, practice, documentation, preservation, and dissemination of traditional music and dance of all countries. Founded in Lo ...

. Upon his retirement, Queen's University named him professor emeritus, and named both its music library (1983) and an annual scholarship (to a meritorious composition student) in his honour. He died in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Tor ...

in 1993 at the age of 81, after the onset of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

. His wife of many years, soprano Tjot George, predeceased him by two years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Graham 1912 births 1993 deaths Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian classical organists Male classical organists Canadian choral conductors Canadian music educators Queen's University at Kingston faculty University of Toronto alumni Yale University alumni Musicians from Norwich 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century organists 20th-century Canadian male musicians English emigrants to Canada