Murray Adaskin
Template:More footnotes needed Template:Infobox musical artist Murray Adaskin, Template:Post-nominals (March 28, 1906 – May 6, 2002) was a Toronto-born Canadian violinist, composer, conductor and teacher. After playing violin with a band, he studied composition and became the director of the Music department of the University of Saskatchewan. Many of his compositions were written while in Victoria after his retirement.<ref name="Everett-Green"/>
Life
Born in Toronto, Ontario,<ref name="Harvard Bio">Template:Cite book</ref> to Jewish Latvian immigrant parents who raised their four children to become persevering kids, Adaskin studied the violin with Alexander Chuhaldin at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He began his career playing the violin in silent film presentations in his native city. Afterwards, he was a violinist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1923 to 1936. He married his first wife, soprano Frances James, around that time. From 1938 to 1952 he was with the Royal York Hotel trio.<ref name="Everett-Green"/> Adaskin attended the Music Academy of the West in 1950.<ref name="MAotW alumni">Template:Cite web</ref>
By 38 years of age, he studied for seven years with John Weinzweig to become a composer. Other composers he studied with include Charles Jones and Darius Milhaud. He was head of the Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan from 1952 to 1966, including four years as conductor of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. He then became the Composer-in-Residence until 1972, the first position of its type ever created at a Canadian university. Among his notable pupils were composers Boyd McDonald, Paul Pedersen, Rodney Sharman and Timothy Williams; and violinist Andrew Dawes. Template:See LMST By 1972, he retired to Victoria where he started composing more than half his total of 130 compositions.<ref name="Everett-Green"/>
Adaskin lost his first wife in 1988, to later remarry to a woman named Dorothea Larsen, who was his helping hand in recording some pieces on their own label. He died in 2002, just before the release of two CDs of a five-disc collection for his memory. He is the brother of Harry Adaskin, Leslie Adaskin and John Adaskin.<ref name="Everett-Green"/>
It was announced on December 15, 1980, that he was awarded the Order of Canada.<ref name="gazette.gc.ca"/> On April 8, 1981, Adaskin was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada.<ref name="gg.ca"/>
Music inspiration
Igor Stravinsky was a major inspiration for Adaskin. "Stravinsky's neo-classical and rugged rhythms echo through his work."<ref name="Everett-Green"/> Additionally, his training as a violinist affected his sense of melody. Through his works, one can feel the presence of landscapes, birdsongs and different local surrounding sounds.<ref name="Everett-Green"/>
The melody of his compositions often seem abstract, similar to Canadian visual art from his early years. His avid interest in Canadian visual art was expressed in his work: In Praise of Canadian Painting in the Thirties.<ref name="Everett-Green"/>
Selected works
- Epitaph for voice and piano (1948)
- March No.1 for orchestra (1950)
- Sonata for Piano (1950)
- Sonatine Baroque for violin solo (1952) or viola solo (1999)
- March No.2 for orchestra (1953, revised 1962)
- Rondino for Nine Instruments (1961)
- Dedication (1963)
- Daydreams for alto saxophone and piano (1971)
- Woodwind Quintet No.1 (1974)
- Rankin Inlet for piano duet (1978)
- Eskimo Melodies for piano (1980)
- March No.3 for orchestra (1981)
- Vocalise No.1 for solo viola (1990)
- Concerto No.1 for viola and orchestra (1991)
- Three Piano Pieces (Savannah, Gretchen, and Etude No. 1), for Piano (1992)
- Concerto No.2 for viola and orchestra (1995)
- String Quintet (1995)
- Duo for viola and guitar (1996)
- Vocalise No.2 for solo viola (1996)
- Divertimento No.9 for string trio (1998)
- Duo for viola and piano (1999)
- Finki, Where Are You? for 2 violas (2000)
- Musica Victoria (2000)
Footnotes
Citations
References
External links
- 1906 births
- 2002 deaths
- Canadian male classical composers
- Canadian classical violinists
- Canadian male classical violinists
- Canadian people of Latvian-Jewish descent
- Jewish Canadian musicians
- Jewish classical composers
- Musicians from Toronto
- Officers of the Order of Canada
- People from Old Toronto
- Pupils of Darius Milhaud
- The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni
- Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan
- 20th-century Canadian classical composers
- 20th-century classical violinists
- 20th-century Canadian composers
- Music Academy of the West alumni
- 20th-century Canadian male musicians
- 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers
- Canadian male violinists and fiddlers
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra members