Douglas Clarke

Douglas Clarke (born April 4, 1893 in Reading , Berkshire , † November 14, 1962 in Warwick ) was a British conductor, music teacher, organist, pianist and composer.

Clarke studied from 1909 to 1912 at Reading University College with Sir Hugh Allen . During the First World War he served in the Royal Navy; then he continued his studies at Cambridge University with Gustav Holst , Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Wood . He also studied organ at Christ's College and was the conductor of the University's Musical Society .

In 1927 he went to Canada, where he became the conductor of the male choir, the symphonic choir and organist of the Holy Trinity Church in Winnipeg . He performed Bach's St. Matthew Passion here with both choirs in 1927 and 1928 . In 1929 he succeeded Harry Crane Perrin as director of the McGill Conservatory , the following year he was dean of the music faculty at McGill University . His students included Violet Archer , Alexander Brott , Eric McLean , Robert Turner and his future wife Octavia Wilson .

Clarke has conducted a large number of Canadian premieres of major musical works such as Brahms' First and Fourth Symphonies, his Haydn Variations, the Violin Concerto and the Second Piano Concerto, Berlioz ' Symphonie fantastique , Sibelius ' First Symphony and Rachmaninov's Paganini Variations . He was particularly interested in English composers such as Arnold Bax , Frank Bridge , George Butterworth , Frederick Delius , Edward Elgar , Gustav Holst , Ralph Vaughan Williams , William Walton and Peter Warlock . In 1931 he performed his own Three Pieces and in 1936 the Piece for Full Orchestra .

During the 1940s he performed several times as a pianist with the McGill String Quartet . For a while he gave introductions to the symphony concerts of the radio station CFCF. In 1955 he returned to England, where he worked as an organist at St Mary's Church in Warwick.

Web links

• Douglas Clarke ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .