FRC Clarke

Frederick Robert Charles Clarke (born August 7, 1931 in Vancouver , † November 18, 2009 in Kingston , Ontario ) was a Canadian organist, choir director, composer and music teacher.

Clarke took piano lessons with Kenneth Ross in Vancouver and organ lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Eric Rollinson . At the University of Toronto he studied music theory and composition with Healey Willan , S. Drummond Wolff and George Laughlin .

From 1950 to 1958 he was organist and choirmaster at various churches in Toronto and St. Catherines. He also taught at the Hamilton Conservatory from 1956 to 1958 and directed the St. Catharines Civic Orchestra from 1957 to 1958 . From 1958 to 1991 he was the organist and choirmaster of Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston; he also headed the Kingston Choral Society until 1977 . At Queen's Theological College he gave lectures from 1959 to 1969, and from 1964 he taught music theory at the Music Department of Queen's University, among other things. He headed the department from 1981 to 1988 and was its director until 1991 after it was renamed Queen's University School of Music . In 1965 he founded the Queen's Chamber Players Ensemble , whose conductor he was until 1969.

In the Preparatory Committee for the Common Hymn Book of the Anglican and United Churches The Hymn Book , Clarke was the head of the subcommittee on music. He himself contributed 7 compositions and 18 arrangements to the hymn book. For the 300th anniversary of the founding of Kingston, he composed the Festival Te Deum in 1972 , and for the 150th anniversary of the founding of Queen's University , Reginae was written in 1991 . Clarke completed or orchestrated several works by Healey Willan, including Introduction and Allegro for string quartet (WP 1984), Dirge for Two Veterans ( WP 1985) and Reqiem Mass ( WP 1988). In 1983 he published the book Healey Willan: Life and Music (reprints 1984 and 1991). Some of his own compositions are only in the manuscript - most of them in the possession of the Canadian Music Center . With his Psalm 145 (1966) he won the CBC Choral Composition Prize in 1967 .

Works

• 12 songs for voice and piano or organ, 1950–57
• Six Hymn Tune Voluntaries for Organ, 1950–60
• Sonata for Cello and Piano , 1952, 1985
• Bel and the Dragon , oratorio for soprano, tenor baritone, two mixed choirs and orchestra, 1954
• Simple Siciliano for piano, 1954, 1974
• Festival Overture for orchestra, 1955
• Christmas Cantata for soprano, tenor, bass, mixed choir and organ, 1955, 1963, 1989
• Sonata for Organ and Strings , 1958
• Psalm 145 for mixed choir, wind instruments and percussion or organ, 1966
• Prelude for organ, 1968
• Introduction and Passacaglia for organ, 1969
• A William Boyce Suite for Organ, 1970
• Mini-Suite for orchestra, 1971
• Festival Te Deum for mixed choir and orchestra, 1972
• Meditation on 'Primrose' for organ, 1972
• Two Meditations on Plainsong Hymns for Organ, 1973
• Pastorale and Fugue on a Christmas Hymn for string orchestra, 1975
• Introduction and Fugue on 'Concrete' for organ, 1977
• Two Antiphonal Pieces for six horns, 1981
• A Prayer of St Francis for mixed choir and organ, 1983
• Three Shakespeare Miniatures for soprano, flute and piano. 1984
• Suite for Clarinet Choir , 1985
• Three Pieces for Brass Quintet , 1987
• Triptych for orchestra, 1987
• Sonata for Viola and Piano , 1988
• String Quartet 'Music Comes' , 1989
• Reginae for mixed choir and orchestra, 1991

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• FRC Clarke ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Canadaian Music Center - Frederick R. Charles Clarke