Jean Coulthard

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Jean Coulthard (born February 10, 1908 in Vancouver , † March 9, 2000 in North Vancouver ) was a Canadian composer and music teacher. Along with Barbara Pentland and Violet Archer , she is considered the most important Canadian composer of the 20th century.

Life

Coulthard had her first musical training from her mother, the singer Jean Blake Coulthard . She studied piano with Jan Cherniavsky and music theory with Frederick Chubb from 1924 to 1928 and began teaching at her mother's music studio when she was seventeen. A scholarship from the Vancouver Woman's Musical Club enabled her to study with Kathleen Long , RO Morris and Ralph Vaughan Williams in London from 1928 to 1929 .

Upon her return to Canada, Coulthard taught privately. In 1935 she married the designer Donald Adams , and in 1943 their daughter Jane was born, who became a painter. After composing since she was ten, Coulthard took composition lessons from Arthur Benjamin in 1939 and 1944 , and she wrote her first major orchestral works - Canadian Fantasy (1940), Excursion (1940), Ballade (A Winter's Tale) (1940) and Song to the Sea (1942) - with which she established herself as a composer in Canada. This was followed by composition studies with Bernard Wagenaar , and Darius Milhaud , Béla Bartók and Nadia Boulanger also supported them by providing critical accompaniment to their works.

1955-1956 she stayed in France financed by a grant from the Royal Society of Canada , where she began composing her violin concerto and her only opera The Return of the Native . The violin concerto was premiered in 1959 by Thomas Rolston and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra .

From 1947 to 1973 Coulthard taught music theory at the University of British Columbia . Her students included u. a. Sylvia Rickard , Chan Ka Nin and Michael Conway Baker. In 1972 she founded the Okanagan Music Festival with Alys Monod . After her retirement, she gave workshops and summer courses at JJ Johannesen's International School of the Arts (1973) and at the Banff School of Fine Arts . She has received numerous awards for her work, including honorary doctorates from the University of British Columbia and Concordia University , as a member of the Order of British Columbia and Officer of the Order of Canada . Radio Canada International dedicated her own volume in the Anthology of Canadian Music under the title Music Is My Whole Life .

Works

  • Cradle Song , for female choir and piano (1927)
  • Threnody , for choir (1935)
  • Excursion , ballet (1940)
  • A Winter's Tale , for string orchestra (1940)
  • Excursion , for orchestra (1940)
  • Song to the Sea (Convoy) , Overture for Orchestra (1942)
  • Love Song , for soprano and piano (1942)
  • Two Sonatinas , for violin and piano (1945)
  • Four Études , for piano (1945)
  • Music on a Quiet Song , for flute and strings (1946)
  • Three Songs , for soprano and piano (1946)
  • Two Songs , for baritone and piano (1946)
  • Sonata for Cello and Piano (1947)
  • Sonata , for piano (1947)
  • Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1947-1948)
  • Quebec May , for choir and two pianos (1948)
  • String Quartet No. 1 (1948; 1952)
  • Quiet Song , for piano (1948)
  • Cycle of Three Love Songs , for baritone and piano (1948)
  • Three Dances , for piano (1950)
  • Symphony No. 1 (1951)
  • Variations on BACH , for piano (1951)
  • Night Wind , for alto and piano or soprano and orchestra (1951)
  • Duo Sonata for Violin and Piano (Sonata No. 1) (1952)
  • A Prayer for Elizabeth , for orchestra (1953)
  • Rider on the Sands , for orchestra (1953)
  • Sea Gulls , for female choir and piano (1954)
  • Threnody: String Quartet No. 2 (1954; 1969)
  • Four Piano Pieces (1954)
  • Sonatina 'Seascapes' , for piano (1956)
  • More Lovely Grows the Earth , for choir (1957)
  • Piano Quartet Sketches from a Mediaeval Town (1957)
  • The Devil's Fanfare , ballet (1958)
  • Four Bizarre Dances , for violin and piano (1958)
  • Soft Fall the February Snows , for male choir and piano (1958)
  • Spring Rhapsody , for alto and piano or orchestra (1958)
  • The Bird of Dawning Singeth All Night Long , for violin, harp and string orchestra (1960)
  • Two Duets , for soprano, tenor or alto and piano (1960)
  • Two Night Songs , for baritone and piano quintet (1960)
  • Serenade or a Meditation and Three Dances , for string orchestra (1961)
  • Fantasy , for violin, piano and orchestra (1961)
  • Aegean Sketches , for piano (1961)
  • Sonata Rhapsody , for viola and piano (1962)
  • Six Mediaeval Love Songs , for baritone and piano (1962)
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1963)
  • Twelve Preludes , for piano (1954–1964)
  • Endymion , for orchestra (1964)
  • The Signature of God , for soprano, alto, piano and orchestra (1964)
  • Sonata II (A Correspondence) , for violin and piano (1964)
  • Noon Siesta , for piano (1964)
  • Auguries of Innocence , for choir (1963–1965)
  • Ballade of the North , for violin and piano (1965–1966)
  • Choral Symphony 'This Land' (Symphony No. 2) , for soloists, choir and orchestra (1966–1967)
  • Music to Saint Cecilia , for organ, tape and orchestra (196 ?; arr. 1968)
  • Divertimento , for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano (1968)
  • Lyric Trio , for violin, cello and piano (1968)
  • Two Visionary Songs , for soprano, flute and string orchestra or quartet (1968)
  • Lyric Sonatina , for bassoon and piano (1969)
  • The Pines of Emily Carr , for alto, narrator, timpani, piano and string quartet (1969)
  • Sketches From the Western Woods , for piano (1970)
  • Lyric Sonatina , for flute and piano (1971)
  • The Birds of Lansdowne , for violin, cello, piano and tape (1972)
  • Twelve Essays on a Cantabile Theme , for two string quartets (1972)
  • Songs from the Distaff Muse, Set 1 , for soprano, alto and cello (1972)
  • Pieces for the Present , for piano (1973)
  • Kalamalka 'Lake of Many Colors' , for orchestra (1974)
  • Canada Mosaic [Introduction and 3 folk songs] , for orchestra (1974)
  • Music on a Scottish Folk Song , for violin and guitar (1974)
  • Songs from the Distaff Muse, Set 2 , for soprano, alto and piano (1974)
  • Lyric Symphony 'Symphony III' , for bassoon and chamber orchestra (1975)
  • Hymn of Creation , for choir (1975)
  • Four Prophetic Songs , for alto, flute, cello and piano (1975)
  • Lyric Sonatina , for clarinet and piano (1976)
  • Burlesca , for piano and string orchestra (1977)
  • Symphonic Ode , for viola and chamber orchestra (1977)
  • Three Sonnets of Shakespeare , for alto and string quartet (1977)
  • Serenade , for alto and violin (1977)
  • Fanfare Sonata , for trumpet and piano (1978)
  • The Return of the Native , opera (1956–1979)
  • Three Ballades From the Maritimes , for choir (1979)
  • Shizen: Three Nature Sketches From Japan , for oboe and piano (1979)
  • Music of Our Time / Musique de notre temps (nine volumes, 1977–1980, with David Duke and Joan Hansen )
  • Vancouver Lights: A Soliloquy , for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra (1980)
  • Pas de Deux: Sonatina for Flute and Bassoon (1980)
  • Two Idylls From Greece , for baritone and piano (1980)
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1981)
  • Sonata No. 3 'À la jeunesse' , for violin and piano (1981)
  • Image Astrale , for piano (1981)
  • Fantasy Sonata , for horn and piano (1983)
  • À la jeunesse, works for young violinists (1983)
  • Christina Songs , for high voice and piano (1983)
  • Lyric Sonatina , for guitar (1984)
  • Autumn Symphony 'Symphony No. 4 ' (Symphonic Images), for string orchestra (1984–1985)
  • Fanfare Overture , for choir and orchestra (1985)
  • Dopo Botticelli , for cello and piano (1985)
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 , for piano (1986)
  • Shelley Portrait , for alto, flute, clarinet, cello and piano (1987)
  • When Tempests Rise , cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra (1988)
  • Symphonic Image 'Vision of the North' , for string orchestra (1989)
  • Duo Sonata for violin and cello (1989)

literature

  • William Bruneau, David Gordon Duke: Jean Coulthard: A Life in Music , Ronsdale, Vancouver 2005, ISBN 978-1-55380-023-1

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Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coulthard, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Vancouver
DATE OF DEATH 9th of March 2000
Place of death North Vancouver