Phyllis Gummer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phyllis Mary Gummer (born March 12, 1919 in Kingston (Ontario) , † 2005 ) was a Canadian composer of serious music .

Life

Phyllis Gummer first studied at Queen's University in Kingston, where her father was a lecturer in mathematics. During this time Phyllis Gummer received first prize from the CPRS, the Canadian collecting society, for her piano sonata and the song "Requiescat" in their annual composition competition for Canadian composers under the age of 22.

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University, Phyllis Gummer studied composition under Healy Willan and violin under Harold Sumberg at the Toronto Conservatory, completing a Bachelor of Music . During her time in Toronto she belonged to a select group of composers:

[Beside John Weinzweig and Louis Applebaum ] the circle of communication included Godfrey Ridout , Barbara Pentland , Leonard Basham , Phyllis Gummer, and Eldon Rathburn .

During this time she also appeared increasingly at concerts in Canada, both on the violin and as a pianist, violist and organist. In 1942 she received a 3-year scholarship to the Juilliard Graduate School of Music in New York .

The early compositions of Phyllis Gummer always received attention and high esteem from critics. In addition to the CPRS composition prize from 1940, her works attracted the interest of the public at various concerts. A critic of the Canadian Review of Music and Arts wrote about a concert of her works on February 28, 1942 in the Conservatory Hall in Toronto:

I am inclined to think that one work above the others fulfilled more completely every demand that one might make of a composition, and that was the song "The journey". Here Christina Rosetti's words were wedded most exquisitely to a fine melodic line of grace and loveliness in its own right, and these were bound the more indissolubly by the happiest of accompaniments. In all her works Miss Gummer showed herself to be possessed of real musically creative thought, an capable of producing a fine harmonic texture of great delicacy an strength.

From 1944 Phyllis Gummer worked for the National Film Board of Canada in a group from the composer:

The music and sound team that Louis [Applebaum] led included Maurice Blackburn , Eldon Rathburn , Phyllis Gummer and Robert Fleming - a splendid collection of fine composers who were to be his lifetime friends.

Almost nothing is known about the life and work of Phyllis Gummer after 1945, but it appears that she remained tied to the music scene.

Phyllis Gummer's musical legacy is kept in the private archive of Tobias Bröker .

Compositions

Piano works

  • Sonata for piano (1937)
  • Nine bagatelles, for piano op.1 (1937)
  • March, for piano (1938)
  • Prelude to "O love, who formedst me to wear", for organ (1939)
  • Prelude to "Hail the day that sees him rise", for organ (1939)
  • Prelude for piano (1941)
  • Night song, for piano (1941)
  • Sonatina for piano (1942)

Duos

  • Scherzo for violin and piano (1937)
  • Fantasy for clarinet and piano (1939)
  • Romance for clarinet and piano (1939)
  • 3 Bagatelles, for flute and piano in A (1939)
  • Allegro for violin and piano (1940)
  • Flute sonata, for flute and piano
  • Sonata for cello and piano
  • Sonata for violin and piano
  • Air and variations, for flute and piano

Trios

  • Piano trio, for piano, violin and cello (also "Fantasy trio") (1940, revised 1960)
  • Suite for string trio, for violin, viola and cello (1942)
  • Exercise, for 3 cellos
  • Trio for flute, violin and viola

Quartets

  • Scherzo for string quartet (1939)
  • Romance for string quartet (1939)
  • String Quartet No. 1 (1941)
  • A bagatelle, for string quartet (1941)
  • Piece, for string quartet (1956)
  • String quartet in E minor (1962)
  • 4 bagatelles, for string quartet
  • String Quartet No. 2
  • String Quartet No. 4

Vocal works

  • dozens of songs including:
  • Requiescat , for voice and piano (based on words by Oscar Wilde ) (1937, CAPAC prize 1940)
  • The journey , for voice and piano (based on words by Christina Rossetti ) (1938)
  • Works for choir
  • different motets

Filmography

  • 1945: "Early start"
  • 1945: "Soil for tomorrow"

Web links

literature

  • Boenke, Heidi M. (1988): Flute music by women composers: an annotated catalog. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-26019-3
  • Heinrich, Adel (1991): Organ and harpsichord music by women composers: an annotated catalog. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-38790-6
  • Kallmann, Helmut (1952): Catalog of Canadian composers. Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. ISBN 978-0-403-01375-3

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article in the newspaper "The Ottawa Journal" of April 4, 1940, available at http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/41053847/
  2. ^ Cherney, Brian (2011): Weinzweig - Essays on his life and music, page 9. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 978-1-55458-321-8
  3. ↑ Article in the newspaper "The Ottawa Journal" of November 18, 1944, available at http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48560428/
  4. ↑ Quoted in: "The Queen's Review, Volume 16, 1942, No.4, page 105. Kingston, Ont: The General Alumni Association of Queen's University"
  5. ^ Pitman, Walter (2002): Louis Applebaum - a passion for culture, page 47. Toronto: Dundurn Group. ISBN 1-55002-398-5
  6. ↑ There are documents in the Alexander Brott Archive of the Canadian National Library that document an exchange of letters on the 1980 concert program between Phyllis Gummer and Alexander Brott, see: data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000002406.pdf
personal data
SURNAME Gummer, Phyllis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gummer, Phyllis Mary (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian composer of serious music
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston (Ontario)
DATE OF DEATH 2005