#ClassicsaDay #NorthAmClassics Week 3
Both countries in North America celebrate their independence in July. For Canada, it’s July 1, 1867. And for the United States, it’s July 4, 1776. To mark this event, the Classics a Day team challenge is to post video performances of music by both Canadian and American composers.
Finding examples by American composers was easy. But finding performances by Canadian composers proved a little more difficult. And that’s a shame. Because the music I found was terrific.
Here are my posts for the third week of #NorthAmClassics.
07/17/23 W. O. Forsyth: Confession, op. 45, No. 2
Wesley Octavius Forsyth studied at the Leipzig Conservatory before returning to his native Toronto. Forsyth had a successful career teaching and writing about music. Most of his mature works are piano miniatures.
07/18/23 Edward MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 23
Although MacDowell wrote extensively for solo piano, he only composed two piano concertos. The second premiered in 1890.
07/19/23 Robert Nathaniel Dett: Magnolia Suite
Dett has been claimed by two countries. He was born in Canada. His family moved to the U.S. when he was 12. He was the first black composer to join ASCAP in the 1920s He’s best remembered for his choral compositions, especially his oratorio “The Ordering of Moses.
07/20/23 Horatio Parker: Suite for Piano Trio, Op. 35
In the early 1900s, Parker was considered one of the best composers in America. That view was held both in the States and abroad. Parker had a premier at the Three Choirs Festival. He won the 1911 Met Opera competition for one opera, and a Los Angeles $10,000 prize in 1916 for his second.
07/21/23 Ernest MacMillan: Two Sketches on French Canadian Airs
For his service to music in Canada, MacMillan was knighted in 1935 by George V. He remains the only Canadian to receive this honor.
