Yashdip Singh Bains
Comprehensive in scope and lucid and concise in style, Encyclopedia of Music in Canada describes the nation's musical culture 'in all its breadth and depth: the historical and the current aspects of popular, folk, religious, concert, and other forms of music, and the educational, critical, administrative, and commercial manifestations'. Unable to rely on existing scholarship, as compilers of encyclopedias usually do, the editors of this monumental volume of over 3,200 entries have fostered writers and experts in Canadian culture and encouraged national organizations to investigate their past activities. This review indicates briefly why theatre historians would find EMC indispensable not only for its detailed outline of the evolution of music but also for the information it contains about actors, playhouses and other elements of drama in Canada.
Examining carefully the intricate connections between theatre and music, EMC elucidates such matters as the role of dramatic troupes in the growth of orchestras and the cultivation of voice. Subordinate to theatres and choral societies until the late nineteenth century and drawing their brass and wind players from military bands, early orchestras 'tended to be put together from whatever players were available, to assist with incidental music for plays, to accompany oratorios or cantatas, or just to contribute an overture, a symphonic movement, or an aria accompaniment to the typical 'Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music' of the day'. EMC points out that the 'first visits of theatrical companies with singers trained in Europe made Canadians aware that the voice in its natural state left much to be desired and could be improved through study, contrary to the prejudice which held that a fine natural voice could be destroyed if entrusted to a teacher'; under the influence of these visitors Canadians began to train the voice as a medium of artistic expression.
By consulting entries on various towns, musical instruments, and local, provincial or national music bodies, scholars can judge the level of music and its place in theatrical productions from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The trumpets are the first instruments mentioned in Canada, and the playing of violin goes back to the 1640s. Late in the eighteenth century, Frédéric-Henri Glackemeyer, James Sinclair, and Francis Vogeler sold violins and violin accessories in Quebec City, John Smith in Halifax, Frederick Wyse in Montreal, and Colin Campbell in Saint John. St Paul's Anglican Church, Halifax, acquired an organ in 1765. In this church in 1769, a Philharmonic Society (probably Canada's first), assisted by army and navy officers, presented an oratorio; the final chorus of Messiah and a 'Coronation Anthem' (Handel?) were performed twenty years later. The residents of Quebec City attended performances of symphonies, overtures, and concertos regularly in the 1790s.
In the pages of EMC can be discovered much data about performances from The Theatre of Neptune to Ken Mitchell's country-music opera Cruel Tears. Concentrating naturally on opera the encyclopedia lists performances from 1783 to the 1970s by Quebec City's Thespian Society, Montreal's Théâtre de Société, Holman English Opera Troupe, San Carlo Opera company, CBC Opera Company, Canadian Opera Company and other associations. It summarizes individual works like Joseph Quesnel's Colas et Colinette ou le Bailli Dupé, Raymond Pannell's TV opera Aberfan, and Harry Somers' Louis Riel. The development of musical theatre is traced from The Black Crook in 1875 to George Blackburn's A Day to Remember. An assessment of Louis Applebaum and other composers of scores for plays appears under incidental music.
Since musicians and actors have often shared the same premises, EMC provides histories of concert halls and opera houses from Montreal's Academy of Music to the Winnipeg Auditorium. Prominent musicians, singers and actors - John Bentley, Emma Albani, Mavor Moore, for example - and some of the reviewers of music and drama - Edwin Parkhurst, Hector Charlesworth, Lawrence Mason, and A.A.A. (Albert Alexander Alldrick) - can be looked up by name. One article analyzes problems of music criticism from the journalistic critiques of the 1870s to those of Léo-Pol Morin in La Patrie and Milton Wilson in The Canadian Forum. An entry on dancing before Confederation cites observations of Indian ceremonies by explorers like Jacques Cartier in 1534 and comments on the popularity of the minuet, hornpipes, reels, jigs, quadrilles, mazurkas and other types before 1800. The bibliographies following most items refer readers to selected books and articles.
A number of writers in this encyclopedia focus on the relationships between Canada and other countries in the field of music, and the indebtedness of Canadian culture to immigrants can be studied under names of countries of their origin. The editors have included essays on topics like 'Canada in European and US music', 'History of Canada in music', 'Wars, rebellions, and uprisings', and 'Literature set to music'. Because these and other articles bear directly or indirectly on theatre, this work will facilitate immensely the scholarly attempts to chart the uneven progress of theatricals in Canada over the past four hundred years.