♪ Music notes ♪

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI (1782-1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, are among the best known of his compositions, and have served as an inspiration for generations of composers.

ROBERT B. Y. SCOTT (1899-1987) was a minister of the United Church of Canada, and an Old Testament scholar. He was born in Toronto, the son of Presbyterian minister John McPherson Scott. He was a graduate of Knox College, University of Toronto and the University of Toronto, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1922, a Master of Arts degree in 1924, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1928. Scott was ordained in the United Church of Canada in 1926, and started teaching at Union College of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1928. In 1931, he moved to Montreal where he was a professor of Old Testament language and literature at the United Theological College. From 1948 until 1955, he taught Old Testament at McGill University. In 1947, he became the first Dean of the Faculty of Divinity at McGill University, and was a member of the World Council of Churches from 1949 to 1955. In 1951, Scott helped recover several fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls that had found their way into the hands of private dealers in Bethlehem. In 1955, he was appointed the Danforth Professor of Religion in the new Department of Religion at Princeton University, and was chairman of the department from 1963 to 1965, as well as being President of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies from 1971 to 1972.

EUGÈNE BOZZA (1905-1991) was a French composer and violinist. He remains one of the most prolific composers of chamber music for wind instruments. Bozza’s large ensemble work includes five symphonies, operas, ballets, large choral works, wind band music, concertos, and much work for large brass or woodwind ensembles. His larger compositions are rarely performed outside his native France.

ALBERT LISTER PEACE (1844-1912) was an English organist, composer, arranger, author, and editor. He was extremely gifted as a musician, and although described as a “precocious pupil”, he was largely self-taught, and at age nine became the organist of Holmfirth Parish Church near Huddersfield, Yorkshire. In 1865, Peace was appointed organist of Trinity Congregational Church in Glasgow, and subsequently gained his Bachelor of Music degree, followed by a Doctorate – both awarded by the University of Oxford. He became organist at Glasgow Cathedral in 1879, and then succeeded William Best as organist at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool in 1897. Much in demand as a recitalist, particularly on newly installed instruments, he also composed orchestrations, sonatas, and concert and church music.

GEORGE MATHESON (1842-1906) was a Scottish minister and hymn writer. The text of this morning’s middle hymn, “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” was written on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. Years before, he had been engaged, until his fiancée learned that he was going blind and there was nothing the doctors could do – and she told him that she could not go through life with a blind man. He went blind while studying for the ministry, and his sister had been the one to care for him through the years. He was now 40, and his sister’s marriage brought a fresh reminder of his own heartbreak. It was in the midst of this circumstance and intense sadness that Matheson wrote this hymn, of which he said, “I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.”

DAN FORREST (b. 1978) has been described as having an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music that is truly magical, with works hailed as magnificent, cleverly constructed sound sculpture, and superb writing … full of spine-tingling moments. In the last decade, Dan’s music has become well established in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. The Fairlawn Senior Choir has presented the Canadian premieres of two of his critically acclaimed major works for choir and orchestra – Requiem for the Living (2014) and Jubilate Deo (2017). Jubilate Deo features the text of Psalm 100, sung in seven languages: Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Zulu, Spanish, and English. Dan holds a doctoral degree in composition from the University of Kansas, as well as a master’s degree in piano performance. He keeps a busy schedule doing commissions, workshops, recordings, adjunct professorships, and residencies with universities, churches and community choirs, teaching composition, coaching, and collaborating as an accompanist.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL (1836-1879) was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children. Havergal College, a private girl’s school in Toronto, is named after her.

GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN (1681-1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music, against his family’s wishes. He held important positions in a number of German cities before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city’s five main churches. One of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving works), Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, and to George Frideric Handel, whom he also knew personally. His music incorporates French, Italian, and German national styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish popular music. Telemann’s enormous output, perhaps the largest of any classical composer in history, includes parts of at least 31 cantata cycles, many operas, concertos, oratorios, songs, music for civic occasions and church services, passions, orchestral suites and abundant amounts of chamber music – his music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.