James P. Clarke (composer)

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James P. Clarke (1807/08–1877) was a Canadian organist, conductor and composer. He was the first person to receive a Bachelor's degree in music in North America. He is best known for his work Lays of the Maple Leaf (1853) and for leading several of Toronto's earliest musical organizations.

Early life[]

Clarke was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a young man he worked as music dealer's assistant in Edinburgh and led the singing of psalms in St George's Church in Glasgow.[1]

Career[]

Clarke emigrated to Canada in 1835,[2] taking a job as the organist for St. James Cathedral in York (Toronto). In 1844 he became the organist for Christ Church in Hamilton.[2]

Clarke received his bachelor's degree in music from the Kings College (later University of Toronto) in 1846.[1][3]

Clarke was the first conductor of the Toronto Choral Society, which was founded in 1845. He was a composer of choral music; a collection of his songs about the Canadian landscape, Lays of the Maple Leaf, was published in 1853 by A. & S. Nordheimer.[4][5]

Clarke constructed a new kind of organ for which the pipes were made of glass.[6]

In 1872 Clarke became the conductor of the Toronto Philharmonic Society.[7][8]

Clarke taught organ and piano; one of his pupils was his son Hugh, who became a Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.[9]

Works[]

  • Lays of the Maple Leaf (1853)

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Helmut Kallmann. "James P. Clarke". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Daniel Mendoza de Arce (2006). Music in North America and the West Indies from the Discovery to 1850: A Historical Survey. Scarecrow Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-8108-5252-5.
  3. ^ World Military Bands "History of Music In Canada":"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 March 2006. Retrieved 13 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Bibliographical Society of Canada (1974). Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada: Cahiers de la Société Bibliographique Du Canada. Bibliographical Society of Canada. p. 45.
  5. ^ J. M. Bumsted (2003). The Peoples of Canada: A Pre-Confederation History. Oxford University Press. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-19-541689-3.
  6. ^ "Canadian sound inventions". Canadian Geographic, January 2, 2006
  7. ^ Richard S. Warren; Richard Warren (2002). Begins with the Oboe: A History of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. University of Toronto Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8020-3588-2.
  8. ^ Howard E. Smither (1 September 2012). A History of the Oratorio: Vol. 4: The Oratorio in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. UNC Press Books. p. 413. ISBN 978-0-8078-3778-8.
  9. ^ Helmut Kallmann (25 May 2013). Mapping Canada's Music: Selected Writings of Helmut Kallmann. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-55458-892-3.

External links[]

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