James P. Clarke (composer)

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. Helmut Kallmann. "James P. Clarke". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. 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.
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