Erik Chisholm
Encyclopedia
Professor Erik William Chisholm (4 January 1904 – 8 June 1965) was a Scottish composer
and conductor often known as "Scotland’s forgotten composer". According to his biographer, Chisholm "was the first composer to absorb Celtic idioms into his music in form as well as content, his achievement paralleling that of Bartók
in its depth of understanding and its daring", which led to his nickname of "MacBartók". He was also a founder of the Celtic Ballet
and, together with Margaret Morris
, created the first full-length Scottish ballet, The Forsaken Mermaid. He was also the dean and director of the South African College of Music
at the University of Cape Town
for 19 years. Chisholm founded the South African College of Music
opera
company in Cape Town
and was a vital force in bringing new operas to Scotland, England and South Africa. By the time of his death in 1965, he had composed over a hundred works.
, and later studied the organ under Herbert Walton, the organist at Glasgow Cathedral
. By the time he was 12 he was giving organ recitals including an important one in Kingston upon Hull
. The pianist Leff Pouishnoff
then became his principal teacher and mentor. In 1927 he travelled to Nova Scotia
, Canada, where he was appointed the organist and choirmaster at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, New Glasgow
, and director of music at Pictou Academy
.
A year later he returned to Scotland and became the organist at Barony Church; however, as he had not graduated primary school, he could not study at a university. Due to the influence of his future wife, Diana Brodie, he approached several influential music friends for letters of support for an exemption to enter college. In 1928, he was accepted to study music at the University of Edinburgh
, under his friend and mentor, the renowned musicologist
Sir Donald Tovey. Crisholm graduated with a Bachelor of Music
in 1931 and a Doctor of Music
in 1934. While at university, he had formed the Scottish Ballet Society in 1928 and the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music in 1929 with fellow composers Francis George Scott
and Pat Shannon. In 1930 to 1934 he also worked as a music critic for the Glasgow Weekly Herald and the Scottish Daily Express.
. In the 1930s he was the musical director of the Glasgow Grand Opera Society
which performed in the city's Theatre Royal
, conducting the British premières of Mozart's
Idomeneo
in 1934 and Berlioz's
Les Troyens
and Béatrice et Bénédict
in 1935 and 1936, respectively. He was also the founding conductor of both the Barony Opera Society, the Scottish Ballet Society, the Professional Organists' Association, and in 1938 he was appointed music director of the Celtic Ballet. As director he composed four works in collaboration with Margaret Morris
, the most famous being The Forsaken Mermaid; the first ever full-length Scottish ballet to be written. Chisholm had many friends in the music world, including composers like Bartók, Hindemith, Delius
, Bax
, Medtner, Karol Szymanowski
, Ireland
, Bush
, and invited many of them to Scotland to perform their works.
At the outbreak of World War II
, Chisholm, a conscientious objector, was declared unfit for military service on the basis of poor eyesight and a crooked arm. During the war he conducted performances with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
in 1940, and later joined the Entertainments National Service Association
as a colonel touring Italy with the Anglo-Polish Ballet in 1943 and served as musical director to the South East Asia Command
between 1943 and 1945. He first formed a multi-racial orchestra in India, however after arguments with his superior, Col. Jack Hawkins, he was removed to Singapore. Here in 1945 he founded the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
. Many of the musicians were ex-Prisoners of War, and from them Chisholm recruited Szymon Goldberg
as leader. Goldberg had successfully hidden his Stradivarius
violin up a chimney in the prison camp for three and a half years. Chisholm created a truly cosmopolitan orchestra of fifteen nationalities from East and West, which gave 50 concerts in Malaya within six months. After returning to Scotland, Chisholm married his second wife, Lillias, the daughter of Scottish composer Francis George Scott
. In 1946 he was appointed professor of music at the University of Cape Town
and director of the South African College of Music
.
Chisholm's obituary in The Edinburgh Tatler recalled that "the three highlights of his life were in hearing at age seven Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata played by Frederic Lamond on a piano roll; becoming acquainted with the music of India and lastly being offered the chair of music at Cape Town University in 1947."
That year, Chisholm revived the South African College of Music
where he eventually would teach composer Stefans Grové
and singer Désirée Talbot
. Using Edinburgh University as his model, Chisholm appointed new staff, extended the number of courses, and introduced new degrees and diplomas. In order to encourage budding South African musicians he founded the South African National Music Press in 1948. With the assistance of the Italian baritone
Gregorio Fiasconaro, Chisholm also established the college's opera company in 1951 and opera school in 1954. In addition, Chisholm founded the South African section of the International Society for Contemporary Music
(ISCM) in 1948 and pursued an international conducting career.
The South African College of Music's opera company became a national success and toured Zambia
and the United Kingdom. In the winter of 1956, Chisholm's ambitious festival of South African Music and Musicians achieved popular success in London
with a programme of Wigmore Hall
concerts and the London première at the Rudolf Steiner Theatre of Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle
. The company also performed Menotti's The Consul
as well as Chisholm's own opera The Inland Woman, based on a drama by Irish author Mary Lavin
. In 1952 Szymon Goldberg
premièred his violin concerto at the Van Riebeeck Music Festival in Cape Town
. His opera trilogy Murder in Three Keys enjoyed a six-week season in New York
in 1954, and two years later he was invited to Moscow
to conduct the Moscow State Orchestra
in his second piano concerto The Hindustani. In 1961, his company premièred South African composer John Joubert
's first opera, Silas Marner.
Chisholm did not support the South African policy of apartheid and had socialist
leanings. Chisholm convinced Ronald Stevenson
, a fellow Scot, to perform at the University of Cape Town
. During a performance of Stevenson's Passacaglia, the programme made references to Lenin's slogan of peace, bread and land and also in salute of the "emergent Africa". The following day, South African police searched Chisholm's study in a failed attempt to link him with working for the USSR
.
Sir Arnold Bax
called Erik Chisholm "the most progressive composer that Scotland has ever produced." After 19 years at the South African College of Music, Dr. Chisholm composed an additional twelve operas drawing inspiration from "sources as varied as Hindustan, the Outer Hebrides, the neo-classical and baroque, pibroch, astrology and literature".
Chisholm died of a heart attack at age 61 and left all his music to the University of Cape Town. Although he composed over 100 works, only 17 were published, of which 14 were issued in printed score. As Scottish composers are few and the quality of his music is often good, his apologists have argued that his works should be heard more regularly. His style was called varied, eclectic, and challenging, but his music was also known to be harsh and often unattractive to audiences. Even so, a number of his works, including his pieces for piano and voice, have been revived and recorded.
He had a lifelong interest in Scottish music and published a collection of Celtic folk-songs in 1964. He was also interested in Czech music, and completed his book The Operas of Leoš Janáček
shortly before his death. His services to Czech music were formally recognized in 1956, when he became one of the few non-Czech musicians to be awarded the Dvořák
medal. The Manuscripts and Archives Library at the University of Cape Town holds the Chisholm collection of papers and manuscripts; his published scores are in the College of Music library and many copies have now been sent to the Scottish Music Information Centre in Glasgow. In his memory, the South African College of Music offers a memorial scholarship in his name and the Scottish International Piano Competition hosts the Erik Chisholm Memorial Prize.
The biography of Erik Chisholm, written by John Purser
with the foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras
, Chasing A Restless Muse: Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist (1904–1965), was published on 19 June 2009. An official launch was held at the Conservatoire of Music, Birmingham City University
on 22 October 2009 which was attended by his widow, his daughter Morag, two of his grand-daughters and great-grandsons. His widow, Lillias, married the clarinettist John Forbes. Recently, many of his works have been released on CD, performed by pianist Murray McLachlan.
. He also made several interesting arrangements by composers such as Handel
and Mozart. He arranged a string orchestra version of the Symphonie Op. 39 for solo piano by Charles-Valentin Alkan
, a composer still largely unknown at that time, the original of which has been said to surpass even the Transcendental Etudes
of Liszt
in scale and difficulty.
Pianist Murray McLachlan divided Chisholm's works into four periods: the Early Period, the "Scottish" Period, the Neoclassical Period and the "Hindustani" Period. The "Early Period" is extremely large, beginning with some impressive teenage efforts including an exquisite Sonatina in G minor, written at 18, and clearly showing something of the influence of John Blackwood McEwen
.
The "Scottish" Period began in the early 1930s where all his works were tinged with a remarkable Scottish nationalistic colouring, indicating most persuasively the ambitions of the composer like contemporary Bela Bartok, to nourish his style on the music of his ancestors and countrymen. Chisholm's Sonatine Ecossaise, 4 Elegies, Scottish Airs, and Piano Concerto no. 1 "Pibaireachd" display a style of percussive bite and energy which made much use of dissonances, note clusters and pounding rhythms in the "Bartók manner" along with material derived from Scottish Folksong and rhythmic dance figurations. His style is so similar that Chisholm's critics have repeatedly referred to Chisholm as "MacBartok".
Chisholm's Neoclassical Period refers to several of his works which were inspired by ancient and obscure motifs from the pre-Classical era. His Sonatina no. 3, evidently based on several ricercare motifs originally written by Dalza
, fuses Brittenesque
harmonies and gentle dissonances in quintessentially pianistic textures.
His "Hindustani" Period reflects Chisholm's love of the East, the occult and his friendship with Sorabji
. Important examples of this period are his 2nd "Hindustani" Piano Concerto and the Six Nocturnes, Night Song of the Bards. These compositions display luscious textures, transcendental technical demands and intensity which are comparable to other piano works by Busoni
, Szymanowski
, Medtner
, and Sorabji
.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor often known as "Scotland’s forgotten composer". According to his biographer, Chisholm "was the first composer to absorb Celtic idioms into his music in form as well as content, his achievement paralleling that of Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
in its depth of understanding and its daring", which led to his nickname of "MacBartók". He was also a founder of the Celtic Ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and, together with Margaret Morris
Margaret Morris (dancer)
Margaret Morris was a British dancer, choreographer and teacher. She was the first proponent of the Isadora Duncan technique in Great Britain...
, created the first full-length Scottish ballet, The Forsaken Mermaid. He was also the dean and director of the South African College of Music
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.-Study opportunities:...
at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
for 19 years. Chisholm founded the South African College of Music
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.-Study opportunities:...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
company in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and was a vital force in bringing new operas to Scotland, England and South Africa. By the time of his death in 1965, he had composed over a hundred works.
Early life and education
Erik Chisholm was the son of John Chisholm, master house painter, and his wife, Elizabeth McGeachy Macleod. He left Queen’s Park School at the early age of 13 due to ill-health but showed a talent for music composition and some of his pieces were published during his childhood. He had piano lessons with Philip Halstead at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and DramaRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
, and later studied the organ under Herbert Walton, the organist at Glasgow Cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral
The church commonly known as Glasgow Cathedral is the Church of Scotland High Kirk of Glasgow otherwise known as St. Mungo's Cathedral.The other cathedrals in Glasgow are:* The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew...
. By the time he was 12 he was giving organ recitals including an important one in Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. The pianist Leff Pouishnoff
Leff Pouishnoff
Leff Nicolas Pouishnoff was a Ukrainian-born pianist and composer, who made his home in the United Kingdom and whose career was largely in the West, from the 1920s onwards...
then became his principal teacher and mentor. In 1927 he travelled to Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada, where he was appointed the organist and choirmaster at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, New Glasgow
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait....
, and director of music at Pictou Academy
Pictou Academy
Pictou Academy , founded in 1816 by the late Dr. Thomas McCulloch, is a secondary school in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Prior to the twentieth century, it was a liberal nonsectarian college, a grammar school, an academy and then a secondary school. Pictou Academy's current principal is James Ryan. The...
.
A year later he returned to Scotland and became the organist at Barony Church; however, as he had not graduated primary school, he could not study at a university. Due to the influence of his future wife, Diana Brodie, he approached several influential music friends for letters of support for an exemption to enter college. In 1928, he was accepted to study music at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, under his friend and mentor, the renowned musicologist
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
Sir Donald Tovey. Crisholm graduated with a Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
in 1931 and a Doctor of Music
Doctor of Music
The Doctor of Music degree , like other doctorates, is an academic degree of the highest level. The D.Mus. is intended for musicians and composers who wish to combine the highest attainments in their area of specialization with doctoral-level academic study in music...
in 1934. While at university, he had formed the Scottish Ballet Society in 1928 and the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music in 1929 with fellow composers Francis George Scott
Francis George Scott
Francis George Scott was a Scottish composer.Born in Hawick, Roxburghshire, he was the son of a supplier of mill-engineering parts. Educated at Hawick, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Durham, he studied composition under Jean Roger-Ducasse...
and Pat Shannon. In 1930 to 1934 he also worked as a music critic for the Glasgow Weekly Herald and the Scottish Daily Express.
Scottish career and World War II
After his education, Chishom's work was described as "daring and original", according to Sir Hugh Roberton, while also displaying a strong Scottish character in works such as his Pibroch Piano Concerto (1930), the Straloch Suite for Orchestra (1933) and the Sonata An Riobhan Dearg (1939). In 1930, he became the conductor of the Glasgow Grand Opera, and in 1933 he was the soloist at the première of his piano concerto no. 1 in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. In the 1930s he was the musical director of the Glasgow Grand Opera Society
Glasgow Grand Opera Society
The Glasgow Grand Opera Society was an opera company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1906 and was wound up in the 1960s.Charles Manners used profits from a successful season of his Moody-Manners Opera Company in Glasgow in 1906 to help create the Glasgow Grand Opera Society, under its...
which performed in the city's Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow, located at 282 Hope Street in Cowcaddens. The theatre originally opened in 1867, changing its name to the Theatre Royal in 1869, and is the longest running theatre in Scotland...
, conducting the British premières of Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
in 1934 and Berlioz's
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
and Béatrice et Bénédict
Béatrice et Bénédict
Béatrice et Bénédict is an opera in two acts by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based closely on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing....
in 1935 and 1936, respectively. He was also the founding conductor of both the Barony Opera Society, the Scottish Ballet Society, the Professional Organists' Association, and in 1938 he was appointed music director of the Celtic Ballet. As director he composed four works in collaboration with Margaret Morris
Margaret Morris (dancer)
Margaret Morris was a British dancer, choreographer and teacher. She was the first proponent of the Isadora Duncan technique in Great Britain...
, the most famous being The Forsaken Mermaid; the first ever full-length Scottish ballet to be written. Chisholm had many friends in the music world, including composers like Bartók, Hindemith, Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, Bax
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
, Medtner, Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
, Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
, Bush
Alan Bush
Alan Dudley Bush was a British composer and pianist. He was a committed socialist, and politics sometimes provided central themes in his music.-Personal life:...
, and invited many of them to Scotland to perform their works.
At the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Chisholm, a conscientious objector, was declared unfit for military service on the basis of poor eyesight and a crooked arm. During the war he conducted performances with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
in 1940, and later joined the Entertainments National Service Association
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
as a colonel touring Italy with the Anglo-Polish Ballet in 1943 and served as musical director to the South East Asia Command
South East Asia Command
South East Asia Command was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during World War II.-Background:...
between 1943 and 1945. He first formed a multi-racial orchestra in India, however after arguments with his superior, Col. Jack Hawkins, he was removed to Singapore. Here in 1945 he founded the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a 96 members professional symphony orchestra. Its main performing venue is the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore although it has also toured widely in Asia, Europe and the United States...
. Many of the musicians were ex-Prisoners of War, and from them Chisholm recruited Szymon Goldberg
Szymon Goldberg
Szymon Goldberg was a Polish-born American violinist and conductor.Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw...
as leader. Goldberg had successfully hidden his Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
violin up a chimney in the prison camp for three and a half years. Chisholm created a truly cosmopolitan orchestra of fifteen nationalities from East and West, which gave 50 concerts in Malaya within six months. After returning to Scotland, Chisholm married his second wife, Lillias, the daughter of Scottish composer Francis George Scott
Francis George Scott
Francis George Scott was a Scottish composer.Born in Hawick, Roxburghshire, he was the son of a supplier of mill-engineering parts. Educated at Hawick, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Durham, he studied composition under Jean Roger-Ducasse...
. In 1946 he was appointed professor of music at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
and director of the South African College of Music
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.-Study opportunities:...
.
South African career
That year, Chisholm revived the South African College of Music
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.-Study opportunities:...
where he eventually would teach composer Stefans Grové
Stefans Grové
Stefans Grové is a South African composer. "He is regarded by many as Africa's greatest living composer, possesses one of the most distinctive compostional voices of our time".-Early life:...
and singer Désirée Talbot
Désirée Talbot
Professor Désirée Talbot is a retired South African opera soprano and one of the founding members of the UCT Opera Company.-Early life and education:...
. Using Edinburgh University as his model, Chisholm appointed new staff, extended the number of courses, and introduced new degrees and diplomas. In order to encourage budding South African musicians he founded the South African National Music Press in 1948. With the assistance of the Italian baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Gregorio Fiasconaro, Chisholm also established the college's opera company in 1951 and opera school in 1954. In addition, Chisholm founded the South African section of the International Society for Contemporary Music
International Society for Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.ISCM was established in 1922, in Salzburg. Its core activity is the World Music Days Festival, held every year at a different location. The festival includes cutting edge productions...
(ISCM) in 1948 and pursued an international conducting career.
The South African College of Music's opera company became a national success and toured Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and the United Kingdom. In the winter of 1956, Chisholm's ambitious festival of South African Music and Musicians achieved popular success in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with a programme of Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
concerts and the London première at the Rudolf Steiner Theatre of Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle
Bluebeard's Castle
Duke Bluebeard's Castle is a one-act opera by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The libretto was written by Béla Balázs, a poet and friend of the composer. It is in Hungarian, based on the French fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault...
. The company also performed Menotti's The Consul
The Consul
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,...
as well as Chisholm's own opera The Inland Woman, based on a drama by Irish author Mary Lavin
Mary Lavin
Mary Josephine Lavin was a noted Irish short story writer and novelist. She is regarded as a pioneering female author in the traditionally male-dominated world of Irish letters. Her subject matter often dealt explicitly with feminist issues and concerns at a time when the primacy of the Roman...
. In 1952 Szymon Goldberg
Szymon Goldberg
Szymon Goldberg was a Polish-born American violinist and conductor.Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw...
premièred his violin concerto at the Van Riebeeck Music Festival in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. His opera trilogy Murder in Three Keys enjoyed a six-week season in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1954, and two years later he was invited to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to conduct the Moscow State Orchestra
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953...
in his second piano concerto The Hindustani. In 1961, his company premièred South African composer John Joubert
John Joubert (composer)
John Joubert is a British composer of South African descent, particularly of choral works. He has lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 40 years. A music academic at the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on...
's first opera, Silas Marner.
Chisholm did not support the South African policy of apartheid and had socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
leanings. Chisholm convinced Ronald Stevenson
Ronald Stevenson
Ronald Stevenson is a British composer, pianist, and writer about music.-Biography:The son of a Scottish father and English mother, Stevenson studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music , studying composition with Richard Hall and piano with Iso Elinson, graduating with distinction...
, a fellow Scot, to perform at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
. During a performance of Stevenson's Passacaglia, the programme made references to Lenin's slogan of peace, bread and land and also in salute of the "emergent Africa". The following day, South African police searched Chisholm's study in a failed attempt to link him with working for the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Later years and legacy
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
called Erik Chisholm "the most progressive composer that Scotland has ever produced." After 19 years at the South African College of Music, Dr. Chisholm composed an additional twelve operas drawing inspiration from "sources as varied as Hindustan, the Outer Hebrides, the neo-classical and baroque, pibroch, astrology and literature".
Chisholm died of a heart attack at age 61 and left all his music to the University of Cape Town. Although he composed over 100 works, only 17 were published, of which 14 were issued in printed score. As Scottish composers are few and the quality of his music is often good, his apologists have argued that his works should be heard more regularly. His style was called varied, eclectic, and challenging, but his music was also known to be harsh and often unattractive to audiences. Even so, a number of his works, including his pieces for piano and voice, have been revived and recorded.
He had a lifelong interest in Scottish music and published a collection of Celtic folk-songs in 1964. He was also interested in Czech music, and completed his book The Operas of Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
shortly before his death. His services to Czech music were formally recognized in 1956, when he became one of the few non-Czech musicians to be awarded the Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
medal. The Manuscripts and Archives Library at the University of Cape Town holds the Chisholm collection of papers and manuscripts; his published scores are in the College of Music library and many copies have now been sent to the Scottish Music Information Centre in Glasgow. In his memory, the South African College of Music offers a memorial scholarship in his name and the Scottish International Piano Competition hosts the Erik Chisholm Memorial Prize.
The biography of Erik Chisholm, written by John Purser
John Purser
John Purser, born in 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland, is an eminent composer, musicologist, and music historian. He is also a playwright.He initiated the reconstruction which commenced in 1991 of the Iron Age Deskford Carnyx, producing a replica which was first played in 1993 by trombonist John Kenny.The...
with the foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Chasing A Restless Muse: Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist (1904–1965), was published on 19 June 2009. An official launch was held at the Conservatoire of Music, Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University is a British university in the city of Birmingham, England. It is the second largest of three universities in the city, the other two being the Aston University and University of Birmingham...
on 22 October 2009 which was attended by his widow, his daughter Morag, two of his grand-daughters and great-grandsons. His widow, Lillias, married the clarinettist John Forbes. Recently, many of his works have been released on CD, performed by pianist Murray McLachlan.
Works
Erik Chisholm wrote well over 100 works, including 35 orchestral works, 7 concertante works (including a violin concerto and two piano concertos), 7 works for orchestra and voice or chorus, 54 piano works, 3 organ works, 43 songs, 8 choral part-songs, 7 ballets, and 9 operas including one on Robert BurnsRobert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
. He also made several interesting arrangements by composers such as Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
and Mozart. He arranged a string orchestra version of the Symphonie Op. 39 for solo piano by Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso...
, a composer still largely unknown at that time, the original of which has been said to surpass even the Transcendental Etudes
Transcendental Etudes
The Transcendental Etudes , S.139, are a series of twelve compositions for solo piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of a more technically difficult 1837 series, which in turn were the elaboration of a set of studies written in 1826:...
of Liszt
Liszt
Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...
in scale and difficulty.
Pianist Murray McLachlan divided Chisholm's works into four periods: the Early Period, the "Scottish" Period, the Neoclassical Period and the "Hindustani" Period. The "Early Period" is extremely large, beginning with some impressive teenage efforts including an exquisite Sonatina in G minor, written at 18, and clearly showing something of the influence of John Blackwood McEwen
John Blackwood McEwen
Sir John Blackwood McEwen was a Scottish classical composer and educator.- Biography :John Blackwood McEwen was born in Hawick in 1868. After initial training in Glasgow, he studied with Ebenezer Prout, Corder and Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
.
The "Scottish" Period began in the early 1930s where all his works were tinged with a remarkable Scottish nationalistic colouring, indicating most persuasively the ambitions of the composer like contemporary Bela Bartok, to nourish his style on the music of his ancestors and countrymen. Chisholm's Sonatine Ecossaise, 4 Elegies, Scottish Airs, and Piano Concerto no. 1 "Pibaireachd" display a style of percussive bite and energy which made much use of dissonances, note clusters and pounding rhythms in the "Bartók manner" along with material derived from Scottish Folksong and rhythmic dance figurations. His style is so similar that Chisholm's critics have repeatedly referred to Chisholm as "MacBartok".
Chisholm's Neoclassical Period refers to several of his works which were inspired by ancient and obscure motifs from the pre-Classical era. His Sonatina no. 3, evidently based on several ricercare motifs originally written by Dalza
Joan Ambrosio Dalza
Joan Ambrosio Dalza was an Italian lutenist and composer. Nothing is known about his life. His surviving works comprise the fourth volume of Ottaviano Petrucci's influential series of lute music publications, Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto...
, fuses Brittenesque
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
harmonies and gentle dissonances in quintessentially pianistic textures.
His "Hindustani" Period reflects Chisholm's love of the East, the occult and his friendship with Sorabji
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
. Important examples of this period are his 2nd "Hindustani" Piano Concerto and the Six Nocturnes, Night Song of the Bards. These compositions display luscious textures, transcendental technical demands and intensity which are comparable to other piano works by Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
, Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
, Medtner
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
, and Sorabji
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
.
Further reading
- Chisholm, Morag, 'Erik Chisholm and The Trojans', Musicweb, 2003.
- Galloway, D., 'Dr Erik Chisholm: a retrospective profile', Opus, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1966).
- Glasser, S., 'Professor Erik Chisholm', Res Musicae, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1960), 5–6.
- Hinton, Alistair, 'Kaikhosru Sorabji and Erik Chisholm', Jagger Journal, 10 (1989/90), 20-35.
- Pulvermacher, G., 'Chaucer into opera', Opera, Vol. 13 (1962), 187–8.
- Saunders, W., 'Erik Chisholm', MT, Vol. 73 (1932), 508–9.
- Saunders, W., 'Scottish chiefs, no. XV: a chief composer', Scots Magazine, Vol. 19 (1933), 17–20.
- Scott-Sutherland, C., 'A peek into Erik Chisholm's archives', British Music, Vol. 21 (1999), 67–71.
- Shephard, D., 'Erik Chisholm's new piano concerto', Scottish Music and Drama (1949), 25.
- Walker, A., 'Erik Chisholm', Stretto, Vol. 6, No. 1 (summer 1986).
- Wright, K., 'Erik Chisholm: a Tribute', Composer, Vol. 17 (Oct 1965), 34–5.