Joseph Thomas Hector Gratton (13 August 1900 - 16 July 1970) was a Canadian composer

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...

, arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, and music educator. As a composer his music is written in an essentially folkloric and popular style which avoids harmonic sophistication. His compositional output includes several orchestral works

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, chamber works

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

s, and works for solo piano. He also wrote 4 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...

s and a considerable amount of music for radio programs. In 1937 his symphonic poem

Symphonic poem

A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...

 Légende won the Jean Lallemand Prize

Jean Lallemand

Jean Lallemand was a Canadian industrialist, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. In 1968 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 1979 he received a Canadian Music Council Medal....

 which led to the work's premiere performance that year by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...

 under conductor Wilfrid Pelletier

Wilfrid Pelletier

Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier , CC was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving as the orchestra's first artistic director and conductor from 1935-1941...

. The work was repeated by the orchestra in concerts the following year under conductor Sir Ernest MacMillan

Ernest MacMillan

Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, CC was an internationally renowned Canadian orchestral conductor and composer, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician, from the 1920s through the 1950s...

.

Life and career

Born in Hull, Quebec

Hull, Quebec

Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...

, Gratton studied music theory and composition with Albertine Morin-Labrecque

Albertine Morin-Labrecque

Albertine Morin-Labrecque was a Canadian pianist, soprano, composer, and music educator. Her compositional output includes 4 ballets, 2 comic operas, the Chinese Opera Pas-chu, 2 concertos for two pianos, the symphonic poem Le Matin, numerous symphonic works, and compositions for band...

, Oscar O'Brien

Oscar O'Brien

Oscar O'Brien was a Canadian folklorist, composer, pianist, organist, music educator, and Roman Catholic priest...

, and Alfred Whitehead

Alfred Whitehead

Alfred Ernest Whitehead was an English composer, organist, choirmaster, and music educator who was primarily active in Canada. He taught music at several Canadian institutions of higher learning during his career and held the post of organist/choirmaster at a number of prominent Canadian churches...

. He was a piano student of Alphonse Martin

Alphonse Martin

Alphonse Martin was a Canadian organist, pianist, and music educator. Born in Trois-Rivières, he studied the piano and organ in Montreal with Lévis Dussault. For many years he taught both of those instruments at the Conservatoire royal de musique in Montreal. His notable pupils included Hector...

 and Alfred La Liberté

Alfred La Liberté

Alfred La Liberté was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. He was a disciple and close personal friend of Alexander Scriabin. He was also an admirer of Marcel Dupré and Nikolai Medtner. Dupré notably dedicated his Variations, Opus 22 for piano to him and Medtner...

. From La Liberté he gained a great appreciation for the works and aesthetics of Nikolai 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 Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...

, two composers which influenced his own compositional style.

During the 1920s, Gratton toured with Charles Marchand performing folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 that was harmonized by O'Brien. He notably performed in concerts with Marchand at the CPR Festivals between 1927-1930. He soon after began working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 during the early years of national radio. He composed and conducted music for Je me souviens, one of the first major Canadian radio series which featured scripts by Félix Leclerc

Félix Leclerc

Félix Leclerc, was a French-Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and Québécois political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968...

. Also notable among his compositions for CBC Radio
was the incidental music for Cécile Chabot's 1945 Christmas story L'Imagerie.

Gratton died in Montreal in 1970 at the age of 69. He was made an associate of the Canadian Music Centre

Canadian Music Centre

The Canadian Music Centre holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music. The CMC exists to promote the works of its Associate Composers in Canada and around the world....

 posthumously. Several of his original manuscripts are part of the collection at the Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...

.