Leo Smith (composer)
Encyclopedia
Leo Joseph Leopold Smith (26 November 1881, Birmingham, England - 18 April 1952, Toronto
) was an English
composer
, writer
, music critic, music educator, and cellist who was primarily active in Canada
. His compositional output consists of works for cello, piano
, choir
and orchestra
(most notably An Ancient Song and A Summer Idyll) and a consideral amount of chamber music
(most notably String Quartet in D, Sonata in E Minor and A Horse Race Ballad).
, Smith began studying cello
at a very young age with W.H. Priestley in Birmingham and then later with Carl Fuchs in Manchester
. His first professional cello recital was given at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1890 when he was just 8 years old as part of the Harrison Concert series. Since then he performed actively in concerts as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Eventually he pursued further training at the Royal Northern College of Music
and the University of Manchester
(UM) where he was a pupil of Henry Hiles
. While at the UM he became a member of the Hallé Orchestra and eventually played in the orchestra at the Royal Opera House
for five years. He notably performed under the batons of Béla Bartók
, Claude Debussy
, Frederick Delius
, Edward Elgar
, and Richter among others.
to play for his Toronto Symphony Orchestra
(no relation to the current orchestra of that name), becoming principal cellist in 1917 for that orchestra's final season. He met his wife, violinist Lena Hayes Smith (188?-1956), while playing in Wellman's orchestra. He later became a member of the new Toronto Symphony Orchestra
when in was founded in 1922, serving as its principal cellist from 1932-1940. In 1938 he became principal cellist of the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra
(TPO), a position he held until the mid 1940s.
Smith was appointed to the faculty of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1911 where he was a professor of music composition, music history, music theory, and cello performance through 1941. While there he played with two notable chamber groups in residence at the school, the Conservatory Trio in his early years and later the Conservatory String Quartet
from 1929-1941. He was also a member of two notable string quartet
s in Toronto, the Toronto String Quartette
, with whom he played in 1914, and the Academy String Quartet, with whom he played during the 1920s. From 1927 until his retirement in 1950, Smith taught on the music faculty of the University of Toronto
. Among his notable pupils were Marcus Adeney, Louis Applebaum
, Gerald Bales
, John Beckwith
, Keith Bissell
, Howard Brown
, Kenneth Peacock
, Margaret Sargent, and Bertha Tamblyn.
.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, music critic, music educator, and cellist who was primarily active in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. His compositional output consists of works for cello, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and orchestra
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...
(most notably An Ancient Song and A Summer Idyll) and a consideral amount of chamber music
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...
(most notably String Quartet in D, Sonata in E Minor and A Horse Race Ballad).
Early life in England
A child prodigyChild prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, Smith began studying cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
at a very young age with W.H. Priestley in Birmingham and then later with Carl Fuchs in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. His first professional cello recital was given at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1890 when he was just 8 years old as part of the Harrison Concert series. Since then he performed actively in concerts as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Eventually he pursued further training at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
and the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
(UM) where he was a pupil of Henry Hiles
Henry Hiles
Henry Hiles was an English composer, organist, writer, and music educator.Born in Shrewsbury, Hiles was the youngest of six sons. His eldest brother, John Hiles, was known as an arranger of organ music and for authoring several catechisms. He began studying the piano at the age of 4 and began...
. While at the UM he became a member of the Hallé Orchestra and eventually played in the orchestra at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
for five years. He notably performed under the batons of Béla 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...
, Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Frederick 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...
, Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
, and Richter among others.
Life in Canada
In 1910 Smith emigrated to Canada, and was quickly hired by Frank WelsmanFrank Welsman
Frank Squire Welsman was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer and music educator. He began his career as a concert pianist, but ultimately earned his place in Canadian history for establishing Toronto's first symphony orchestra of any standing, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra which was active...
to play for his Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Welsman)
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario that was active during the first two decades of the 20th century under the leadership of conductor and pianist Frank Welsman. It was the first professional orchestra that existed for any notable length in the city of...
(no relation to the current orchestra of that name), becoming principal cellist in 1917 for that orchestra's final season. He met his wife, violinist Lena Hayes Smith (188?-1956), while playing in Wellman's orchestra. He later became a member of the new Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
when in was founded in 1922, serving as its principal cellist from 1932-1940. In 1938 he became principal cellist of the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra
Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra
The Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario that gives 5 to 6 concerts during an annual season at the Danforth Music Hall. The ensemble was formed in 1989 by members of the CJRT Orchestra after that orchestra disbanded. Paul Robinson served as the...
(TPO), a position he held until the mid 1940s.
Smith was appointed to the faculty of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1911 where he was a professor of music composition, music history, music theory, and cello performance through 1941. While there he played with two notable chamber groups in residence at the school, the Conservatory Trio in his early years and later the Conservatory String Quartet
Conservatory String Quartet
The Conservatory String Quartet was a Canadian string quartet in residence at The Royal Conservatory of Music during the first half of the 20th century. The group actively performed in the Toronto area and regularly toured throughout the Province of Ontario. The quartet also notably toured to...
from 1929-1941. He was also a member of two notable string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s in Toronto, the Toronto String Quartette
Toronto String Quartette
The Toronto String Quartette was the name of three un-related professional Canadian string quartets based in Toronto, Ontario.-The first TSQ: 1884-1887:...
, with whom he played in 1914, and the Academy String Quartet, with whom he played during the 1920s. From 1927 until his retirement in 1950, Smith taught on the music faculty of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. Among his notable pupils were Marcus Adeney, Louis Applebaum
Louis Applebaum
Louis Applebaum, was a Canadian composer, administrator, and conductor.He was born in Toronto, Ontario and studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Leo Smith and the University of Toronto with Boris Berlin, Healey Willan and Ernest MacMillan...
, Gerald Bales
Gerald Bales
Gerald Albert Bales, CM was a Canadian organist and composer.Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bales studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music from 1936 to 1940 where he was a pupil of Herbert A. Fricker , Albert Procter , Leo Smith , and Healey Willan...
, John Beckwith
John Beckwith (composer)
John Beckwith, CM is a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator.Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he studied piano with Alberto Guerrero at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1945. He received a Mus.B. in 1947 and a Mus.M. in 1961 from the University of Toronto...
, Keith Bissell
Keith Bissell
Keith Warren Bissell was a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. He was particularly known for his choral music, which often implemented elements of Canadian folk music. A passionate educator, he was a pupil of Carl Orff and was influential in popularizing the Orff Schulwerk...
, Howard Brown
Howard Brown (pianist)
Howard Fuller Brown is a Canadian pianist, harpsichordist, and music educator. He was active as a concert pianist and recitalist in Atlantic Canada during the mid-twentieth century, appearing as a soloist with many important Canadian symphony orchestras...
, Kenneth Peacock
Kenneth Peacock
Kenneth Howard Peacock was a Canadian ethnomusicologist, composer, and pianist. He was a leading authority in Canadian enthnomusicology, and his research and publications in that field had a profound impact on the folk music revival in Canada of the mid to late 20th century...
, Margaret Sargent, and Bertha Tamblyn.
Work as a writer
As a writer, Smith first displayed his talents as a contributing editor to the Conservatory Quarterly Review from 1918-1935. His also wrote three music textbooks: Musical Rudiments (Boston 1920), Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Toronto 1931), and Elementary Part-Writing (Oakville, Ont, 1939), all of which became widely used in North America and went through numerous editions. From 1950-1952 he was a music critic for the newspaper The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
.