Leo Smith (composer)

Leo Smith (Joseph Leopold Smith; * November 26, 1881 in Birmingham, † April 18, 1952 in Toronto ) was a Canadian composer, cellist and music teacher.

Life

Smith had as a child cello with WH Priestley in Birmingham and Carl Fuchs in Manchester. At the age of eight, he played a solo concert at the Birmingham Town Hall. He studied at Manchester College of Music and at Henry Hiles at Manchester University.

He also played in various chamber music ensembles, was a cellist in the Hallé Orchestra ( under Hans Richter), and five years in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where he among other things, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Claude Debussy and Bela Bartók met as conductors. A Symphonic Movement in D Minor from that time has been lost, as well as songs were, inter alia, based on texts of his brother Arnold Smith.

1910 emigrated to Canada from Smith. He was a member and from 1932 first cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; From 1938 he was principal cellist of the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. At the Toronto Conservatory of Music, he taught from 1911 music theory, composition, music history and cello. He played in the Conservatory Trio and from 1929 to 1942 in the Conservatory String Quartet and was cellist of the Toronto String Quartet and String Quartet Academy. From 1918 to 1935 he was editor of the Conservatory Quarterly Review, for which he wrote numerous articles themselves.

In 1927, Smith Lecturer in 1937 professor at the Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto. Among his pupils were, inter alia, Marcus Adeney, Louis Applebaum, John Beckwith, Keith Bissell, Howard Brown, Kenneth Peacock, Margaret Sargent and Bertha Tamblyn. After his retirement he wrote until his death, music reviews for the magazine Globe and Mail. The manuscripts and Smith writings are owned by the National Library of Canada, 1981, an exhibition and a concert to commemorate the composer organized.

Works

Orchestral works

  • An Ancient Song
  • Divertissement in Waltz Time
  • Elegy for Small Orchestra
  • Pretty Little Nightingale
  • Used for Strings
  • A Summer Idyll for Clarinet and String Orchestra

Chamber Music

  • Celtic Trio for Piano Trio
  • Four Pieces from The Book of Irish Country Songs for Cello and Piano
  • Four Pieces in an Old English Style for Cello and Piano
  • A Horse Race Ballad for Violin, Cello and Harp
  • Old London Street Cries for two singers, Cello and Piano
  • Quartet in D, string quartet
  • Shakespearean Music
  • Sonata in E Minor for Cello and Piano
  • Three Ravens for Piano Trio
  • Trio for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord
  • Tambourine, folk song for violin and piano
  • Trochaios, folk song for violin and piano
  • Dans Paris ya une brune, folksong arrangement for string quartet
  • J'ai cueilli la belle rose, folksong arrangement for string quartet
  • The Passionate Shepherd for Voice, Cello and Piano
  • Her reply, for voice, cello and piano
  • Spring 's Welcome, for voice, cello and piano
  • Little Peggy Ramsay, for Voice, Cello and Piano
  • Father O'Flynn for Cello and Piano
  • Indian Romance for Cello and Piano
  • Suite for Piano
  • Three Pieces for Piano
  • Concertina for Piano

Vocal works

  • Five Songs, 1912
  • Four Songs, 1914
  • Beloved and Blest for male chorus, 1914
  • Night for Men's Choir, 1914
  • On Dante's track for male chorus, 1914
  • Christmas Bells, 1916
  • To One in Paradise, 1924
  • Fresh from the Dewy Hill for female chorus, 1929
  • We Are the Music Makers for female chorus, 1930
  • Three Songs, 1930
  • Songs of Experience, 1941

Writings

  • Musical Rudiments (Boston 1920)
  • Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries ( Toronto 1931)
  • Elementary Part - Writing ( Oakville, Ontario, 1939),
University of Manchester Hans Richter (conductor) John Beckwith (composer)
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