Sir Ernest MacMillan: The Importance of Being Canadian

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University.

No one had a greater impact on the development of Canada’s musical
culture than Sir Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973). It is surprising to note,
therefore, that this is the first full-length biography of the man to
appear. Fortunately, this judicious, richly detailed, and thoroughly
researched account demonstrates that Ezra Schabas was a good choice as
MacMillan’s biographer. Schabas paints a compelling portrait of both
the man and his country, which was in the process of transforming itself
culturally from colony to nation.

Like MacMillan before him, Schabas was principal of the Royal
Conservatory of Music. He also taught at the University of Toronto,
where MacMillan was once dean of the Music Faculty; played the clarinet
in orchestras under MacMillan’s direction; and served with MacMillan
on the Canadian Music Council in the 1960s.

Much of the research was drawn from the Sir Ernest MacMillan papers and
memorabilia deposited at the National Library of Canada. MacMillan’s
son, Keith, a music professor, also left extensive documentation and an
unfinished biography.

MacMillan’s energetic leadership and vision were felt everywhere, and
his interests spanned the spectrum of musical activity. He could do it
all: conductor, composer, organist, pianist, educator, examiner,
festival adjudicator, arts planner, administrator, ethnomusicologist,
broadcaster, speaker, and writer. A child prodigy on the organ,
MacMillan earned an Oxford doctorate while interned at a prison camp in
Ruhleben, Germany, during World War I.

But there are bound to be moments of controversy in such a public life.
Schabas offers his candid assessment of the Symphony Six Affair of
1951-52, in which six TSO musicians were fired in an atmosphere rife
with McCarthyist overtones, as well as of the furor surrounding
MacMillan’s resignation from the University of Toronto in 1952.

A bibliography, selected bibliographies of MacMillan’s writings and
compositions, and discography complete the handsomely illustrated
presentation.