Begins with the Oboe: A History of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and editor of the CAML
Review.

On the whole, Richard S. Warren, who was the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra’s volunteer archivist for 26 years until his death in 2002,
has done a commendable job in marshalling the documentary record on this
distinguished ensemble. Still, I cannot help feeling that a thematic
rather than a chronological organization of the material would have
yielded more interesting results.

The book does give us a sense of the complexity of running a performing
arts organization, touching on issues such as repertoire, reception,
audience, performance venues, economics, women in music, broadcasting,
recordings, and music education (including the founding of a youth
orchestra). But time and again I found myself wanting to have the issues
explored in greater depth, especially given the catastrophic state of
the orchestra’s finances and management in recent years.

Surely the future of this troubled organization should be the book’s
prime concern. Instead, the narrative plods from one season to the next.
It also has a decidedly top-down feel centred on the conductors. We
never do find out much about the musicians, apart from their salary
demands. (The compensation for guest artists, conductors, and management
is not disclosed.)

Perhaps Warren opted for strict chronology because it was the most
convenient vehicle for the gallery of beautifully reproduced
black-and-white photographs that accompany the presentation. But many of
them are simply posed, studio portraits. The best pictures show the
orchestra performing and also on tour. In fact, the richest, most
enjoyable parts of the book are of the tours.

The book’s awkward title refers to the instrument that sounds the
tune-up pitch for all orchestras. (Could no one at University of Toronto
Press think of something less generic?) There are also some small slips
in editing and the concluding discography does not list the soloists for
the concerto performances.