Violet Archer
Violet Louise Balestreri was born on April 24, 1913, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her family was of Italian descent and they changed their surname to Archer in 1940. She started taking piano lessons before she turned 10 and entered the McGill Conservatory at 17 where she started working as an accompanist too. She took piano lessons from Dorothy Shearwood-Stubington, organ from J.J. Weatherseed, and composition from Claude Champagne and Douglas Clarke. From McGill University she earned a Licentiate in Pianoforte in 1934, a Bachelor of Music degree in 1936, and the Associate Diploma of the Royal Canadian College of Organists in 1938.
She went on to study composition with Béla Bartók in New York in 1942. She returned to teach at McGill from 1944 to 1947, and then attended Yale University from 1947 to 1949, where she earned a B Mus in 1948 and a M Mus is 1949. Her main composition professor there was Paul Hindemith. She further developed her skill or understanding of various instruments and the intellectual level of her compositions rose significantly. She incorporated more modern techniques like parallelism, serialism, folk influences (especially after studying with Bartok), modality, and chromaticism.
She composed many pieces for beginning and intermediate performers and encouraged other composers to do the same so that modern or twentieth-century-style music would become more accessible to younger musicians. She spent many years as a college professor herself. From 1950 to 1953 she was the composer-in-residence at what is now the University of North Texas, taught at Cornell University in 1952, taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1953 to 1961, and taught at the University of Alberta from 1962 until her retirement in 1978.
She still continued to lecture, compose both independently and commissioned works, promote new composers and especially Canadian composers, and work with various committees and boards to promote and adjudicate new compositions. She earned many awards for both her music and for the influence she had as a female and Canadian composer. Violet Archer died February 21, 2000, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
For the information in this article, I accessed the following websites on July 20, 2016: thecanadianencyclopedia.ca and musiccentre.ca. The first of these sites also has a great list of selected compositions, arranged by type of work.
She went on to study composition with Béla Bartók in New York in 1942. She returned to teach at McGill from 1944 to 1947, and then attended Yale University from 1947 to 1949, where she earned a B Mus in 1948 and a M Mus is 1949. Her main composition professor there was Paul Hindemith. She further developed her skill or understanding of various instruments and the intellectual level of her compositions rose significantly. She incorporated more modern techniques like parallelism, serialism, folk influences (especially after studying with Bartok), modality, and chromaticism.
She composed many pieces for beginning and intermediate performers and encouraged other composers to do the same so that modern or twentieth-century-style music would become more accessible to younger musicians. She spent many years as a college professor herself. From 1950 to 1953 she was the composer-in-residence at what is now the University of North Texas, taught at Cornell University in 1952, taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1953 to 1961, and taught at the University of Alberta from 1962 until her retirement in 1978.
She still continued to lecture, compose both independently and commissioned works, promote new composers and especially Canadian composers, and work with various committees and boards to promote and adjudicate new compositions. She earned many awards for both her music and for the influence she had as a female and Canadian composer. Violet Archer died February 21, 2000, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
For the information in this article, I accessed the following websites on July 20, 2016: thecanadianencyclopedia.ca and musiccentre.ca. The first of these sites also has a great list of selected compositions, arranged by type of work.
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The Bell: I. Largo ma non troppo
CBC Orchestra CBC Chorus Conductor: Geoffrey Waddington, conductor |
Jig (for piano)
the pianist's name is not listed |
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String Quartet No. 3: I. Andante con moto ed intensivo
University of Alberta String Quartet |
Dark Mood and Dance from Six Miniatures for Viola
this video may feature Mary Moran as the violist, though it is unclear |
Divertimento for Piano and Strings
Koffler Chamber Orchestra
Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano
Jacques Israelievitch, conductor
Koffler Chamber Orchestra
Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano
Jacques Israelievitch, conductor