Graham George

Graham Elias George (11 April 1912 – 9 December 1993) was a Canadian composer, music theorist, organist, choir conductor, and music educator of English birth. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists largely of choral works, many written for Anglican liturgical use. He also wrote three ballets, four operas, and some symphonic music. In 1938 he won the Jean Lallemand Prize for his Variations on an Original Theme. At first he employed traditional tertial harmony, but the influence of Hindemith led him to introduce quartal-quintal harmony as integral to his style. Successful completion of RCCO/RCO diplomas and external degrees had demanded he attain very considerable expertise in counterpoint, and so his neoclassic deployment of contrapuntal devices such as imitation, canon and fugue is hardly accidental.

His archives are part of the collection at the Library and Archives Canada.

Born in Norwich, he moved to Canada in 1928 at the age of 16. He studied the organ and music composition with Alfred Whitehead. He earned the Associateship (1934) and Fellowship (1936) of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Associateship (1935) of the Royal College of Organists. The examinations for external Bachelor of Music (1936) and Doctor of Music (1939) degrees he earned from University of Toronto were very similar in scope and difficulty with the theoretical parts of the RCO/RCCO examinations; the degrees additionally required the successful submission of composition exercises. George, like Weinzweig before him, was open to contemporary techniques. From 1952 to 1953, George studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Yale School of Music. During 1956 he also studied conducting with Willem van Otterloo in the Netherlands.

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