Helmut Kallmann

Helmut (Max) Kallmann. Music librarian, historian, born Berlin 7 Aug 1922, naturalized Canadian 1946, died Ottawa 12 Feb 2012; B MUS (Toronto) 1949, honorary LL D (Toronto) 1971. With Gilles Potvin and Kenneth Winters, Kallmann was one of the three editors of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, responsible in particular for content.

Kallmann received informal piano lessons from his father, an amateur musician, until he emigrated to England in 1939. After a brief period of study in London with Margery Moore (piano) and the Canadian Russell E. Chester (theory) he was interned as a German citizen in 1940 in England and 1940-3 in Canada. In Toronto in 1944 he had piano lessons from Naomi Adaskin, and from Greta Kraus 1944-5, and Florence Steinhauer 1947-8. His main teachers 1946-9 in the school music course at the University of Toronto were Richard Johnston, Robert Rosevear, and Arnold Walter.

Kallmann worked 1950-70 in the CBC Toronto Music Library and in 1962 became its supervisor. In 1970 he was appointed chief of the newly created Music Division at the National Library of Canada, where his responsibility was the building of an all-embracing collection of musical Canadiana, which soon became a centre for research in its field. He also pioneered in planning musical exhibitions, from one on Healey Willan (1972) to one on Glenn Gould (1988). His retirement from the National Library in 1987 inspired the Festschrift Musical Canada: Words and Music Honouring Helmut Kallmann, edited by John Beckwith and Frederick A. Hall (Toronto 1988).

Publications

The lack of Canadian subject matter in the University of Toronto's music history courses led Kallmann, late in 1948, to search for traces of Canada's musical past. His historical and bibliographical notes continued to expand and formed a major source of information for the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. His first broad overview, based largely on printed sources, enabled him to add a historical dimension to the CBC's Catalogue of Canadian Composers (1952) which he revised and edited 1950-1 and at the same time to begin writing a historical account, published in 1960 as A History of Music in Canada 1534-1914, the first on its subject in book form. His research proceeded gradually to more specialized areas, such as the history of Canadian music periodicals and music publishing, the biographies of Joseph Quesnel, Theodore F. Molt, and James P. Clarke, and the inventories of pre-1950 printed music and of surviving Canadian-built 19th-century instruments. This work contributed to the modern revivals of Colas et Colinette, Lucas et Cécile, Siege of Quebec (see Battle music), and The Widow. During the 1960s Kallmann became increasingly occupied with exploring primary sources and developed a plan for the collection and preservation of musical Canadiana, which found an application at the National Library.

Other Activities

Kallmann was a co-founder of the Canadian Music Library Association (CMLA) and its chairman 1957-8 and 1967-8. He initiated Canadian participation in the International Association of Music Libraries (and was Canadian delegate 1959-71) and was responsible 1953-87 for the Canadian work for its Répertoire international des sources musicales (see Libraries: 8/Training, organization, projects) and, for some years, for other projects. Certain CMLA and Canadian Association of Music Libraries (CAML) projects grew from his private efforts, including the Bio-Bibliographical Finding List of Canadian Musicians (1961) and Musical Canadiana, a Subject Index (1967).

Kallmann assisted a number of international music dictionaries to include or correct Canadian entries. He served on the editorial boards of the Canadian Music Journal and the Canada Music Book. He was a co-founder of the Canadian Musical Heritage Society. With James Bannerman he wrote a CBC historical radio series, 'Music in Canada' (13 broadcasts in 1965; French adaptation by Andrée Desautels). His editorial responsibilities have included the Canadian League of Composers' Catalogue of Orchestral Music (Toronto 1957) and Giles Bryant's Healey Willan Catalogue (Ottawa 1972). His private and job-related work helped to facilitate the establishment of Canadian music courses at universities and encouraged others to undertake or continue historical research and to perform older Canadian music. He was a director 1970-1 and a vice president 1971-6 of the Canadian Music Council, honorary historian of the Canadian League of Composers, and in 1975 was appointed honorary adjunct professor (later adjunct research professor) at Carleton University. He was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1977 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1986. The Canadian Association of Music Libraries named its distinguished service award for Kallmann in 2000, and he was the 2006 recipient of the CMC/CLC Friends of Canadian Music Award.

Writings
'Canadian music as a field for research,' The Toronto Conservatory of Music Bulletin, Mar 1950

Catalogue of Canadian Composers, revised, enlarged ed (Toronto 1952)

'Audio-visual aids to music education in Canada,' International Society for Music Education series Technical Media in Music Education (1957)

'Kanada,' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG) (Kassel 1958)

'From the archives,' The Canadian Music Journal, Summer 1958

'From the archives: organs and organ players in Canada,' The Canadian Music Journal, Spring 1959

- ed. Directory of Degree Graduates, University of Toronto Music Alumni Association (Toronto 1964)

A History of Music in Canada 1534-1914 (Toronto 1960, 1969, with amendments 1987)

'Music in Canada,' CBC Times, 15-21 May 1965; abridged repr as 'Themes in Canadian history,' The Toronto Conservatory of Music Bulletin, Winter 1966

'Composition in Canada: 1867-1967,' Toronto Telegram, special advertising section, 28 Jan 1967

'Music in Canada, 1867, a long glance backward'/'Musique au Canada en 1867,' Musical Canada, 3, Jul-Aug 1967

'Music,' Canadian Annual Review, ed John Saywell (Toronto 1968, 1969, 1970)

'Beethoven and Canada,' The Canada Music Book, 2, Spring-Summer 1971

'Music in Upper Canada,' The Shaping of Ontario (Belleville, Ont, 1985)

'Canada and the music of the Grand Siècle,' Musical Canada, 58, Dec 1986

- ed. The Canadian Musical Heritage, Vol 8: Music for Orchestra I (Ottawa 1990)

'Music history,' Canadian Encyclopedia

'The Canadian League of Composers in the 1950s: the heroic years,' Célébration

'Historical background,' Music in Canada; rev in Aspects of Music in Canada

"Mapping Canada's music: A life's task," in Music in Canada/La Musique au Canada, Vol 1, ed. Guido Bimberg (Bochum 1997)

- ed. Ex-Internees Newsletter Sep 1996 - Feb 2004. 10 issues.

Articles for the Canadian Encyclopedia, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Dictionary of Contemporary Music, Encyclopedia Canadiana, Harvard Dictionary, MGG, The New Grove Dictionary, The New Grove Dictionary of American Music

Reviews in The Varsity (University of Toronto), Canadian Association of Music Libraries Newsletter, Canadian Music Journal, Canadian Library Journal, Canadian Literature, University of Toronto Quarterley

Program note essays for Ten Centuries Concerts

Record album notes for Joseph Quesnel's Colas et Colinette and Lavallée's The Widow

Kallmann, Helmut. 'Mapping Canada's music: A life's task,' Music in Canada/La Musique au Canada: A Collection of Essays, ed Guido Bimberg (Bochum, Germany, 1997)

A complete list of Kallmann's writings from 1949 to June 1987 appears in Musical Canada

See also Bibliography; Libraries; Musicology.

See also Bibliographies for Canadian League of composers; Canadian Musical Heritage Society; J.P. Clarke; Conductors and conducting; Criticism; Dictionaries; Germany; Glackemeyer; Libraries; National Library of Canada; 'O Canada'; Opera performance; Periodicals; Piano building; Publishing; and Joseph Quesnel.

Bibliography

Elliott, Robin. 'Canadian music,' Queen's Quarterly, vol 96, Spring 1989

Keer, Dawn. 'Helmut Kallmann: an account of his contribution to music librarianship and scholarship in Canada,' MLIS thesis, University of Alberta 1991

Links to Other Sites
Sheet music from Canada's past
A very extensive collection of digitalized copies of sheet music published before Confederation and during the First World War. Includes patriotic and parlour songs, piano pieces, sacred music, novelty numbers, and more. Also, check out the sheet music covers that appear in the Gallery section. From Library and Archives Canada.

Friends of Canadian Music Award
The website for the Friends of Canadian Music Award, a joint venture between the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre that honours those who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to Canadian composers and their music.

The Helmut Kallmann / Canadian Association Of Music Libraries Award
The website for the Helmut Kallmann Award for Distinguished Service relating to music libraries and archives in Canada. From York University.