Keywords Composers Conductors Teachers/Educators Violinists

In 1952 he was named head of music at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. During his tenure, 1957-60, as conductor of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra he insisted that the orchestra commission a Canadian work annually. He also included Canadian works in the program of the Summer Festival of Music which he organized in 1959 and in Six Exhibition Concerts (1967) which combined performances with an exhibition documenting the composers' careers. A charter member of the CLComp, he also served 1966-9 on the Canada Council. In 1966 at the University of Saskatchewan he became composer-in-residence, the first such position created by a Canadian university. In 1972 he retired, and in 1973 he moved to Victoria, where he continued to compose and teach. He formed a close association with the Victoria artistic community, especially at the University of Victoria where in the 1990s he taught both violin and composition. Most of his Victoria works were written for that city's performers and ensembles, especially its younger musicians.

In 1982 the University of Saskatchewan sponsored An Adaskin Celebration, a concert honouring his 75th birthday, and 12 Feb-26 Mar 1988 he was honoured by the University of Victoria with The Adaskin Years: a Celebration of Canada's Arts, a series of concerts of music by Adaskin and those who had influenced him or been influenced by him, combined with an exhibition of the Adaskins' collection of Canadian painting and culminating in a Conference on Canada's Arts, 1930-1970. CBC radio honoured Adaskin in three episodes of 'Mostly Music' 27-29 Nov 1989, profiling his life and music.

Adaskin, Murray
Adaskin's compositions employ a highly personal neoclassical idiom, frequently using Canadian folk material (courtesy Nicholas Morant/Canadian Music Centre).

Amati Quartet
The Amati Quartet (University of Saskatchewan), 1969. Murray Adaskin, Norma Lee Bisha, Robert Klose, Edward Bisha (courtesy University of Saskatchewan Archives, A-4659).

Works
A modernist without being a radical, Adaskin in his compositions developed a consistent and recognizable technique which exploits three main textures: counterpoint of two melodies, rhythmic activity under melody, and rhythmic activity alone. The rhythmic activity, often syncopated, is given characteristically to staccato woodwinds or strings. The form evolves from short motions repeated either sequentially or in rhythmic transformation, with frequent changes in texture and timbre. Phrase lengths also are short, often spanning only two bars. Adaskin used folk material occasionally, extracting from it short motives similar to those that appear in his other music and using them in a similar way. His Saskatchewan Legend and Algonquin Symphony contain examples of this procedure.

His style is marked by a French-influenced civility and pleasantness of expression, attained through a personal mixture of neoclassic and folk-derived elements. He made use of serial procedures in some works but did not find strict 12-tone writing useful for his pleasant and optimistic approach to musical utterance.

Most of his works were commissioned, including several (the opera Grant, Warden of the Plains, the Rondino for Nine Instruments, the String Quartet No. 1, etc) by the CBC, the Diversion for Orchestra by the NACO, In Praise of Canadian Painting in the Thirties by the Chamber Players of Toronto, the Adagio for Cello and Orchestra by the Victoria Conservatory, Nootka Ritual by the Nanaimo Symphony Orchestra, Divertimento No. 4 by the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Cassenti Concerto by the Cassenti Players, Saskatchewan Legend by the Golden Jubilee Committee of the University of Saskatchewan, Divertimento No. 2 by the University of Saskatchewan at Regina, the Bassoon Concerto by George Zukerman, Fanfare by the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts, Rondino by the Canadian Music Centre, Dance Concertante by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Divertimento No. 8 by the SMEA, and Nocturne by the International Clarinet Congress.

Adaskin's oeuvre comprises around 130 works, including many written after his official retirement, and past the age at which most composers stop creating. In 1996 he was composer-in-residence for the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and the Victoria Symphony programmed a tribute concert for his 90th birthday. His final composition was Musica Victoria, written in 2000, an adaptation of his Cassenti concertante.

Volume 23 of RCI's Anthology of Canadian Music (5-ACM 23), issued in 1986, is devoted to Adaskin's compositions. Murray Adaskin and his second wife, Dorothea (b Larsen, m 1989), produced several recordings of his works 1995-2001 (MM 101-104). CBC Records/CMC Centre's Ovation collection (PSCD 2026-5, 2002) also features Adaskin's works.

Honours and Assessment
Adaskin's work as teacher, conductor, and advocate of Canadian music and musicians ranks with his work as composer. His benign and positive attitude towards Canadian music is expressed in his genial Saskatchewan reports in the Canadian Chronicles of issues 1 to 4 of the Canada Music Book (1970-2). He was one of the first to leave the Toronto-Montreal concentration and contribute in a real way to the decentralization of Canadian musical activity. His pupils included Andrew Dawes, Paul Pedersen, Boyd McDonald, and Neil Harris. He was an associate of the CMCentre.

Adaskin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1980. He received the Saskatchewan Arts Board's Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1991, and in 1996 the University of Victoria established the annual Adaskin Lectures on the Arts in Canada. He deposited his papers at the National Library of Canada, and made gifts of his scores to the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Western Ontario. The University of Victoria also has an Adaskin fonds, and offers the Murray Adaskin Prize in Music Composition and an endowment fund in his name.

See also Amati String Quartet.

Selected Compositions
OperaGrant, Warden of the Plains (M.E. Bayer). 1967 (Winnipeg 1967). Ms

The Travelling Musicians (Page, Grimm). 1983. Narr, voice (chorus), orch. Ms

Orchestra
Suite. 1948. Ms. RCI 17/5-ACM 23 (R. Leduc)

3 Marches (1950, 1953, 1981). Both Ms

Ballet Symphony. 1951. Ms. RCI 71/5-ACM 23 (TSO)

Coronation Overture. 1953. Ms

Serenade Concertante. 1954. Summit 1956. RCI 129/5-ACM 23 (TSO)/Col MS-6285 (CBC Symphony Orchestra)

Algonquin Symphony. 1958 (Toronto 1958). Summit 1962. (3rd movement) Dom S-1372/Dom LPS-21024/Citadel CT-6011 (Feldbrill conductor)

Saskatchewan Legend. 1959 (Saskatoon 1959). Summit 1961

Rondino. 1964 (Toronto 1965). Ms. RCA CCS-1009/5-ACM 23 (Chamb ensemble of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra)

Diversion for Orchestra. 1969 (Ott 1969). Ms. CBC SM-294 (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra)/CBC SM-333/5-ACM 23 (NACO)

Qalala and Nilaula of the North. 1969. Sm orch. Ms.

Fanfare. 1970. Ms. CBC SM-163/5-ACM 23 (CBC Winnipeg Orchestra)

There Is My People Sleeping. 1970. Ms

Essay for Strings. 1972. Ms

Nootka Ritual. 1974 (Nanaimo 1974). Ms

In Praise of Canadian Painting in the Thirties. 1975 (Toronto 1976). Str orch. Ms

Three Tunes for Strings. 1976. Ms

Dance Concertante. 1983. Ms

In Memoriam Frances James Adaskin. 1988. Chamb orch. Ms

Concerto for Orchestra. 1990 (Victoria 1990). Ms

Also two works for band, Night Is No Longer Summer Soft (1970) and Divertimento No. 8 (1986). Ms

Soloists with Orchestra
Concerto. 1955 (Toronto 1956). Vn, orch. Ms

Concerto. 1960 (Vancouver 1961). Bn, orch. Ms. CBC SM-143/5-ACM 23 (Zukerman bassoon)

Capriccio. 1961 (Toronto 1963). Pf, orch. Ms

Divertimento No. 4. 1970, 2 trumpet (1 player), orch. Ms

Adagio for Cello and Orchestra. 1975 (originally for violoncello, piano 1973). Ms

Divertimento No. 5. 1980. Guit, chamber orch. Ms

Divertimento No. 6. 1985. Solo percussion, orch. Ms

T'filat shalom. 1986. Vn, orch (piano). Ms

Chamber
Sonata. 1946 (Toronto 1947). Vn, piano. Ms. 1952. RCI 73 (M. Adaskin violin, Bernardi piano)/CBC SM-211/5-ACM 23 (Fenyves violin)

Canzona and Rondo. 1949. Vn, piano. Ms. RCI 221/RCA CCS-1015/5-ACM 23 (Hidy violin)

Sonatine Baroque. 1952. Vn. Summit 1961. 1952. RCI 73 (M. Adaskin)/5-ACM 23 (Dawes)

3 Divertimentos for various instr. (1956, 1964, 1965). Ms. (No. 3) RCI 405/5-ACM 23 (Zukerman bassoon)

Introduction and Rondo. 1957 (Saskatoon 1959). Pf quartet. Ms

Rondino for Nine Instruments. 1961 (Toronto 1962). Ww quintet, string quartet. Ms. RCI 215/RCA CCS-1009 (Chamb ensemble of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra)

Cassenti Concertante. 1963 (Saskatoon 1964). Ob, clarinet, bassoon, violin, piano. Ms

Quiet Song. 1963. Vn, piano. Leeds 1964

Trio. 1970. Fl, violoncello, piano. Ms

Two Pieces for solo viola da gamba. 1972. Ms. Music Gallery Editions MGE-7 (Sampson)

Two Portraits. 1973. Vn, piano. Ms/5-ACM 23 (Fenyves)

Music for Brass Quintet. 1977. Ms

Quintet. 1977. Bn, string quartet. Ms. 5-ACM 23 (Zukerman)

Nocturne. 1978. Cl, piano. Ms

Sonata. 1981. Vc, piano. Ms. 5-ACM 23 (Tsutsumi)

Divertimento No. 7. 1985. 2 violoncello, piano. Ms

3 Vocalizes for solo instr. Cl (1988), viola (1990), fl (1990). Ms

String Quartet No. 2. 1994

Divertimento No. 9. 1998. String trio

String Quartet No. 3. 1998

Also String Quartet No. 1 (1963), short pieces for violin, piano (1963-82), piano (1950-80) and Quintet for Woodwinds (1974). All manuscript

Many pieces for young musicians and gift pieces for special occasions.

Choir and Voice
A Hymn of Thanks (A.E. Haydon). 1953. Unison choir. B & H 1954

The Shepherd (Blake). 1934. High voice, piano. Ms

Epitaph (G. Apollinaire, transl Bertha Ten Eyck James). 1948. V, piano. Ms. RCI 74/5-ACM 23 (F. James)

The Prairie Lily (H. Blakeney). 1967. V, piano. Ms

Of Man and the Universe (Pope). 1967. V, violin, piano. Ms. CBC SM-277 (G. Gabora)

A catalogue of compositions with complete details of instrumentation, premieres, dedications and commissions, is published in the Gordana Lazarevich biography The Musical World of Frances James and Murray Adaskin (Toronto 1988).

Writings
"The university and audience training," Music Across Canada, Jun 1963; extract in CanComp, 11, Oct 1966

"Murray Adaskin: composer-in-residence," OpCan, Sept 1967

"Contemporary music: composers, teachers, performers and audiences," CanComp, 34, Nov 1968

"Is this good for Canada?" Musicworks, spring 1989

Author Jens Hanson, Betty Nygaard King

Bibliography

Savage, Richard. "Murray Adaskin: composer, professor, gentleman," CanComp, 10, Sep 1966

Links to Other Sites
Canadian Music Centre
Search the extensive CMC multimedia website for audio samples, biographies, music scores, and interviews about contemporary classical works by Canadian composers. Registration required for some features.

The Murray Adaskin Collection
A profile of Canadian composer Murray Adaskin from the website for the University of Saskatchewan Music Collections. Also features photos and related documents from their archives.

Murray Adaskin
A biography of composer, educator, violinist, and conductor Murray Adaskin from the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.

Murray Adaskin
Biographical sketch of Murray Adaskin. From Library and Archives Canada.

Amati Quartet
A brief note about the origins of the Amati Quartet from the website "Events in the History of the University of Saskatchewan."

Sounds of music, 1931 - 1981
Flip through the pages of this digitized book which chronicles the history of the Saskatoon Symphony. Includes leading personalities associated with the symphony, major events, venues, and more. From the “Our Roots” website.