Godfrey Ridout one of Canada’s greatest composers, conductors, music educators and writers
On my walk through historic St. James-the-Less Cemetery in downtown Toronto, I visited the grave of one of Canada’s greatest composers, conductors, music educators and writers, Godfrey Ridout.
Godfrey was born in Toronto in 1918 and studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in the very city where he was raised. That alone set him apart from most composers of his generation, who typically crossed the Atlantic to study in London or Paris, or headed south to New York. At the Conservatory, Ridout was mentored by Ettore Mazzoleni and the formidable Healey Willan.
Healey Willan and Ettore Mazzoleni
Ridout was a descendant of Thomas Ridout, the first Surveyor General of Upper Canada under Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe — meaning his family’s roots in this city run almost as deep as the city itself. But music wasn’t the family business, and it certainly wasn’t the family expectation; in the Ridout household, it was considered a hobby, not a career. Godfrey built his path against his father’s objections, going ahead anyway to build one of the most respected musical careers in the country.
Thomas Ridout first Surveyor General of Upper Canada.
He began teaching at the Toronto Conservatory in 1940, then joined the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music in 1948, staying on until his retirement in 1982. Along the way, he shaped a generation of Canadian composers, including Walter Buczynski, Ben McPeek, and Charles Wilson.
Walter Buczynski and Ben McPeek.
Ridout’s early breakthrough was his Ballade for Viola and Strings (1938), performed in Canada, the U.S., and Great Britain — a work that opened the door to a body of output spanning chamber and symphonic music, choral pieces, CBC radio drama scores, and film work for the National Film Board. His dramatic symphony Esther premiered at Massey Hall in 1952 with soloists Lois Marshall and James Milligan, cementing his place as a household name in Canadian music and the arts.
Below: Lois Marshall and James Milligan in Ridout’s Esther, dramatic symphony for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orchestra.
Much of that legacy survives on record. The CBC recorded and broadcast his work extensively over the decades, and Godfrey himself credited the network with making “the greatest single contribution to Canadian music.”
Fall Fair (also called Fall Fair Overture, Op. 25, 1961) is one of Godfrey Ridout’s best-known works.
Godfrey Ridout died in Toronto on November 24, 1984. He was 66.
1918-198
See my related grave visit to Healey Willan.
