CAML ACBM REV I EMS Cowlributors to THIS ISSUE

CAML ACBM REV IEMS COWlRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE EXECUTIVE 1986/87 Peter Letkerann is a recent Ph.D. graduate of President the University of Toronto. Hi S 1985 dissertation Joan Colquhoun is titled "The hymnody and choral music of the Music Division, National Library of Canada Mennoni tes in Russia, 1789- 1915. " Dan Allen Ottawa, Ontario, K1A ON4 is a discographer and the proprietor of Walter (613) 996-7510 C. Allen of Canada Ltd. Vice President Jane Pearce Baldwin From Russia music. By Wesley Music Library, University of Western Ontario Berg. Winnipeg: Hyperion Press, 1985. London, Ontario, N6A 3K7 (151 p., $12.95) (519) 679-2111 ~0846 Past President Alison Hall Cataloguing - Carleton University Library Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 557 In recent decades Mennonite activity in the (613) 564-2758/9 field of vocal and choral music has received growing recognition in Canada. The musical Secretary accomplishments of individual Mennonite conductors Anne Fleming and singers as well as Mennonite comnunity, Bruce County Pub1 ic Library college and oratorio choirs rest on a strong Box 16000, Port Elgin, Ontario, NOH 2C0 but relatively brief tradition of choral singing (519) 832-2181 in Mennonite schools and churches. Treasurer The story of this Mennonite musical tradition Sister Louise Smith is not unlike that of music and choral singing Music Library, University of Western Ontario in Canada which. in the words of Helmut Kallmann, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7 'takes as its subject not creative giants who (519) 679-2111 ~0808 determine the course of world music history, but humble musicians who instil a taste for Membership Secretary their art among pioneers... it reflects the Debra Ann Begg musical pastimes and aspirations of the many... Music Library, University of Ottawa in short, the record is concerned more with Ottawa, Ontario, KIN 6N5 social than with artistic aspects of music" (613) 564-6801 (A History of Music in Canada, p.3). Members-at-Large Mennonites of Swiss and South-German origin Monique Lecaval ier came to Canada from Pennsylvania as early as Bibliotheque de musique, Universite de MontrCal 1786. While they were influenced by the American Montreal, Quebec, H3C 357 singing-school movement around the middle of (514) 343-6159 the nineteenth century, these first Canadian Mennonites, Ilving primarily in Ontario, rejected Peter Higham choral singing and instrumental music. It was Ralph Pickard Bell Library among Mennonites of Prussian-Russian origin, Mount A1 li son University who came to Western Canada and to the mid-Western Sackville, New Brunswick, EOA 3C0 United States after 1874, that the Canadian Mennoni te choral singing tradition had its While Chapter I provides a rather extensive beginnings in the 1880s and 1890s. account of musical developments in Russian Mennoni te v1 llage, school and church choirs The present publication is a slightly revised to 1928, there is no corresponding account of and expanded version of the author's dissertation background developments in Prussian and American on "Choral Festivals and Choral Workshops among Mennoni te comnuni ties. Influences on the musical the Mennonites of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, practices of Canadian Mennanites before 1923 1900- 1960, with and account of early developments ( as outlined In Chapters I1 and 111) came as in Russia" (Ph.0.. U. of Washington, 1979). much from Prussian and American Mennonites as Berg' S study represents the first extensive from Russian Mennonites. While Berg emphasizes and scholarly monograph on this subject and the influence of Russian Mennonites such as despite certain weaknesses, it makes a significant Aaron Sawatzky and J.P. Wiebe, he does not contribution to the cultural history of Mennonites not adequately consider that of American Mennonite in Canada. His account is written in an easy, leaders trained in such institutions as Moody informative and anecdotal, rather than a Bible Institute in Chicago, or the influence critical-analytical style, thus making the book of Prussian and America trained Mennonite accessible to a wide readership. educators such as H.H. Ewert and David Toews, who worked in Manitoba and Saskatchewan The title of the original dissertation, though respectively. These men came out of a cultural more prosaic than that of the book, is much and religious milieu different from that of more to the point of the actual content of the their Russian Mennonite brethren. study. The author has added token paragraphs on Mennonite choral activities in Ontario, Alberta Between 1923 and 1930 Canada's Mennonite and British Columbia, but the emphasis is clearly population of approximate1 y 50,000 increased on developments in Manitoba and Saskatchewan dramatically as more than 20,000 Mennoni tes from the turn of the century to about 1960 fled the hardships of post-Revolution Russia (although there are a few references to more to seek a new life fn Canada. Differences in recent musical developrnents). Furthermore, cultural , intellectual and economic background Berg deal S with only one particular, though between these more progressive' Russlaender important, aspect of the Mennonite choral Mennonites and the more 'conservative' Kanadier tradition, namely the rise and decline of the led to numerous conflicts. Within a decade popular practice of holding regular Saenqerfeste the musical leadership in most Mennonite (Choral Festivals) and Diri penten kurse comnunities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan had (Conductors' Workshops) in Mennonite comnunities passed from Kanadier such as J.P. Wfebe and in Russia, Canada and the United States. J.A. Kroeker into the hands of Russlaender such as K.H. Neufeld, David Paetkau, F.C. Thiessen and John Konrad. Chapters IV-V1 describe the This practice began almost simultaneously in work of these four and other Russlaender in both Russia and American Mennonite comnuni ties reshaping the Canadian Mennonite choral tradition in the 1890s, but Berg does not adequately explore in the three decades from about 1925 to 1955. the sources nor the relationship of these A fifth important leader in this process was geographically widely seperated Saenperfest Mr.Ben jamin Horch, who was of Lutheran background traditions. He mentions the role of the and had come to Winnipeg from Russia in 1909. Chri stl icher Saenqerbund, but does not adequately It was only in Winnipeg that he joined the identify this association nor properly assess Mennonite Brethren Church and eventually became its significant influence both on Russian its leading musical figure. Mennonites and later on Canadian Mennonites. Similarly, Berg mentions the connection between the American Saenqerfest tradition and the While these men brought musical practices and Sunday-School Convention in the mid-Western repertoire with them from Russia, they also United States but does not elaborate on the adopted ideas from their new Canadian environment, nature of this relationship. especially from private music instructors, public school teachers, British choirmasters and festival The criticisms noted above should not detract adjudicators. The greatest weakness of Berg 'S from the many merits of the book. For Mennonite study lies in his neglect to give attention musicians in particular, it will encourage them to this Canadian context. His documentation to reexamine their musical roots and to consider of Mennonite musical life in Canada is drawn more seriously the future direction of music completely from Mennonite sources, with no attempt within the Mennonite comnunity. For non-Mennonite to include the viewpoints of non-Mennonite readers, it should serve to flesh-out the brief teachers, conductors, critics or adjudicators entries on Mennonite music and musicians in on Mennonite choral singing. This lack of context the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, and as is further exhibited by the fact that Berg a corrective to the inaccurate and mi sleading includes no maps to help orientate the reader, information on Mennonites in Timothy McGee's especially a non-Mennoni te reader, to the recent publication, The Music of Canada. Finally, geographical location and context of Mennoni te Berg's pioneer study should stimulate further comnunities either in Russia, the U.S.A. or research not only into the music of Mennonites Canada. The book concludes with an all-too-brief but of other minori ty groups within Canada. and cursory examination of the actual choral repertoire of Mennonite choirs in Russia and -Peter Letkemann Canada. Conrad Grebe1 Col lege 'This is jazz.' By Jack Litchfield. Montreal, 1985. (ii, 67 p. Available from Oak Lawn Books, Box 2663, Providence RI 02907, U S A. US89.95 + US83.50 hand1 ing) Discography - the study of Sound recordings its popularity has continued through to the of a particular subject - has always been of present. prime importance in jazz, since recordings are the prime source of preserved examples of the In this discography, Litchf ield lists all the music. Pub1ished discographies naturally tend weekly broadcasts, plus the "pilot" of January to concentrate on published comnercial recordings: 18 and two "Bonds for Bonds" shows of September however, unpublished and nonconmercial ones 13 and 20 (included because they featured the must not be overlooked. Broadcast recordings All Star St~IIIpers, this time in a "battle" against are one such type which are particularly important an all-star modern-jazz group). In an extremely since they often contain performances which clear layout, he lists broadcasts one to a page, break the confines of the nonnal recording-studio in chronological order, giving personnel, tune format. titles (whether issued or not) and label/catalog number of issued recording (if any). A very Such is the type of recording covered in the useful feature is the listing of soloists and discography reviewed here. "This is Jazz" was length of solo (in bars) for each tune, enabling a series of weekly broadcasts made over the one to find out which program a tune is from Mutual network (carried also on CBC) February (records issued new, or in the future, will 8 to October 4, 1947.

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