Composer John Weinzweig would have turned 100 on March 11, 2013. A year of celebrations begins Friday, March 8 at Walter Hall, U of T (7:30pm) curated by Soundstreams Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney. See the Press Release for full details and schedules. Press Release for full details and schedules.
In Search of Alberto Guerrero is the first full biography of the influential Chilean-Canadian pianist and teacher (1886-1959), describing Guerrero’s long career as virtuoso recitalist, chamber music collaborator, concerto soloist, and teacher. Written by composer John Beckwith, who was a student of Guerrero, the book blends research and memoir to piece together the life of a man who once insisted he had no story.
Guerrero was part of the intellectual scene that introduced Chileans to Debussy, Ravel, Cyril Scott, Scriabin, and Schoenberg. He and his brother played an active role in founding the Sociedad Bach in Santiago. In 1918 Guerrero moved to Toronto, making the Hambourg Conservatory, and later the Toronto (now Royal) Conservatory, his new base. He soon became one of Canada’s most active pianists. In what was then a novel activity, he played regular radio recitals from the mid-1920s to the early 1950s. He was also deeply engaged with issues in piano pedagogy, and worked with young talents including Canada’s much-acclaimed Glenn Gould. But unlike the shadowy role Guerrero is assigned in Gould biographies, here he is given proper credit for his technical and aesthetic influence on the young Gould and on other notable musicians and composers.
Guerrero left few written records, and documentation of his work by others is incomplete and often erroneous. Aiming for a fuller and more accurate account of this remarkably influential and well-loved man, Beckwith’s In Search of Alberto Guerrero gives an insider’s story of the Canadian classical music scene in mid-twentieth-century Toronto, and pays homage to the influential musician William Aide has called an “unsung progenitor.”
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-151) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 786.2/092
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9781554580712 9780889204966
- LCCN
- ML417.G934
- LCCN Item number
- B39 2006eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xviii, 159 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00204546 (OCoLC)244764483 (CaOOCEL)407364
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- List of Illustrations 10
- Acknowledgements 12
- Introduction 16
- Chapter 1 20
- Chile / Canada 20
- Beginnings in La Serena 21
- Young Pianist, Young Composer 26
- A Composer for the Stage 33
- Two Composer-Associates 37
- Writings 43
- Chapter 2 48
- A Wedding, a Tour 48
- New York and Back: A Farewell 54
- Why? 63
- Chapter 3 66
- Toronto: The Hambourgs 66
- El cónsul 77
- Personal Crises 78
- Toronto: The Late 1920s and Early ’30s; The TCM 81
- Performances 84
- Chapter 4 90
- The Andison Concerts; Malloney’s 90
- Friendships 95
- "A Great Piano Town”: The Five Piano Ensemble 102
- The 1940s 105
- Chapter 5 110
- Lessons 110
- Changes 116
- Glenn Gould 118
- A Letter 125
- The Final Public Recital 128
- Chapter 6 130
- The 1950s 130
- A Funeral 136
- "Boswell” 138
- Legacy 139
- Appendix 1 146
- The Discrepancy between Performance and Technique 146
- Appendix 2 149
- Alberto Guerrero 149
- Appendix 3 152
- Reunion: Participants 152
- Appendix 4 154
- Excerpts from the Program Note for the Symposium “Remembering Alberto Guerrero,” Toronto, 25 October 1990 (by John Beckwith) 154
- Notes 156
- Bibliography 168
- Index 172
- A 172
- B 172
- C 173
- D 173
- E 173
- F 173
- G 174
- H 175
- I 175
- J 175
- K 175
- L 175
- M 175
- N 176
- O 176
- P 176
- Q 177
- R 177
- S 177
- T 178
- U 178
- V 178
- W 178
- Y 178
