× Upcoming Events Our Musicians Keeping You Safe Your At-Concert Guide Thank You to Our Donors Symphony Nova Scotia Foundation Land Acknowledgement Past Events
Home Our Musicians Keeping You Safe Your At-Concert Guide Thank You to Our Donors Symphony Nova Scotia Foundation Land Acknowledgement
Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)
Canada Mosaic
Composed: 1974
Premiered: 1974, Vancouver
Duration: 6 minutes

Canada Mosaic, Coulthard’s second "folksong" suite, was not composed until 30 years after the Canadian Fantasy and Excursion, the result of one of the most unusual (and in some ways) frustrating commissions of her career.

In the winter of 1973 plans were well under way for a tour by the Vancouver Symphony of the People’s Republic of China. In an official request, the Chinese authorities asked for a new, commissioned work to be drawn from the folk-music of the Canadian people, in an "accessible" idiom. In what amounted to a left-handed compliment, the orchestra turned to Coulthard. Mindful of the problems relating to the imposed stylistic restrictions, Coulthard had serious reservations about the commission. Ultimately she accepted, recognizing that her orchestral style, with its solid basis in traditional orchestral idioms, would be acceptable "as is." Similarly, though she felt that the request to base the work on "folk melodies of the people" was naïve, even humorous, she felt she could accept the terms of the commission as outlined by the Chinese authorities through the VSO. Coulthard commented in an unpublished program note:

"[I] was required to base my composition on 'folk-melodies of the people' to placate the Chinese authorities (this was in the years of the Cultural Revolution). While I wasn’t initially pleased with this political posturing, I ultimately decided that I could be true to my own creative priorities and still meet the terms of the commission."

Only one further problem remained: the question of the commission came up while Coulthard was at her holiday home in Hawaii, and the work would have to be substantially composed at once to meet the rather pressing deadline set by the orchestra. In any case, Coulthard requested a number of source materials from a diverse range of cultures, and ultimately settled on tunes from Québec, the Ottawa valley, the Ukrainian settlers in Saskatchewan, and two fragments of Coast Salish music. To these she added "folksong-like" tunes of her own in the opening and closing movements, as well as intriguing quasi-autobiographical quotations from three earlier works: the "seagull" motive from Excursion makes an appearance in the passacaglia Harbour Sounds; the textures of the opening Lullaby strongly suggest the Mon doux berger section of Canadian Fantasy; and a fugue subject in the concluding movement, Happy New Year, was taken from the 1946 choral work Québec May.

In the program note, Coulthard continues:

"Let me introduce the work itself, which is based on folk materials from virtually all Canadian regions and many ethnic groups in Canada (not simply the few tried-and-true folk melodies that seem to appear whenever Canadian composers turn to folk themes). I also decided to produce something of a concerto for orchestra with virtuoso solos for all the orchestral instruments (even the more unlovely ones). The work was intentionally designed as light music in the best sense of the word, an attractive, audience-pleasing composition with no great profundity, but one hoped, taste and a certain originality, Almost never do the folk materials appear as simple folk song settings; rather the work is a connected series of short fantasias on varied folk themes."

With the orchestral forces dictated by the rest of the tour repertoire, the forces are grandiose: triple winds, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones and tuba, timpani, extensive percussion, harp, piano (doubling celeste), and strings. The work was first played by the Vancouver Symphony in the early fall of 1974, then repeated on the Orchestra’s Japanese tour that winter.

Excerpt by David Gordon Duke, from The Orchestral Music of Jean Coulthard: A Critical Assessment (1993)

Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)
Canada Mosaic
Composed: 1974
Premiered: 1974, Vancouver
Duration: 6 minutes

Canada Mosaic, Coulthard’s second "folksong" suite, was not composed until 30 years after the Canadian Fantasy and Excursion, the result of one of the most unusual (and in some ways) frustrating commissions of her career.

In the winter of 1973 plans were well under way for a tour by the Vancouver Symphony of the People’s Republic of China. In an official request, the Chinese authorities asked for a new, commissioned work to be drawn from the folk-music of the Canadian people, in an "accessible" idiom. In what amounted to a left-handed compliment, the orchestra turned to Coulthard. Mindful of the problems relating to the imposed stylistic restrictions, Coulthard had serious reservations about the commission. Ultimately she accepted, recognizing that her orchestral style, with its solid basis in traditional orchestral idioms, would be acceptable "as is." Similarly, though she felt that the request to base the work on "folk melodies of the people" was naïve, even humorous, she felt she could accept the terms of the commission as outlined by the Chinese authorities through the VSO. Coulthard commented in an unpublished program note:

"[I] was required to base my composition on 'folk-melodies of the people' to placate the Chinese authorities (this was in the years of the Cultural Revolution). While I wasn’t initially pleased with this political posturing, I ultimately decided that I could be true to my own creative priorities and still meet the terms of the commission."

Only one further problem remained: the question of the commission came up while Coulthard was at her holiday home in Hawaii, and the work would have to be substantially composed at once to meet the rather pressing deadline set by the orchestra. In any case, Coulthard requested a number of source materials from a diverse range of cultures, and ultimately settled on tunes from Québec, the Ottawa valley, the Ukrainian settlers in Saskatchewan, and two fragments of Coast Salish music. To these she added "folksong-like" tunes of her own in the opening and closing movements, as well as intriguing quasi-autobiographical quotations from three earlier works: the "seagull" motive from Excursion makes an appearance in the passacaglia Harbour Sounds; the textures of the opening Lullaby strongly suggest the Mon doux berger section of Canadian Fantasy; and a fugue subject in the concluding movement, Happy New Year, was taken from the 1946 choral work Québec May.

In the program note, Coulthard continues:

"Let me introduce the work itself, which is based on folk materials from virtually all Canadian regions and many ethnic groups in Canada (not simply the few tried-and-true folk melodies that seem to appear whenever Canadian composers turn to folk themes). I also decided to produce something of a concerto for orchestra with virtuoso solos for all the orchestral instruments (even the more unlovely ones). The work was intentionally designed as light music in the best sense of the word, an attractive, audience-pleasing composition with no great profundity, but one hoped, taste and a certain originality, Almost never do the folk materials appear as simple folk song settings; rather the work is a connected series of short fantasias on varied folk themes."

With the orchestral forces dictated by the rest of the tour repertoire, the forces are grandiose: triple winds, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones and tuba, timpani, extensive percussion, harp, piano (doubling celeste), and strings. The work was first played by the Vancouver Symphony in the early fall of 1974, then repeated on the Orchestra’s Japanese tour that winter.

Excerpt by David Gordon Duke, from The Orchestral Music of Jean Coulthard: A Critical Assessment (1993)