Tags
Blanche comme neige, Canadiana, folklore, Notre Seigneur en pauvre, Sir Ernest MacMillan, Two Sketches for Strings
I’ve published posts about or featuring Sir Ernest Macmillan. Sir Ernest MacMillan was, for decades, English Canada’s most prominent figure in the area of music.
Moving to Toronto
David and I had just moved to Toronto and we needed a home. While I was resting, David drove up and down the streets I liked. He saw a sign on a large tree and a lady standing by. She owned the house and she was Sir Ernest MacMillan’s niece. Yes, she would let me play the piano. I liked the little apartment very much. We moved to Walmsley Boulevard two weeks later. Andrea would be my best friend for nearly fifty years.
I have told this story, so let us hear Sir Ernest MacMillan’s “learned” version of the piece. It is learned because it has been composed and/or arranged. As interpreted by the McGariggle sisters, Blanche comme la neige belongs to folklore, or an “oral” tradition. It is as though it had yet to be composed. It is also somewhat naïve and forever renewed.
Let us return to our “learned” song. It was arranged, or composed, by Sir Ernest and is interpreted by Toronto’s Mendelssohn Choir, founded by Sir Ernest MacMillan (click on 2). We can classify this interpretation as “learned” because Sir Ernest set it to music. He also set to music “Notre Seigneur en pauvre,” a song I mentioned a few posts away. His Two Sketches on French Canadian Airs (click on 3) combines Blanche comme neige and Notre Seigneur en pauvre (Our Lord as a poor man). I do not know of a separate Notre Seigneur en pauvre. “À Saint-Malo,” French folklore, is number 4.
RELATED ARTICLES
Blanche comme neige (28 August 2020)
Angels and Archangels: Michael, Lucifer… (30 November 2014)
Sir Ernest Macmillan: a Testimonial (9 January 2012)
Two Sketches on French Canadian Airs
RELATED ARTICLES
Blanche comme neige (28 August 2020)
Angels and Archangels: Michael, Lucifer… (30 November 2014)
Sir Ernest Macmillan: a Testimonial (9 January 2012)
Love to everyone 💕
© Micheline Walker
30 August 2020
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How wonderful
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Yes, Beth. The music had been transported and there were pieces I had never heard. I would have had to erase the post, but we could still hear the Mendelssohn Choir sing “Blanche comme neige” interpreted by the same musicians. My trick for publishing posts is to format them entirely, except the videos, elsewhere, and copy what I have written in the Block editor. My posts will be shorter and I added a cheerful background colour. Stay safe. 💕
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Listen to number 9. For me, it’s a discovery. Sir Ernest also based his music on Amerindian airs and words. I intended to contrast folklore and learned music, but I have gone further than “Blanche comme neige.” “Blanche comme neige” is performed by the Mendelssohn Choir.
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What a happy drive result
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This was totally unexpected. The choral “Blanche comme neige” had been moved to a place I probably knew. So I went to Spotify and found my music and pieces I had not heard. It was luck. Sir Ernest composed more music than I knew. Andrea died a few months ago, in Weymouth, England. After Walmsley Boulevard, she bought the MacMillan house in Toronto’s Annex. This is where University teachers had their houses built. She had a cat, so I went to Toronto to look after the cat while she was in England. After four years, she asked if I would adopt the cat. I said I would. We drove to Montreal, picked up Andrea, and continued to Sherbrooke. Andrea’s sister and her brother-in-law drove the car. I’m still in touch with the family: nearly fifty years.
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Thanks for the gift of the beautiful music!
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It is beautiful music. Thank you for writing. 🙂
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