Joseph Thomas Hector Gratton (13 August 1900 – 16 July 1970) was a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. As a composer his music is written in an essentially folkloric and popular style which avoids harmonic sophistication. His compositional output includes several

orchestral works ''Orchestral Works'' is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel recorded and released on the Decca label in 1970.

chamber works Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and works for solo piano. He also wrote 4

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s and a considerable amount of music for radio programs. In 1937 his

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

''Légende'' won the Jean Lallemand Prize which led to the work's premiere performance that year by the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

under conductor

Wilfrid Pelletier Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving ...

. The work was repeated by the orchestra in concerts the following year under conductor

Sir Ernest MacMillan Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, (18 August 1893 – 6 May 1973) was a Canadian orchestral conductor, composer, organist, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician from the 19 ...

."Hector Gratton, eminent Canadian composer", ''CRMA'', vol 1, Jan 1943

Life and career

Born in

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of Canada's ...

(now

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

), Gratton studied music theory and composition with

Albertine Morin-Labrecque Albertine Morin-Labrecque (sometimes Labrecque-Morin) (8 June 1886 – 22 or 25 September 1957) was a Canadian pianist, soprano, composer, and music educator. Her compositional output includes 4 ballets, 2 comic operas, the Chinese opera ''Pas- ...

, Oscar O'Brien, and

Alfred Whitehead Alfred Ernest Whitehead (10 July 1887 – 1 April 1974) was an English-born Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, music educator, painter, whose works are held in a number of important private collections, and an internationally recogniz ...

. He was a piano student of Alphonse Martin and

Alfred La Liberté Alfred La Liberté (10 February 1882 – 7 May 1952) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. He was a disciple and close personal friend of Alexander Scriabin. He was also an admirer of Marcel Dupré and Nikolai ...

. From La Liberté he gained a great appreciation for the works and aesthetics of

Nikolai Medtner Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (; – 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immediately after his death, he is now becoming recognized as one of the most significant Russian com ...

and

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, scientific transliteration: ''Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin''; also transliterated variously as Skriabin, Skryabin, and (in French) Scriabine. The composer himselused the French spelling "Scriabine" which was a ...

, two composers which influenced his own compositional style. During the 1920s, Gratton toured with Charles Marchand performing

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

that was harmonized by O'Brien. He notably performed in concerts with Marchand at the

CPR Festivals The Canadian Pacific Railway Festivals, usually simplified to CPR Festivals, were a series of music and folk arts festivals sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) between 1927 and 1931. The festivals were organized by the writer and publici ...

between 1927 and 1930. He soon after began working for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

during the early years of national radio. He composed and conducted music for ''Je me souviens'', one of the first major Canadian radio series which featured scripts by

Félix Leclerc Félix Leclerc (August 2, 1914 – August 8, 1988) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posthumously inducted into ...

. Also notable among his compositions for CBC Radio was the incidental music for

Cécile Chabot Cécile or Cecile is a female given name or surname. People Given name * Ce'cile (Cecile Charlton, born 1976), Jamaican musician * Severin Cecile Abega (1955–2008), Cameroonian author * Cécile Aubry (1928–2010), retired French film actress a ...

's 1945 Christmas story ''L'Imagerie''. Gratton died in Montreal in 1970 at the age of 69. He was made an associate of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

posthumously. Several of his original manuscripts are part of the collection at the

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gratton, Hector 1900 births 1970 deaths Canadian male classical pianists Canadian male composers Canadian male conductors (music) Canadian music educators Musicians from Gatineau 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian classical pianists 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians