Celebrating Healey Willan's 136th Birthday with a charming pair of vintage Canadian features.

He was more than a church musician. Healey Willan's path was one that many hoped to cross. If you were lucky, you got to walk with him for a little while.

He had a deep-seated proclivity to engage in something for which he happened to have a natural ability. How fortunate it is when that happens.

He was called to make music.

The fastest to progress to 'full choir boy' in the history of St Saviour's School, Eastbourne; he claimed to have been born with the ability to read music. His teenage responsibilities included conducting rehearsals of choirs of boys years his senior in addition to playing and conducting evensong services on alternate nights. Engaging in music-making was his sustenance.

His educational environment shaped his trajectory. Fluent in polyphony and plainchant, he would play games with himself to find every contrapuntal possibility on a cantus firmus.

He moved to Canada in 1913, first offered employment by the Toronto Conservatory of Music as head of Theory, then at St Paul's on Bloor St, and by the University of Toronto the following year. His academic appointments allowed him to leave Toronto's largest congregation in favour of a higher (and much smaller) church, St Mary Magdalene's. With no budget for a choir, Willan taxed the singers to prevent any cost falling to the church. That tax started at ten cents a month.

For the rest of the story, watch Willan on Willan.

Our first offering is from the National Film Board of Canada from 1959. Roger Blais' Man of Music illuminates Willan's efficacy, whimsy, skill, and conservative passion in 17 minutes of delicious black & white footage.

 

Man of Music, Roger Blais, National Film Board of Canada

 

Our second offering is a special on the composer from the 1966 Christmas episode of the Canadian TV documentary series Telescope hosted (and co-produced) by Fletcher Markle (and brought to you by Your Telephone Company). Painting Willan's legacy with a good smear of that proper charm, you can't help but love and appreciate him.

 

PART ONE:

 

PART TWO:

 

 Tune in every Wednesday for a fresh episode of Mid-week Musicology here on Classic107.com!