Jean Coulthard

thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-coulthard

Article Bryan N.S. Gooch, Barclay McMillan, David Duke, Elaine Keillor, Betty Nygaard
by King, Vivienne Rowley, William Bruneau

Updated Andrew Mcintosh

by

Published Online June 10, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Jean Coulthard, OC, OBC, composer, teacher (born 10 February 1908 in Vancouver, BC; died
9 March 2000 in North Vancouver, BC). A pioneering woman composer and the first
composer from Canada's West Coast to receive wide recognition, Jean Coulthard’s music is
remarkable for its integrity, purity of expression and deeply emotional language.

Jean Coulthard's music is personal and serene (photo by Andreas

Poulsson). The music is from Music to St. Cecilia for organ and strings
with the Calgary Philharmonic under Mario Bernardi (courtesy CBC).
Jean Coulthard, OC, OBC, composer, teacher (born 10 February 1908
in Vancouver, BC; died 9 March 2000 in North Vancouver, BC). A
pioneering woman composer and the first composer from Canada's
West Coast to receive wide recognition, Jean Coulthard’s music is
remarkable for its integrity, purity of expression and deeply emotional
language. Often romantic and impressionistic, her more than 350
compositions span virtually every genre and range from the
intentionally accessible to the uncompromisingly abstract. Perhaps
best known for her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1963) and Twelve Essays on a
Cantabile Theme (1972), Coulthard taught at the University of British Columbia for 26 years
and continued to compose for nearly 30 years after her retirement, completing her last piece
a few months before her death at age 92.

Early Years and Career

Jean Coulthard grew up in a musical family in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood. Her

father was a doctor and her mother was the singer and music teacher Jean Blake Coulthard
(née Robinson), an influential figure in the development of Vancouver’s early music and
cultural scene. Coulthard began to compose at age eight while studying with her mother; she

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also studied in Vancouver with Jan Cherniavsky (piano) and Frederick Chubb (theory) from
1924 to 1928. At 17 she started teaching piano in the Coulthard home studio with her mother
and her sister, Babs.

On a scholarship from the Vancouver Woman's Musical Club, Coulthard attended the Royal
College of Music in London, England (1928–29), where she studied with Kathleen Long, R.O.
Morris and Ralph Vaughan Williams. On her return to Vancouver, she continued to teach
privately and at private girls' schools. She married noted designer Donald Adams in 1935 and
gave birth to daughter Jane in 1943.

1940s–1950s Compositions

Coulthard's early compositions — e.g., "Cradle Song" (1927), "Threnody" (1935) — were
mostly for voice and piano. From 1939 to 1944, she studied composition with Arthur
Benjamin, who encouraged her to compose for orchestra. During this period she produced
four works — Canadian Fantasy (1940), Excursion (1940), Ballade (A Winter's Tale) (1940)
and Song to the Sea (1942) — that established her reputation in Canada.

Coulthard also studied composition with Bernard Wagenaar (1944–45, 1949) and received
critical assessments of her work from Arnold Schoenberg and Darius Milhaud in 1942, Béla
Bartók in 1944 and Nadia Boulanger in 1955.

Following her studies with Wagenaar, Coulthard began to create in larger forms, including
Music on a Quiet Song (1946) for flute and strings; various sonatas for cello and piano, oboe
and piano, and piano solo; String Quartet No. 1 (1948, rev. 1952); and Symphony No. 1
(1951). Compared to her sonatas, with their looser formal structure and more overt
romanticism, her Variations on B-A-C-H (1951), Duo Sonata (1952) and especially String
Quartet No. 2: Threnody (1954, rev. 1969) reveal broadening tonal material, concision, and
increasing mastery and intensity of expression.

In 1953, the CBC commissioned A Prayer for Elizabeth to mark the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth II. Coulthard was in Paris in late 1955 on a Royal Society of Canada scholarship,
and then spent nearly six months in southern France in 1956. During her time in France,
Coulthard began a violin concerto and an opera, completing the latter work, The Return of
the Native, in 1979. The opera was finally premiered in concert form in September 1993.

Lyric Suite: Sketches from a Medieval Town (1957) and Aegean Sketches (1961) show
Coulthard's openness to European history and culture. In 1958, the Vancouver International
Festival commissioned Coulthard to write the song cycle Spring Rhapsody for Maureen
Forrester. The Violin Concerto, a Canada Council commission, was premiered in 1959 by
Thomas Rolston and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

1960s–80s Compositions

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During the 1960s, Coulthard wrote increasingly complex works for a variety of ensembles,
many on commission. The Pines of Emily Carr (1969), based on the journals of West Coast
painter Emily Carr, introduced aleatoric elements, while The Birds of Lansdowne (1972)
made use of an electronic tape incorporating bird songs from Vancouver Island. She also took
advanced orchestration studies with English composer Gordon Jacob (1965–66).

Coulthard’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1963), recorded in 1972 with Robert
Silverman and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, attracted mainstream attention.
However, it was her string octet, Twelve Essays on a Cantabile Theme (1972), that most
notably showed her mastery of musical form and content — an extraordinary statement of
musical expression and compositional skills. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
commissioned This Land and Canada Mosaic, performing the latter on its Japanese tour in
1974.

From the late l970s through the 1980s, Coulthard continued to write extensively in a variety
of forms, often influenced by literary discoveries. Her significant works from this period
include: String Quartet No. 3 (1981); Image Astrale for piano (1981); Fantasy Sonata for
horn and piano (1983); Christina Songs for high voice and piano (1983); Autumn Symphony
for string orchestra (1984); Dopo Botticelli, a suite for cello and piano (1985); Sonata No. 2
for piano (1986), written for Jane Coop; Duo Sonata for Violin and Cello (1989), written for
Shauna and Thomas Rolston; and Symphonic Image ("Vision of the North") for string
ensemble (1989), written for the Guildhall Chamber Ensemble.

1990s Compositions

Coulthard continued to accept commissions through the 1990s from the Canada Council,
Vancouver's Community Arts Council, the Toronto Children's Chorus and others. Premieres
of Coulthard’s works during this decade include Symphonic Image: Of the North (1993).
Other notable late works include The Encore Series (1995; teaching repertoire for violin and
piano), with David Duke and Jean Ethridge.

Introduction and Three Folk Songs, Music to St. Cecila for organ and strings, and Sonata
Rhapsody for Viola & Pianoreceived Juno Award nominations for Best Classical
Composition in 1990, 1993 and 1995 respectively.

Teaching Career
In 1947, Coulthard became the second person (after Harry Adaskin) hired to the faculty of
the newly-created Department of Music at the University of British Columbia, where she
established music theory courses and remained on staff for 26 years.

In 1972, Coulthard founded the Okanagan Music Festival for Composers with Alys Monod.
After retiring from the University of British Columbia in 1973, Coulthard taught workshops
and summer sessions at J.J. Johannesen's International School of the Arts (1973) and at the

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Banff School of Fine Arts (1978–79; now the Banff Centre for the Arts).

In 1977–78, Coulthard created the eight-volume piano pedagogy series Music of Our Time in
collaboration with her former students David Duke and Joan Hansen, with art by Coulthard's
daughter, Jane Adams. The series was supplemented by teachers' guides and by a brief,
Student's Guide to Musical Form.

Characteristic Style

By the mid-1940s, Coulthard had absorbed the diverse influences of her teachers and
fashioned her own personal style, which became increasingly tonally-based from the 1950s
onward. Her music displays two significant streams: the lyrical (e.g., Lyric Sonatina, 1976);
and the profound and brooding (e.g., String Quartet No. 2: Threnody, 1954, rev. 1969). Her
personal compositional style is characterized by an integral romanticism, the assertion of
tonality through strong key centres, and the use of colouristic harmonies, robust rhythms
and cyclical formal structures.

Tributes and Legacy

Coulthard was an associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian
League of Composers. Volume 10 of Radio Canada International's Anthology of Canadian
Music (1982) was devoted to Coulthard's compositions and includes a monologue by her
entitled "Music Is My Whole Life."

In 1990, Maclean's magazine named her to its Honour Roll, and quoted Mavor Moore,
former chair of the Canada Council, who praised Coulthard as "an extraordinarily original
composer, with a voice very much her own." Coulthard's 90th birthday in February 1998 was
celebrated with a gala at the University of British Columbia, broadcasts on CBC Radio and a
number of performances, including one by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Following Coulthard’s death, musicologist Glenn Colton wrote in Centregramme that

"Coulthard was not only a driving force behind the mid-century promotion and
dissemination of Canadian music, but also a pioneer who paved the way for women
composers (and, to a certain extent, Western Canadian composers) on the national music
scene." Biographer and UBC professor William Bruneau wrote that Coulthard“took special
care to make music for her community. There's scarcely a Canadian music student who has
not met her work… Above all, she was a person of precision, balance and grace — traits that
also came through in her music.''

Concerts celebrating Coulthard’s 100th birthday in 2008 were held by the CBC/McGill
Concert Series in Montréal and the Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver. During its 2013–
14 season, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra held the Jean Coulthard Readings series,
which promoted the work of emerging BC composers.

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The University of British Columbia established the Jean Coulthard Fund for Canadian Music
Studies in recognition of her commitment to Canadian music. Her papers are held at the
University of British Columbia Archives.

Author Bryan N.S. Gooch, Betty Nygaard King, David Duke, Vivienne Rowley, William
Bruneau, BARCLAY MCMILLAN, ELAINE KEILLOR Revised Andrew McIntosh

Awards

Officer, Order of Canada (1978)

Freeman of the City of Vancouver (1978)

Composer of the Year, PRO Canada (1984)

Honorary Degree, D Litt, University of British Columbia (1988)

Honorary Degree, LLD, Concordia University (1991)

Member, Order of British Columbia (1994)

A version of this entry originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.

Selected Compositions

Stage

Excursion, ballet, with Symphony Nova Scotia (1940). Ms. CBC SMCD-5088.

The Devil's Fanfare, ballet (1958). Ms.

The Return of the Native, opera (Jean Coulthard and Edna Baxter, after Hardy). 195679.

Ballade: A Winter's Tale, string orchestra, 1940 (Vancouver, 1942). CBC IS Canadian Album
No. 2/6-ACM 10 (Toronto Symphony Orchestra).

Excursion, with Symphony Nova Scotia (1940). Ms. CBC SMCD-5088.

Convoy (also known as Song to the Sea), overture, 1942 (Vancouver, 1944). Ms. CBC SM-
215/6-ACM 10 (Atlantic Symphony Orchestra).

Symphony No. 1., 1951 (Toronto, 1954). Berlin (rental).

A Prayer for Elizabeth, with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, string (Toronto, 1953). BMIC,
1961. Centrediscs CMC-2887.

Rider on the Sands (1953). Ms.

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Serenade or a Meditation and Three Dances, string orchestra, 1961 (Vancouver, 1962). Ms.

Endymion, 1964 (Halifax, 1970). Berlin(rental).

Kalamalka: "Lake of Many Colours," (Halifax, 1974). Waterloo (rental).

Canada Mosaic, with CBC Vancouver Orchestra (1974). Waterloo (rental). Introduction and
3 folk songs, CBC SM-5081.

Autumn Symphony, "Symphony No. 4" (formerly Symphonic Images), string orchestra,
1984–85 (Vancouver, 1987). Ms.

Symphonic Image: "Vision of the North," string orchestra, 1989. Ms.

Soloist(s) with Orchestra

Music on a Quiet Song, string, with Hervé Baillargeon (flute) (1946). Waterloo (rental). RCI
8/6-ACM 10.

Night Wind, alto, piano; revised for soprano, orchestra, words by Douglas LePan (1951). Ms.

The Bird of Dawning Singeth All Night Long, with CBC Vancouver Orchestra, violin, harp,
string, 1960 (Vancouver, 1964). Ms. 2-CBC SM-5050.

Fantasy, violin, piano, orchestra, 1961 (Victoria, 1962). Ms.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, 1963 (Ottawa, 1967). Ms. 6-ACM 10 (Robert Silverman,
piano).

Choral Symphony, "This Land" ("Symphony No. 2"), soli, soprano, alto, tenor, bass,
orchestra, with Canadian poets (1966–67). Ms.

Two Visionary Songs, soprano, flute, string (string quartet), words by Harold Monro and
Walter de la Mare (1968). Ms.

Music to Saint Cecilia, organ, string, unknown date (arrangement, 1968). Ms.

Lyric Symphony, "Symphony III," bassoon, chamber orchestra (1975). Ms.

Burlesca, Pf, string orchestra (1977). Ms.

Symphonic Ode for Viola and Chamber Orchestra, 1977 (Montréal, 1979). Ms.

Vancouver Lights: A Soliloquy, baritone, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, orchestra, words by
Earle Birney, 1980. (Vancouver, 1983). Ms.

Fanfare Overture for Chorus and Orchestra, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, orchestra (1985). Ms.

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When Tempests Rise, soli, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, orchestra (1988). Ms. [Cantata drawn
from the opera Return of the Native]

Chamber

Two Sonatinas, violin, piano, 1945 (Berlin, 1975).

Sonata for Cello and Piano, 1947 (Novello, 1968). Col MS-6542 (Ernst Friedlander,
cello)/CBC SM-305 and 6-ACM 10 (Vladimir Orloff, cello)/RCI 4 (Roland Leduc, cello).

Sonata for Oboe and Piano, 1947 (Waterloo, 1977). RCI 4 (Claude Perrier, oboe; John
Newmark, piano).

String Quartet No. 1. (1948, rev. 1952). Ms.

Duo Sonata for Violin and Piano (Sonata No. 1) (1952). BMIC 1963.

Threnody: String Quartet No. 2., 1954; rev. 1969 (Berlin, 1975). RCI 386/6-ACM 10
(University of Alberta String Quartet).

Piano Quartet: "Sketches from a Mediaeval Town," piano quartet (1957). Ms.

Sonata Rhapsody, viola, piano (1962). Waterloo (rental). SNE 550 (CD) (Robert Verebes,
viola).

Sonata II (A Correspondence), violin, piano (1964). Ms.

Ballade of the North, violin, piano (1965–66). Ms.

Divertimento, flute, oboe, clariet, horn, bassoon, piano (1968). Ms.

Lyric Trio, piano trio (1968). Ms.

Lyric Sonatina, bassoon, piano, 1969 (Waterloo, 1973). Mel SMLP-4032 (Christopher Weait,
bassoon).

Lyric Sonatina, flute, piano, 1971 (Waterloo, 1976).

The Birds of Lansdowne, piano trio, tape (1972). Ms.

Twelve Essays on a Cantabile Theme, with University of Alberta String Quartet, Purcell
String Quartet, 2 string quartet (1972). Ms. RCI 495/6-ACM 10.

Songs from the Distaff Muse (various), 2 sets: soprano, alto, violoncello (1972); soprano,
alto, piano (1974). Ms.

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Music on a Scottish Folk Song, violin, guitar (c. 1974). Ms.

Lyric Sonatina, clarinet, piano (1976). Ms.

Serenade, alto, violin, words by Elizabeth Gourlay (1977). Ms.

Fanfare Sonata, trumpet, piano (1978). Ms.

Shizen: Three Nature Sketches From Japan, oboe, piano, 1979 (Novello, 1986).

Sonata for Violin Solo (1979). Ms.

Pas de Deux: Sonatina for Flute and Bassoon (1980). Ms.

Sonata No. 3, "À la jeunesse," violin, piano (1981). Ms.

String Quartet No. 3. (1981). Ms.

Fantasy Sonata, horn, piano (1983). Ms.

Lyric Sonatina, guitar (1984). Ms.

Dopo Botticelli, cello, piano (1985). Ms.

Duo Sonata for Violin and Cello (1989). Ms.

Sonata for Solo Cello (1997). Ms.

Voice and Chamber Ensemble

Three Shakespeare Songs, soprano, string quartet (1947). Ms.

Two Night Songs, baritone, string quartet, piano (1960). Ms.

The Pines of Emily Carr, alto, narrator, string quartet, timpani (1969). Ms.

Music for Midsummer, soprano, violin, viola, cello, harp (1970). Ms.

Shelley Portrait, alto, flute, clarinet, cello, piano (1987). Ms. Concordia Commissions SNE-
614-CD.

Piano

Four Études (1945). BMIC, 1952 (1, 2); 1954 (3, 4). No. 1 and 4: Bar BC-2837 (Marie-Aimée
Varro, piano); No. 1 and 2: RCI 93/6-ACM 10 (Ross Pratt, piano); No. 4: RCI 134/6-ACM 10
(John Newmark, piano).

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Sonata (1947). BMIC, 1953; 1969. RCI 289/6-ACM 10 (John Ogdon, piano); 1st movement:
RCI 648 (Katja Cerovsek, piano).

Quiet Song, piano (1948). RCI 93 (Ross Pratt, piano).

Three Dances (1950). FH 1957 (3).

Variations on B-A-C-H, 1951 (Novello, 1972). 1969. RCI 289/6-ACM 10 (John Ogdon,
piano).

Aegean Sketches (1961). BMIC, 1964. Mel SMLP-4031 (Antonin Kubalek, piano).

Preludes for Piano, 1954–64 (Avondale, 2009).

Sketches From the Western Woods (1970). Ms. (1984). Bedivere BVC-357 (cass) (Margaret
Bruce, piano)/6-ACM 10 (John Ogdon, piano).

Image Astrale, 1981 (Avondale, 1988). Centrediscs CMC-1684 (Charles Foreman, piano).

Piano Sonata No. 2. (1986). Ms.

Educational Works

Early Pieces for Piano, 1917–21 (Alberta Keys, 1992).

Pieces for the Present for Piano (1973). Waterloo.

Music of Our Time/Musique de notre temps, 9 vols (Waterloo, 1977–80) and A Student's
Guide to Musical Form (Waterloo, 1983). Published in the US as Music in Many Forms (Neil
A. Kjos, 1984).

A la jeunesse for violin and piano [pub. as Encore Series] (Frederick Harris, 1980).

Earth Music for cello and piano (1986). Ms.

Choir

"Cradle Song," SA, piano, words by Padraic Colum (1927). BMIC, 1960. RCA CCS-1020 (CBC
Vancouver Chorus; H. McLean, organ).

"Threnody," soprano, alto, tenor, bass, words by Robert Herrick (1935). BMIC, 1961. RCA
CCS-1020 (CBC Vancouver Chorus; H. McLean, organ).

"Québec May," soprano, alto, tenor, bass, poem by Earle Birney, 1948 (Waterloo, 1976). RCI
35/6-ACM 10 (CBC Symphony Orchestra).

"Sea Gulls," SA, piano, with Ross Pratt (piano) (1954). (Jay, 1967).

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"More Lovely Grows the Earth," with Montréal Bach Choir, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, words
by Helena Coleman (1957). Ms. RCI 189/6-ACM 10.

"Soft Fall the February Snows," tenor, tenor, bass, bass, piano, words by William Campbell,
1958 (Berlin, 1970). RCA CCS-1020 (CBC Vancouver Chorus; H. McLean, organ).

"The Signature of God," soprano, alto, SA, piano, poem by John Hall, 1964 (Berlin, 1970).

"Auguries of Innocence," soprano, alto, tenor, bass, words by William Blake (1963–65).
BMIC, 1969. RCA CCS-1020 (CBC Vancouver Chorus; H. McLean, organ).

"Hymn of Creation," soprano, alto, tenor, bass, percussion (1975). Ms.

Three Ballades From the Maritimes, soprano, alto, tenor, bass (1979). Ms.

Also 7 junior choral pieces (1954–65), 4 published by Iroquois and 1 by Oxford University
Press. "The Bell Song" has been recorded by the Vancouver Bach Choir (VBC-001L).

Voice

"Cradle Song," mezzo, piano, arrangement (1927). BMIC, 1960. West WST-17137 (Maureen
Forrester).

"Love Song," soprano, piano, based on Haida poem (1942). Ms. RCI 74 (F. James).

Three Songs, soprano, piano, words by James Joyce (1946). Ms. (1 and 3). RCI 20 (F. James).

Two Songs, baritone, piano, words by James Joyce (1946). "Lean out of the Window": RCI
109/6-ACM 10 (Bernard Diamant, baritone)/Master MA-377 (D. Mills).

Cycle of Three Love Songs, baritone, piano, words by L.A. MacKay (1948). RCI 109/6-ACM
10 (Bernard Diamant, baritone).

Spring Rhapsody (various), alto, piano (orchestra) (1958). Waterloo, 1978 (1,2,3); (4)
"Ecstasy," BMIC, 1969. RCI 203 (Maureen Forrester)/Master MA-377 (D. Mills).

Two Duets, soprano, tenor (alto), piano, words by Robert Herrick (1960). RCI 515/6-ACM 10
(Bruno Laplante, Marie Laferrière).

Two Night Songs, baritone, piano quintet, words by Harold Monro and Hilaire Belloc (1960).
Ms. 6-ACM 10 (John Boyden, baritone).

Six Mediaeval Love Songs, baritone, piano, trans. H. Waddell (1962). CBC SM-
180/Centrediscs CMC-2185 (Jon Vickers).

The Pines of Emily Carr, alto, narrator, timpani, piano, string quartet (1969). Ms.

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Four Prophetic Songs, alto, flute, violoncello, piano, words by Elizabeth Gourlay (1975). Ms.
Centrediscs CMC-1183 (Roxolana Roslak).

Three Sonnets of Shakespeare, alto, string quartet (1977). Ms.

Two Idylls From Greece, baritone (tenor), piano, words by Joseph Braddock (1980). Ms.

Christina Songs, high voice, piano, words by Christina Rossetti (1983). Ms.

Further Reading

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 Godfrey Ridout, "Two West Coast Composers," Canadian Review of Music and Art vol. 3
(December 1944–January 1945).

Lawrence Cluderay, "Jean Coulthard," Music Scene 240 (March–April 1968).

BMI Canada Ltd/PRO Canada Ltd, "Jean Coulthard," pamphlets (1970, 1979, 1985).

Vivienne W. Rowley, "The Solo Piano Music of the Canadian Composer Jean Coulthard,"
D MA thesis, Boston University, 1973.

John Beckwith and Keith MacMillan, eds., Contemporary Canadian Composers

(Toronto, 1975).

David Duke, "Coulthard's Career Intensifies Since 'Retirement,'" Music Scene 299
(January–February 1978) and “The Orchestral Music of Jean Coulthard: A Critical
Assessment,” PhD diss., University of Victoria, 1993.

Ian L. Bradley, "Jean Coulthard... Composer, Teacher, Pianist," in Twentieth Century

Canadian Composers, vol 2 (Agincourt, ON, 1982) and "A Conversation with Jean
Coulthard," Music Scene 370 (November 1989).

James Deaville, ed., "Colloquy/débat: Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara
Pentland remembered," Canadian University Music Review vol. 20, no. 2 (2000).

William Bruneau, International Alliance of Women in Music Journal vol. 6, no. 3 (2000).
[issue dedicated to Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara Pentland]

Glenn Colton, "The Piano Music of Jean Coulthard," PhD diss., University of Victoria,
1996.

Linda Black, "Jean Coulthard and Her Choral Music," PhD diss., University of Florida,
1997.

Christine Crookall, "Jean Coulthard's Sonata for Cello and Piano," D MA thesis,
University of Texas at Austin, 2001.

William Bruneau and David Duke, Jean Coulthard: A Life in Music (Vancouver, 2005).

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