Sir Ernest MACMILLAN	(1893–1973)

Portrait

Maureen Nevins

Ottawa
1994


Foreword
Sir Ernest MacMillan was a dominant force in the Canadian musical 
world for over 40 years from the mid-1920s until the late 1960s. 
For a measure of the scope and impact of his activities, one need 
only try to think of a successor or even a pretender to the title 
of musical paterfamilias or elder statesman in Canada today. There 
is no one who fits the description as convincingly as MacMillan 
did.

Ernest MacMillan was a man of many facets. Although he was a fine 
organist and pianist, and a capable albeit conservative composer, 
his most noteworthy successes were accomplished as a conductor, 
administrator and educator. Canadian musicians of his era will 
remember his 25-year tenure as conductor of the Toronto Symphony 
Orchestra, during which time the orchestra matured artistically, 
expanded its ranks, lengthened its season, and made its first 
recordings and international tours. Choral buffs remember fondly 
his 15-year leadership of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and its 
annual presentations of Handel’s Messiah at Christmas and Bach’s 
St. Mathew Passion at Easter. These were important events in the 
musical life of Toronto and, indeed, of the country when those 
performances began to be broadcast nationally on CBC radio. 

The eminent harpsichordist Greta Kraus recently described her 
reaction to hearing one of Sir Ernest’s early performances of the 
St. Mathew Passion: “I had heard it in Vienna and didn’t think 
that this performance would be very good. But I went — and I was 
stunned! Sir Ernest conducted it magnificently...and I was amazed 
by the high level of choral singing — much higher than in 
Vienna....”

Music students in Toronto benefited from the higher standards of 
performance and instruction he espoused in his 16 years as 
principal of the Toronto (now Royal) Conservatory of Music and 25 
years as dean of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. 
Canadian composers will recall him as a champion of Canadian 
music, with both the baton and the pen. For example, MacMillan 
conducted more premieres of Canadian music than anyone else in his 
time. He also served 22 distinguished years as president of the 
Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC, 
now SOCAN), working at both the national and international levels 
to secure improved conditions for the payment of royalties to 
Canadian composers whose music was performed, recorded or 
broadcast anywhere in the world. Those who were involved in the 
post-war establishment of a Canadian cultural infrastructure 
recollect that his presence gave visibility to the newly formed 
Canada Council and other national bodies such as the Canadian 
Music Council and the Canadian Music Centre, both of which he 
served as president early in their respective histories. Away from 
home he was a respected cultural ambassador for Canada, guest-
conducting and lecturing in the United States, England, South 
America and Australia.


Amateur musicians and aspiring professionals who met him as he 
travelled the length and breadth of Canada remember his 
multifarious activities: festival adjudicator, Conservatory 
examiner, author of textbooks and editor of musical anthologies, 
patron of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Fine Arts Clubs, and promoter 
of young talent. He took special interest in the early careers of 
soprano Lois Marshall, cellist Zara Nelsova, conductor Victor 
Feldbrill, pianist Glenn Gould, and tenor Jon Vickers, for 
example, and in his later years was involved with the annual CBC 
Talent Festival variously as conductor or adjudicator. Ordinary 
citizens will remember MacMillan as an engaging and knowledgeable 
radio commentator, lecturer, essayist and editor, and those in 
Toronto may possibly cherish most of all their memories of 
attending Toronto Symphony Pop and Christmas Box Symphony benefit 
concerts conducted by MacMillan, where his lighter side was given 
free rein via the many witty and humorous musical arrangements and 
parodies he wrote for the orchestra.

As befits so distinguished a career of service to music, Ernest 
MacMillan received many honours and accolades. He received ten 
honorary doctorates from universities in the United States and 
Canada, and was the only Canadian musician ever to be knighted by 
a British monarch. A distinguished lecture series carrying his 
name took place annually at the University of Toronto from 1963 
until 1977, with financial support from CAPAC. In 1964 the 
University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music named its MacMillan 
Theatre after him — the same year he received the Canada Council 
Medal, and in 1969 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. 
In 1973 he was posthumously awarded the Canadian Music Council 
Medal and in 1993, the centenary of MacMillan’s birth, public 
tributes and performances of his music were scheduled by the 
Toronto Symphony, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the University 
of Toronto, among others. The Festival of the Sound in Parry 
Sound, Ontario, devoted an entire weekend of its 1993 schedule to 
a MacMillan retrospective. The Canadian Music Centre issued a 
commemorative compact disc of his compositions which had been 
available earlier on vinyl discs, including the Amadeus Quartet’s 
long-deleted recording of his String Quartet in C minor, and CBC 
Records was producing a new recording of the same work by the St. 
Lawrence String Quartet. The University of Toronto re-instituted 
its lecture series as the SOCAN-MacMillan Lectures in the fall of 
1993.
The National Library, custodian of MacMillan’s substantial 
archives acquired from the family in 1984, also participated in 
the centenary commemorations. In the fall of 1993 it provided a 
second venue for the initial SOCAN-MacMillan Lecture and in 
December of that year, with financial assistance from the Sir 
Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation, the Library mounted an 
exhibit of MacMillan memorabilia at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. 
The Library’s Music Division collaborated in 1994 with Analekta 
Recording Inc. of Montreal in the preparation of another MacMillan 
CD, this one containing recorded performances of MacMillan as 
performer and conductor as well as composer. Activities at the 
Library reach a peak with the opening of this major exhibition in 
Ottawa in October 1994. Related events during the run of the 
exhibition include the 1994 SOCAN-MacMillan lecture, a reading 
from the first published biography of MacMillan, by Ezra Schabas, 
and the launching of the Analekta CD, to name a few.

It is fitting that this man who played such a crucial role earlier 
this century in Canada’s musical development be remembered and 
celebrated for his accomplishments. His story should be known by 
all aspiring Canadian musicians and students of Canadian culture 
as a model of personal achievement and service to profession and 
country. We at the National Library of Canada are pleased to do 
our part in upholding his memory and hope that this exhibition 
gives ample testimony of Ernest MacMillan’s remarkable life and 
career in music.

Dr. S. Timothy Maloney
Director, Music Division

Other nations are proud to set their national figures on 
pedestals, why not we? … We learned in school of [notable men and 
women] who helped shape Canadian history but . . . only in the 
minds of a minority do these [people] really live. To the vast 
majority they are mere names. This is [even] truer in the case of 
writers and artists. To be sure, we have produced no Shakespeares, 
Bachs or Michelangelos but we have not lacked creative artists of 
distinction who should be accorded a more significant place than 
they [have] in our national consciousness.1

The  Early Years

He came to us on the eighteenth day of August, 1893, in the midst 
of a tempest of rain, with thunder and lightning.2

Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, son of the Reverend Alexander 
MacMillan and Wilhelmina Ross, was born in Mimico, Ontario. The 
eldest of four children, he had three sisters: Margaret Dorothy 
(b. August 1898), Jean Ross (b. February 1901) and Christine 
Winifred Ross (b. January 1904).

Ernest showed an aptitude for music from an early age. With great 
interest, he watched his mother play the piano and soon was 
playing tunes himself. In 1898, the MacMillans moved to their 
newly built home at 28 Selby Street in which a drawing room and 
study adjoined. A piano in the drawing room and an Estey organ 
(harmonium) in the study were tuned to each other. Ernest’s mother 
would play a tune on the piano while his father played the same on 
the organ. The young boy would run from room to room watching and 
listening intently, taking great delight in imitating their 
playing.

When the young MacMillan was about seven year old, St. Enoch’s 
Presbyterian Church (the parish to which his father, the Rev. 
Alexander MacMillan, had been called in 1895) acquired a pipe-
organ to replace the harmonium. He wrote: “I lost no time in 
climbing the organ bench and from then on for many years the organ 
was the object of my chief devotion.”3

He began his formal studies on the organ at the age of eight with 
Arthur Blakeley, the organist and choirmaster at Sherbourne Street 
Methodist Church. MacMillan made his first appearance in concert 
at a Toronto church in 1901, thereafter performing occasionally as 
an organist in church recitals. Blakeley had also organized a 
boys’ vocal trio known as “Blakeley’s Boys,” which was in demand 
to perform at church and other gatherings. The group made numerous 
public appearances in Toronto and in many towns of Southern 
Ontario with Ernest providing the instrumental accompaniment, when 
necessary, as well as adding variety to the programmes by 
appearing as a keyboard soloist.

At the age of ten, his concert debut at the 1904 “Festival of the 
Lilies” drew an audience of some 4000 people to Massey Hall. About 
this time, he was appointed organist (without salary) at St. 
Enoch’s, “which gave [him] both a sense of importance and valuable 
experience in accompanying singers.”4

In those formative years, MacMillan also explored the creative 
side of music.

I tried my hand at composition sometimes on a modest scale and 
sometimes on an altogether too ambitious one. My first attempt at 
an oratorio (about the age of nine) dealt with a subject no less 
formidable than the Resurrection.5

MacMillan received his formal schooling in Toronto, attending 
Rosedale School from 1899 to 1904 and Jarvis St. Collegiate 
Institute for the school year 1904-05. The earliest record of a 
public performance by MacMillan at the piano shows him playing 
Chopin’s Valse brillante at a concert held at the Institute on 
February 24, 1905.

In June 1905 the MacMillan family left Toronto to reside in 
Edinburgh, Scotland. Ernest received no formal schooling during 
his first year there, however, he did continue his studies on the 
organ with the noted blind organist Alfred Hollins of St. George’s 
United Free Church. While studying with Hollins, MacMillan decided 
to try his first musical examination the Licentiateship of the 
Royal Academy of Music in London but was unsuccessful.

In 1906-07, he attended on a part-time basis Viewpark School, a 
private institution for boys. The remaining time was used to focus 
his studies on the theoretical aspect of music. His father 
arranged for him to meet Frederick Niecks of the University of 
Edinburgh. Niecks granted the young MacMillan permission to enroll 
in junior music history, junior harmony and counterpoint classes. 
Shortly thereafter, he was permitted to transfer into the senior 
harmony and counterpoint classes. At the end of the school 
session, he was awarded the bronze medal for advanced harmony and 
finished first place in his counterpoint class.

He then continued his studies in harmony and counterpoint 
privately with Dr. W.B. Ross. In July 1907 Mrs. MacMillan, on the 
advice of Dr. Ross, took her son to London to try the theoretical 
and practical examinations for the diploma of Associateship at the 
Royal College of Organists (A.R.C.O.) At the age of 13, he became 
the then youngest Associate. Also during that summer, Ernest 
replaced Alfred Hollins in his musical duties at St. George’s for 
a period of five Sundays.
Alexander MacMillan and his two eldest daughters returned to 
Canada, while Ernest and his youngest sister remained with their 
mother in Edinburgh. In March 1908, the young MacMillan passed the 
Preliminary Examination in languages (Latin and French) for 
candidates wishing to earn the Bachelor of Music degree from 
Oxford University. He continued his studies with Dr. Ross in 
preparation for the next phase, the First Examination, which he 
successfully completed in May. Then, he and the remaining family 
members returned to Toronto.

During his stay in Scotland, MacMillan not only attended recitals 
and orchestral concerts but also received invitations to give 
performances in such places as Edinburgh, Dalkeith and Kirriemuir.
Between 1908 and 1910 MacMillan held his first professional 
appointment as organist and choirmaster at Knox (Presbyterian) 
Church in Toronto. However, it was not until early 1910, following 
the installation of a new organ, that he gave a true organ recital 
at the church. In the meantime, he performed elsewhere in Toronto.

MacMillan continued to prepare himself for the baccalaureate at 
Oxford, writing, during the winter of 1909-10, the choral-
orchestral “exercise” required as the Second Examination. In 
September 1910, MacMillan learned that his “exercise” had 
satisfied the examiners. He resigned his post at Knox Church and 
in November of that same year returned to Edinburgh, determined to 
complete his degree in music at Oxford before entering the 
University of Toronto (at which he had been matriculated in June 
1910). He continued his studies under Dr. Ross in preparation for 
the Final Examination at Oxford and also for Fellowship at the 
Royal College of Organists (F.R.C.O.). In January 1911 not only 
did he pass his examination for Fellowship but was awarded the 
Carte-Lafontaine Prize for highest marks. Four months later, he 
successfully completed the Final Examination for the degree of 
Bachelor of Music.

MacMillan returned to Toronto and enrolled at the University to 
study modern history, which he felt would broaden his general 
knowledge. During his first academic year (1911-12), he commuted 
to Hamilton each weekend where he served as organist and 
choirmaster at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. At that time an 
organ was being built by Casavant Frères (St-Hyacinthe, 
Quebec) in Convocation Hall at the University. Upon its 
completion, MacMillan resigned his post at St. Paul’s and became 
assistant university organist. In addition to being responsible 
for the Sunday morning University Services held in Convocation 
Hall, the regular University organist, Dr. Ferdinand Albert 
Mouré, often called upon MacMillan to play at academic 
functions or to give recitals.

MacMillan also collaborated on The University Hymn Book (Oxford: 
Printed at the University Press, 1912), revising the music and 
contributing several original tunes. During the summer of 1912 he 
travelled to England to oversee the preparation, proof-reading and 
other stages of its publication by Oxford University Press.

In June 1912, MacMillan received an offer which would have 
undoubtedly changed the subsequent course of his life had he 
accepted it. He was invited to Chicago to confer with the Praise 
Committee of the Fourth Presbyterian Church concerning the organ 
to be installed in its new building. MacMillan made the trip and, 
at the request of the minister, Dr. John Timothy Stone, gave a 
recital. The real motive for inviting MacMillan was to offer him 
the position of organist and choirmaster, which he declined after 
careful consideration.

During his second year of studies, MacMillan became president of 
his class and joined a fraternity, Phi Kappa Pi. Distressed to 
discover the small part music played in university life and the 
fact that it had no place on the Arts curriculum, he founded the 
University Musical Association which arranged both concerts and 
lectures.

The MacMillan family spent the summer of 1913 in the fashionable 
St. Lawrence resort village of Murray Bay (La Malbaie). Alexander 
MacMillan had been invited to serve as Chaplain of a small 
Protestant church with Ernest as organist. Prior to leaving for 
Murray Bay, MacMillan became engaged to Laura Elsie Keith whom he 
had met in 1908 and later married in 1919.

Ernest returned to his studies at the University that fall, giving 
a few organ recitals in and outside of Toronto. He became involved 
in the musical aspect of the Women’s Dramatic Club production of 
As You Like It, perhaps his first venture with the theatre. His 
future wife had been very prominent in some of the University 
theatrical productions and may have persuaded him to help with the 
music.

While at Murray Bay, MacMillan met Mrs. Antoinette Burgess, a 
well-to-do American patroness of music from Boston. She arranged 
for MacMillan to visit over the New Year’s holiday to meet some of 
her musical friends and to give an organ recital at the Harvard 
Club. During his stay, he was introduced to conductor Karl Muck 
and attended several performances.

MacMillan intended to complete his degree eventually but, by the 
end of his third year of studies, felt a need to devote more time 
to music. He requested a leave from the University between 
September 1914 and the close of the year.

Ruhleben

Here beginneth a new chapter in the history of a captive Colonial… 
I fully expect to be a truly interesting personage… You may 
imagine how the ingenuity of several thousand men succeeds when 
they have practically all their time to themselves! One soon falls 
into one’s place, and I feel quite at home(!)6

In early June 1914, MacMillan set sail for Paris with Mrs. Burgess 
and her daughter Barbara. He intended to study piano with Harold 
Bauer, as well as composition, at the Conservatoire national de 
Paris. He sought to make arrangements only to discover that all 
summer teaching had been cancelled and that he would be unable to 
register for the entrance examinations before October. In the 
interim, MacMillan studied piano privately with 
Thérèse Chaigneau, Bauer’s assistant.

In July, MacMillan was invited to accompany the Burgesses to the 
Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. Then came the outbreak of World War 
I. MacMillan’s American friends advised him to go to Nuremberg to 
seek advice from the American Consul. On August 4, England 
declared war on Germany. MacMillan, as a British subject, was 
considered an enemy alien and required to register with the 
Nuremberg police. After doing so, he returned to Bayreuth for the 
Festival.
Shortly after his twenty-first birthday, arrangements were made 
for the Burgesses to leave Europe. MacMillan accompanied them to 
Nuremberg for their departure. He was instructed to remain in the 
city until the international situation had been clarified and to 
report daily to the police. The American Consul took MacMillan 
under his wing and recommended that he take a room at the Pension 
Trefzer. This became his home for the next four months.

In January 1915 he was arrested, tried and imprisoned for having 
violated Article 4, No. 2 of the Defence of the Realm Act, an 
order which required every foreigner to register with the police. 
MacMillan had failed to comply, though not intentionally. His 
knowledge of German was limited and he did not understand the 
notices ordering all foreigners to report daily to the police. 
After nine weeks in solitary confinement he was transferred to 
Ruhleben, a racetrack near Berlin which had been converted to a 
British civilian prisoner-of-war camp.

When MacMillan arrived, he quickly became involved in the active 
social and cultural structure in the camp, particularly in the 
musical and dramatic ventures. With the formation of the Ruhleben 
Musical Society in June 1915, all interned musicians became 
acquainted. Among them were Benjamin Dale, Edgar Bainton, John 
Peebles Conn, Charles Webber and Quentin MacLean.

MacMillan’s first project was to compose and conduct the music for 
a revue entitled Don’t Laugh. This event was significant as it 
provided him with his first conducting experience (other than with 
church choirs). While he professed a dislike for the popular 
element, he gained valuable experience by directing variety shows, 
a Christmas pantomime and a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 
The Mikado.

By the end of 1915, MacMillan was put in charge of composing, 
rehearsing and conducting the music for the camp pantomime of 
Cinderella. The production was so impressive that the American 
ambassador, James Gerard, came from Berlin to see it.

Probably the most ambitious of the camp’s musical productions was 
that of The Mikado. One of the prisoners had a copy of the 
libretto but no musical score. MacMillan and four other camp 
musicians undertook the task of writing the score from memory. The 
orchestration, of course, had to conform to the talents and 
instrumental resources of the camp. MacMillan conducted 13 
performances of the production in December 1916.

Recognized by his colleagues as a serious musician, he was invited 
to conduct a number of orchestral concerts. At the first, pianist 
Harry Field, a fellow Canadian, presented Liszt’s Concerto in E-
flat. MacMillan also performed as accompanist and solo pianist in 
some recitals.
In addition to the Ruhleben Musical Society, there were a number 
of clubs which allowed the prisoners to lead an active 
intellectual life. These included the Corner House, the Arts & 
Science Union and the Historical Circle. MacMillan gave several 
lectures. He drew on his history studies at the University of 
Toronto when, on May 13, 1916, he presented for the Historical 
Circle his lecture “Milestones in Canadian Constitutional 
Development.” A second lecture for the Circle, dealing with music 
(“The Viennese Classicists”), took place on June 15. His lecture 
for the Arts & Sciences Union, “A Sketch of Russian Music” (April 
1917), prepared an audience for a concert of music by Russian 
composers. Similarly, in 1918, two lectures preceded concerts 
devoted to the music of English composers. The most extensive 
lecture series took place in May 1917 when MacMillan and Benjamin 
Dale gave ten illustrated lectures entitled “Beethoven’s 
Symphonies.” The first lecture was introductory, while each of the 
other nine was devoted to a particular symphony. In each instance, 
MacMillan presented an analysis of the work, followed by a 
complete performance at the piano by Dale and himself.

MacMillan was also involved in the Ruhleben Drama Society (camp 
theatre), mainly as an actor. In April 1916, the 300th anniversary 
of Shakespeare’s death was commemorated by the productions of 
Twelfth Night and Othello. MacMillan played Maria in Twelfth Night 
and the small part of Gratiano in Othello. Still young in 
appearance, he frequently played the role of female characters. In 
Michel Carré’s pantomime L’enfant prodigue he appeared as 
the laundress Phrynette. For this particular performance the 
entire work was orchestrated by Bainton, Dale, Webber and 
MacMillan, although the original music was by André 
Wormser. In 1915 he played the role of Lady Bracknell in Oscar 
Wilde’s comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest and the role of 
Sheeler the parlour-maid, in John Galsworthy’s The Silver Box. In 
R.C. Carton’s late Victorian comedy, Mr. Preedy and the Countess, 
he was the maid, Harriet Budgeon. His stage career included one 
production of his own, George Bernard Shaw’s Fanny’s First Play, 
in which he played the part of Darling Dora.

MacMillan was anxious to begin work towards his doctorate in music 
at Oxford. In May 1915, the University of Toronto had conferred 
upon him in absentia the degree of Bachelor of Arts based on his 
outstanding results during his first three years of study. By 
early 1916, he began preparing to take the entrance examinations 
at Oxford after the end of the war. Dr. Logie, a fellow prisoner 
with numerous contacts at Oxford, encouraged MacMillan to apply 
and petitioned the University to examine him while in the camp. 
Much to his surprise, permission was granted. MacMillan was 
excused from the written examination and only required to compose 
the Musical Exercise. In addition, should the Exercise be 
accepted, he would be exempt from further examination and granted 
his degree.

By April 1918, MacMillan had completed his Exercise, a choral-
orchestral setting to Algernon Charles Swinburne’s ode “England.” 
While waiting for his results he continued to prepare himself for 
his final examinations. Two months later, MacMillan received word 
that his Exercise had indeed satisfied the examiners.

It was only by the late summer of 1918 that the prisoners realized 
that the war was coming to an end. Following the signing of the 
Armistice, the restrictions on the movements of the prisoners of 
Ruhleben were practically abolished and MacMillan was able to 
attend several concerts in Berlin.

At the end of November he was sent to Copenhagen where he was put 
on a ship bound for Leith, the port suburb of Edinburgh. Several 
weeks later, he left for London to meet with the music publisher 
Novello to arrange for the publication of his Ode England, and 
with Henry Coward, conductor of the Sheffield Musical Union for 
the première performance. He returned to Canada in January 
1919.

Conductor

. . . I have found that I have a natural talent for conducting 
which I should greatly like to develop; how, where and when 
remains to be seen.7

Settled back in Canada, MacMillan was appointed organist and 
choirmaster at one of Toronto’s wealthiest churches, Timothy Eaton 
Memorial Church in December 1919. He viewed the church as the 
natural setting for the presentation of large-scale religious 
works. On April 4, 1920 the choir and church soloists presented a 
portion of Handel’s Messiah. Shortly after, with the cooperation 
of two other church choirs, he began rehearsals for Brahms’s 
Requiem, to be presented the following spring. In addition to the 
difficulties of assembling an orchestra he was faced with the 
unexpected threat of a law-suit for holding some rehearsals on 
Sundays, in contravention of the Lord’s Day Act of Canada.

MacMillan made his initial mark as a conductor with annual 
performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. The first complete 
performance in Toronto took place at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church 
on March 27, 1923. The choirs of Old St. Andrew’s and Timothy 
Eaton Memorial Churches were combined and both Richard Tattersall 
and Healey Willan collaborated in the preparation and performance. 
Thus began a series of annual performances conducted by MacMillan 
which would span the next 30 years and become an important event 
in the schedule of concerts in Toronto. (No performance was given 
in 1933.) The later performances (1948-53) were broadcast 
nationally by the CBC. When MacMillan resigned his post at the 
Church in 1925, the performances moved to the University of 
Toronto’s Convocation Hall (until 1950) and then to Massey Hall. 
From 1934 to 1942, the Toronto Conservatory Choir sang the choral 
part. When he became conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in 
1942, MacMillan amalgamated his Conservatory Choir with it. The 
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir sang the work between 1943 and 1953.

Under MacMillan, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s first performance 
was Handel’s Messiah which became an annual Christmas 
presentation. This work and the St. Matthew Passion were recorded 
in 1952 and 1953 respectively for Beaver Records and were then 
performed in 1954 at Carnegie Hall. Although the choir became 
identified with these two works, its repertoire also included 
Verdi’s Requiem during the 1942-43 season and a three-day Bach 
Festival in 1950 to commemorate the bicentenary of the composer’s 
death. While MacMillan resigned as conductor in 1957 he served as 
honorary president between 1962 and 1973.

In 1931, MacMillan was appointed conductor of the Toronto Symphony 
Orchestra, succeeding the late Luigi von Kunits. Prior to this, he 
had conducted the orchestra on two occasions. On May 7, 1924, a 
particularly noteworthy programme brought together the orchestra’s 
past, current, and future conductors. Frank Welsman conducted 
Luigi von Kunits’ E Minor Violin Concerto with the composer as 
soloist and MacMillan conducted the première of his own 
Overture. In January 1929, he once again conducted the Orchestra 
and the Toronto Conservatory Choir in a performance of Sir Hubert 
Parry’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

MacMillan led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra through difficult 
times in the 1930s and 1940s, from the Great Depression through 
World War II. These were perhaps foreshadowed when MacMillan had 
to conduct his first concert of the 1931-32 season with his left 
arm, as his right arm was in a cast due to an automobile accident.

Prior to MacMillan becoming conductor of the Orchestra, its season 
comprised ten one-hour concerts held at 5:00 p.m. In his first 
year, the Canadian National Railways sponsored a series of Sunday 
afternoon national broadcasts to help finance the expansion of the 
Orchestra. These did not last due to the Depression; however, with 
the establishment of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission in 
1932, a new series was initiated. MacMillan was able to add 15 new 
players to the ensemble. He was also anxious to change the concert 
time from 5:00 p.m. to an evening hour. By 1933, the talking 
motion picture had transformed the entertainment scene. As a 
result, many former theatre musicians were now free to play 
evening concerts on a regular basis. 

The two-hour evening performances attracted a much wider audience 
and MacMillan was able to present a more ambitious repertoire. In 
addition, in a move that was unusually bold for the Depression 
period, the Orchestra’s Board of Directors increased tickets to a 
price ranging from 50¢ to $2.50.

In the 1930s MacMillan introduced the Orchestra and its audience 
to the music of various living composers including Jean Sibelius, 
Sir Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius, Sir Arnold Bax and Sir William 
Walton. Gustav Holst’s The Planets became the most often repeated 
piece during his tenure and was one of the Orchestra’s first 
recorded works. MacMillan often dealt with objections from Board 
members, guarantors and subscribers regarding new repertoire. 
Finances were precarious and toward the end of the decade, he 
refunded part of his annual conducting stipend to help offset the 
deficit.

Almost unique among the presentations of orchestras anywhere were 
the Christmas Box Symphony concerts, an annual fund-raising 
tradition begun in 1935, in which the Orchestra, guest “soloists” 
and conductor “let their hair down”. Along with a selection of 
Christmas music and carol arrangements encouraging audience 
participation, the players presented original burlesque 
performances and skits. MacMillan appeared in many guises 
including Santa Claus, a jazz cultist and a German music scholar. 
The first concert featured Haydn’s Farewell Symphony during which 
the players left the stage one by one until only the conductor 
remained. At another concert, MacMillan appeared in overalls with 
a monkey-wrench for a baton to conduct Alexander Mossolov’s Iron 
Foundry. A frequent participant was Anna Russell, who freely 
admitted that it was these concerts and MacMillan’s insistence 
that set her on the road to later stardom and a notable career as 
a “musical cartoonist.” These concerts proved to be so popular 
that it became necessary to repeat the programmes two and three 
times. With MacMillan’s retirement, the Christmas Box Symphony 
concerts ceased. The changing social patterns and tastes of 
Toronto in the 1950s and 1960s may also have contributed.

MacMillan began to receive invitations as guest conductor, the 
first with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1933. He fulfilled four 
engagements with the Orchestra before the war curtailed travel 
abroad. By the mid-1930s and into the war years, MacMillan gained 
fame as a guest conductor in the United States, appearing in such 
prominent series as the Hollywood Bowl concerts, and with the 
orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., as well 
as with the NBC Symphony Orchestra (New York). He was the first 
Canadian invited to conduct five programmes in CBS’ Ford Sunday 
Evening Hour broadcasts. In Canada, he became a frequent guest 
with the Concerts symphoniques de Montréal (now the 
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) and the Vancouver 
Symphony Society (now the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra). In fact, 
in 1936 both these orchestras invited MacMillan as their first 
“guest conductor of distinction.” By the end of the 1940s, 
MacMillan had conducted the Vancouver Symphony on 45 occasions and 
Les Concerts symphoniques de Montréal in 25 performances. 
At the invitation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, 
MacMillan toured that country for three months in 1945 conducting 
30 concerts in the continental state capitals of Sydney, 
Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. He also visited Brazil in 
1946 to guest conduct the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira.
In a letter written in 1938 to Arthur Judson, president of 
Columbia Concerts Corporation (New York), MacMillan indicated his 
desire to seek a conducting position elsewhere, but was persuaded 
to stay in Toronto. He actually tendered his resignation to the 
Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1939 but withdrew it with the entry 
of Canada into World War II. The war years proved to be a 
difficult period for the orchestra. Suspension of concerts was 
seriously considered in 1940. However, the importance of music to 
wartime morale was recognized and a new spirit of cultural 
vitality ensued. In 1943, after many years of campaigning, the 
orchestra received its first grant ($1500.00) from the Toronto 
City Council.

The immediate post-war years (1945 to 1950) were the most 
successful in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s history. Artistic 
calibre improved and audiences increased until by 1946 each 
subscription concert needed to be presented twice.

Works by Canadians including Claude Champagne, Robert Farnon, 
Harry Somers and John Weinzweig were presented during the 1940s 
and in 1948, with the sponsorship of CAPAC (Composers, Authors and 
Publishers Association of Canada), MacMillan led the Orchestra in 
its first live concert of Canadian music. Innovations in the 
repertoire included works by Béla Bartók, Dmitri 
Shostakovich and American composers Aaron Copland and Roy Harris. 
Canadian soloists including Hyman Goodman and Elie Spivak 
regularly shared guest billing with such international luminaries 
as Jascha Heifetz, Myra Hess, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Claudio Arrau 
and Arthur Rubinstein. Although Igor Stravinsky had appeared as 
guest conductor of his own works the Firebird Suite and Petrouchka 
as early as 1937, there were few guest conductors in the 1940s. 
Among these were: Georges Enesco, Hans Kindler, Pierre Monteux, 
Charles Munch, Fabien Sevitzky and Leopold Stokowski.

At the height of the Orchestra’s popularity, in 1951, it was 
engaged to give its first U.S. concert in Detroit. The effects of 
McCarthyism resulted in six of the players being refused entry to 
the United States. They were replaced for the concert which went 
ahead. For the following season, further U.S. concerts had been 
booked in such cities as New York, Boston and Philadelphia. In 
order to fulfil these engagements, the management decided against 
renewing the contracts of the six players. The incident of the 
“Symphony Six” became controversial and divisive, resulting in the 
resignations of several Board members. MacMillan’s stature and the 
prestige of the Orchestra both suffered. Announcing his 
resignation as conductor at the end of his 25th season (1955-56), 
he acknowledged it to be in both his own and the Orchestra’s best 
interests.

Tribute was paid publicly to the great strides the Toronto 
Symphony Orchestra had made under MacMillan’s direction. The 
Orchestra had lengthened its season, increased its annual number 
of concerts about five-fold, attracted renowned instrumentalists 
to its ranks, branched out into recording and broadcasting, and 
altogether solidified its claim to status among major North 
American orchestras. It had introduced Canadians to much new 
repertoire. Interestingly, during all MacMillan’s years with the 
Orchestra, his contract was simply a verbal agreement.

Composer

Musical composition, though less widely recognized, is in the long 
run more important; through our creative output we shall be 
ultimately judged as a musical nation.8

Although composition was not MacMillan’s main preoccupation, he 
regarded it as a normal activity of the complete musician. His 
String Quartet in C minor is probably his most significant work. 
The first three movements were composed in 1914 while he was 
detained at Nuremberg. 
The work was revised extensively and the Finale completed 
following his return to Toronto. It was first performed in its 
entirety on February 8, 1925 by the Hart House String Quartet, 
considered to be Canada’s most famous chamber ensemble of the 
first half of the 20th century. 
The work does not reflect any evidence of his wartime experience. 
Rather, its style and themes, employing traditional sonata forms 
and a romantic late 19th-century musical language, depict a less 
troubled era. Given this, it is now of interest more for 
historical than purely musical reasons.

MacMillan composed his most extensive work during World War I, 
while he was interned at Ruhleben. This choral-orchestral setting 
to Algernon Charles Swinburne’s ode “England” earned him the 
degree of Doctor of Music from Oxford University in 1918. An 
article providing an analysis appeared in the September 1, 1920 
issue of London’s Musical Times. Appropriately, the 
première performance was given in England on March 7, 1921 
by Henry Coward and the Sheffield Musical Union. The work received 
its Canadian première in 1921 at Massey Hall in Toronto 
with the renowned Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia 
Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

The first major work he completed following his return to Canada 
after the War was his Overture for orchestra. It was at Ruhleben 
that MacMillan had acquired a taste and developed a talent for 
orchestral conducting. Now he was anxious for there to be an 
orchestra once again in Toronto. In 1922 a group of players 
persuaded Luigi von Kunits to form what became known as the New 
Symphony Orchestra, which gave its first public concert in April 
1923. It had been five years since the earlier Toronto Symphony 
Orchestra had disbanded, a late casualty of World War I. 
MacMillan’s Overture was composed in honour of the New Symphony 
Orchestra and von Kunits, who invited MacMillan to conduct its 
première.

As his interest in folklore developed, it became the inspiration 
for a number of compositions. In 1925, he became familiar with the 
work of Marius Barbeau, the noted Canadian anthropologist, 
ethnologist and folklorist. MacMillan was asked to review the book 
Folk Songs of French Canada compiled by Barbeau and Edward Sapir 
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925). The Canadian Forum 
published the sympathetic review which revealed MacMillan’s strong 
interest in the songs. Barbeau was so taken with the comments 
that, on his next visit to Toronto, he invited MacMillan to 
participate in the 1927 Folksong and Handicraft Festival (CPR 
Festivals) in Quebec City. MacMillan had noted two melodies in 
particular, Notre Seigneur en pauvre and À Saint-Malo. At 
the request of John Murray Gibbon, he arranged these as Two 
Sketches Based on French Canadian Airs for a performance by the 
Hart House String Quartet. It is considered today one of the most 
successful, well-known, and frequently performed Canadian 
compositions, especially in its later version for string 
orchestra. An attractive sequel, Six Bergerettes du Bas-Canada for 
voices and small ensemble was presented at the 1928 CPR Festival. 
To commemorate MacMillan’s 75th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon 
Gesellschaft released the first recording of his String Quartet in 
C minor together with his Two Sketches Based on French Canadian 
Airs (in their original quartet version) performed by the Amadeus 
Quartet. This was the first recording devoted to one Canadian 
composer to be distributed on a world-wide scale.
In the summer of 1927, MacMillan accompanied Barbeau to the Nass 
River region of northern British Columbia to hear, record and 
notate music of the Tsimshian People. Three of these 
transcriptions were arranged for voice and piano under the title 
Three Songs of the West Coast. The first is that sung by a new 
chieftain to his tribe, boasting of his suitability for the 
position. The second is a lullaby. The last song had originally 
been sung for MacMillan by the polygamous old chief Gitiks. Many 
years before, he had been ordered by Queen Victoria to observe the 
monogamous custom of her domains and content himself with one 
wife. There was great speculation in the village as to which one 
of the three wives he would keep. He fooled the people leaving all 
three for an attractive young girl. The members of the tribe were 
scandalized and Gitiks found it necessary to sing this song 
telling them to mind their own business. A number of the 
transcriptions were also published in The Tsimshian: Their Arts 
and Music (New York: J.J. Augustin, 1951).

In addition to MacMillan’s numerous arrangements and settings, he 
was responsible for editing an important collective work, the 
volume Twenty-one Folk-Songs of French Canada (Oakville, Ont.: 
Frederick Harris Co.,1928). MacMillan and other composers of his 
generation inspired by Barbeau were the first to introduce an 
indigenous element into Canadian musical literature.
MacMillan composed less after his appointment to the Toronto 
Symphony Orchestra, “finding it a difficult task while his head 
was constantly filled with the music of others.”9 According to a 
comment by Godfrey Ridout, MacMillan preferred conducting. 
Nevertheless, in addition to a few settings of Canadian folk 
songs, he composed several major works. A ballad-opera, Prince 
Charming, on a libretto by J.E. Middleton, was intended for the 
CPR’s Banff Festival in 1931 but never performed. The music was 
based on Scottish and French folk songs. Two substantial choral 
works were Te Deum Laudamus in E minor (1936) and Song of 
Deliverance (1944). The first was originally written for the 
Conservatory Choir in honour of the 50th anniversary of the 
Toronto Conservatory of Music. Song of Deliverance was written at 
the War’s end.

He was also known for his arrangements of works by composers such 
as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and 
Ralph Vaughan Williams. His orchestration of J.S. Bach’s Prelude 
and Fugue in G minor was frequently performed by both Canadian and 
U.S. orchestras.

MacMillan’s improvisational fluency, his natural buoyancy and 
sheer sense of fun are reflected in his orchestral arrangements, 
medleys, and parodies for Toronto Symphony Orchestra performances 
on such occasions as the Pop and Christmas Box Symphony concerts. 
Such works include A Medley of Sea Chanties, A Saint Andrew’s Day 
Medley (1946, later retitled Fantasy on Scottish Melodies), a 
medley of Christmas Carols (1945) and There Was an Old Woman 
(1946), with apologies to J.S. Bach. No score of the first has 
been located; however, it was performed at a Pop concert in April 
1946 and included such well-known tunes as Blow the Wind Down and 
What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor. The second, also 
performed at a Pop concert the day before St. Andrew’s Day 1946, 
showed MacMillan’s pride in his Scottish ancestry. His medley of 
Christmas Carols was frequently repeated at the annual Christmas 
Box Symphony concerts.

Despite his noted career as organist, MacMillan’s only mature work 
for the instrument is his Cortège académique. In 
1953, he was invited to compose this processional and perform it 
for the centenary of his Alma Mater, University College, Toronto.

Performer

. . . Canadians are still slow to recognize excellence in their 
young musicians until other countries put upon them the stamp of 
approval. However, we are gradually learning to trust our own 
judgment and to accord due recognition to a number of fine artists 
born in this country.10

As previously mentioned, MacMillan was both an organist and a 
pianist. His 1904 performance at the “Festival of the Lilies” had 
astonished public and critics alike, and firmly established him as 
a prodigy.

During the months of April and May 1919, MacMillan undertook his 
first lecture-recital tour, visiting the western provinces. His 
organ recitals included comments on his experiences as a prisoner-
of-war.

By then he was well-known in Toronto’s music circles. His pre-war 
appearances at the organ were well-remembered and his recent 
triumphant return from Germany with his doctorate raised his 
profile among the public and his professional colleagues. 
Beginning in November 1919 through March of the following year, he 
presented a series of five organ recitals, part of an extensive 
program of concerts and lectures arranged by the Canadian Academy 
of Music.

In January 1920, shortly after his appointment as organist at 
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, MacMillan began giving a brief 
recital following each of the Sunday evening services. Three 
months later, he gave the first recital independent from the 
services, a practice he continued regularly thereafter. Between 
1923 and 1925, MacMillan annually presented a series of all-Bach 
recitals. These performances attracted members of the 
congregation, Toronto musicians and musical cognoscenti.

During the 1920s, he established his reputation, not only in 
Toronto but throughout Ontario and as far as Vancouver. In 1922, 
he was invited to play at the National Association of Organists’ 
convention held in Chicago. As the first resident Canadian to 
receive this distinction, his performance drew rave reviews. 
However, in his memoirs, MacMillan comments on his rather poor 
performance and praises that of fellow Canadian Lynnwood Farnam, 
who held a leading church position in New York. Both were 
considered to be giants of organ playing on this continent. 
MacMillan was frequently invited to perform in the United States 
during the next two years. The U.S. press hailed him as “the 
Marcel Dupré of the North,” and his reviews were always 
laudatory, here and elsewhere.

Although his most active period as a recital organist predated his 
appointment to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, he continued to 
perform regularly throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Many of these 
performances were broadcast, including one series for the CBC in 
1938 and another for the commercial Toronto station CKEY in 1945. 
MacMillan’s most demanding appearance was perhaps at the 1935 
annual Convention of the Royal College of Organists. Each year, 
immediately following the RCO examinations, an invited organist 
would perform all the obligatory test pieces which the candidates 
had been required to play. The audience included the cream of 
Britain’s organ fraternity, the exam candidates and the general 
public. To be guest organist on these occasions was a great 
honour.

MacMillan’s last public recitals took place in the early 1950s. 
According to his son Keith, it was at this time that MacMillan 
pondered his career as a recital organist. He felt it critical to 
decide either to devote more time to the instrument and resume a 
career on the organ, or to abandon it, in favour of the multitude 
of other responsibilities and duties to which he was committed. He 
chose the latter.

It was never MacMillan’s intention to become a concert pianist 
although he enjoyed playing chamber music. The record of his 
participation as a pianist gives an indication of some 100 
concerts and recitals between the 1920s and 1950s. He began 
performing with the Academy String Quartette in 1919 and by the 
early 1920s with the Toronto String Quartette and the 
distinguished Hart House String Quartet, founded by the Hon. 
Vincent Massey and his wife. One work which was regularly 
performed was César Franck’s Quintet in F minor. On 
occasion he also performed with the Conservatory String Quartet, 
and once in Montreal with the McGill String Quartet in the early 
1940s.

MacMillan frequently appeared as accompanist in recitals given by 
such noted singers as Emmy Heim, Lois Marshall, James Campbell 
McInnes and Ernesto Vinci. McInnes’ work contributed greatly to 
the development of Toronto’s musical life. His “Tuesday Nine 
O’Clocks” series of recitals were unusual programmes of little 
known vocal and chamber music. MacMillan met Emmy Heim in 1934 
during her first visit to Canada. She sang for him and some 
friends and, as a result of the warm reception, made her Canadian 
debut that October with MacMillan as her accompanist. Apparently 
he became her favourite and their artistic relationship was 
unique. When he once appeared in recital with another prominent 
singer, she confronted him as having been “unfaithful.”

In the early 1940s, MacMillan embarked on his most serious chamber 
music venture, in association with Kathleen Parlow and Zara 
Nelsova. The three formed the renowned Canadian Trio, under the 
management of the Oxford University Press. The group frequently 
performed in Toronto and elsewhere. MacMillan also teamed up with 
Parlow as the Canadian Duo. A number of their performances were 
broadcast by the CBC. On one occasion (November 1942), the Trio 
performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, op. 56, with the 
Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Massey Hall.

Educator

There can be no more satisfying hobby . . . because it is one that 
. . . can never [be] outgrow[n]. Nor is there any more valuable 
study for the all-round development of the mind.11

As an educator, Macmillan contributed to the foundations of the 
development of music in Canada throughout his professional life. 
He strove to enrich the lives of young Canadians through his 
musical activities. His convictions were strong when it came to 
the issue of music education. According to MacMillan, if young 
Canadians were not given the opportunity to be exposed to music, 
the country’s musical future would suffer greatly, for music would 
eventually lack in audiences, performers and creators. The efforts 
of both the composer and performer are futile unless there exists 
a receptive audience. To the regret of many, MacMillan himself did 
little actual teaching. He was primarily an administrator and a 
developer of systems and policies.

In July 1919, MacMillan was appointed to the teaching staff of the 
Canadian Academy of Music where he taught theory, harmony and 
counterpoint as well as piano and organ. The following year, 
MacMillan was called upon to make examination tours on the 
Academy’s behalf, first to Montreal at the McGill Conservatorium 
of Music and then to several towns in Southern Ontario. Later, 
these examination tours extended to some of the cities and towns 
of the Prairies and the West Coast.

His first invitation to adjudicate came from the Ottawa Music 
Festival in 1924. MacMillan’s preoccupation with young people of 
all ages is reflected in the time and patience he devoted as a 
festival adjudicator and as an examiner for the Toronto (now 
Royal) Conservatory of Music. As an adjudicator, he was also 
recognized internationally. In 1937, he became the first Canadian 
to adjudicate at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and in 1940 at a 
festival in Jamaica. Later, he also received invitations to the 
United States. His efforts in this domain have long been 
overshadowed by his many successes in the more public areas of his 
professional activity.
In June 1924, the Academy was purchased by and amalgamated with 
the Toronto Conservatory of Music. MacMillan retained his teaching 
position and supplemented his income by taking on additional 
duties elsewhere. At Upper Canada College he was responsible for 
forming an orchestra and playing at its Sunday evening services. 
MacMillan was also director of music for the Hart House Theatre. 
He wrote the incidental music for several plays and conducted the 
performances.

Due to the ill-health of Dr. Augustus Vogt, the principal of the 
Conservatory, MacMillan was assigned administrative work assisting 
the vice-principal, Healey Willan. Following Vogt’s death in 1926, 
MacMillan was appointed principal. In 1927 he became dean of the 
Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. The early years of 
his term were characterized by a diversity of artistic activities 
and developments. Feeling that vocal students needed experience in 
choral singing, MacMillan established the Conservatory Choir in 
1927. It began by introducing Toronto to Mozart’s Requiem and 
thereafter continued to present new and old works. The choir 
performed in the earlier years with the Conservatory Orchestra and 
later with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, giving it a high 
profile. The first opera classes at the Conservatory were 
initiated by MacMillan in 1926. As a further outlet to its 
singers, the Conservatory Opera Company was formed. It staged 
eight productions from 1928 to 1930, beginning with Hansel and 
Gretel, The Sorcerer, Dido and Aeneas and Hugh the Drover. This 
was a pioneer effort in opera in Toronto but the Company was 
forced to cease its activities in 1930 due to the Depression and 
was not revived until 1946. The Conservatory String Quartet was 
formed in 1929, comprising four of the institution’s leading 
teachers. This ensemble created much subsequent interest in 
chamber music.

Efforts were made to improve the library and new courses were 
introduced. A number of significant curriculum changes occurred in 
the 1930s, such as a major revision of the piano syllabus in 1934, 
improvements in sight-reading and ear tests, and more rigorous 
theory requirements for the Associate diploma. In 1935 the 
examination system based on grades I to X was introduced. In 
agreement with the Ontario Department of Education, credit could 
be earned for Conservatory grades in secondary schools and as 
entrance requirements for university admission.

At the request of the University of Toronto president and the 
Conservatory Board, together with the support of the Carnegie 
Foundation of the U.S., Ernest Hutcheson (then president of the 
Juilliard School) undertook a feasibility study concerning the 
expansion of music education in Canada. He found the Conservatory 
to be less of a school than a facility for private teachers: the 
Conservatory furnished studio space and administrative services 
for which the teachers returned a percentage of their fees. 
Hutcheson suggested that teachers who were not salaried were 
primarily interested in maintaining gifted students for their own 
classes and were less concerned with providing a well-rounded 
education in music. He advocated a smaller faculty, hired on 
salary, with a greater commitment to comprehensive programs for 
senior students of professional calibre. He also recommended a 
preparatory division and summer courses.
Although the Hutcheson report (1937) was not implemented at that 
time, its recommendations led to the establishment of a senior 
division within the Conservatory in 1946. In 1942, the burden of 
other duties prompted MacMillan’s resignation as principal. The 
activities of the Senior School were integrated in the overall 
reorganization of 1952 when the University created two main 
divisions under the designation Royal Conservatory of Music: the 
School of Music and the Faculty of Music. This created an 
atmosphere of controversy and discord resulting in MacMillan’s 
resignation as dean. MacMillan had sat for two years on the 
planning committee which, after its deliberations, recommended a 
full-time deanship, a position MacMillan could not accept due to 
his involvement in many other activities. In addition, he believed 
that the position should be filled by someone younger and with 
solid academic experience. When rumors circulated that Edward 
Johnson was to be proposed, MacMillan was opposed, pointing out 
that Johnson was of advanced age and without academic experience. 
Johnson himself indicated that he had no wish to become dean and 
was not qualified for the position. As no other proposals 
regarding the appointment had been contemplated, MacMillan 
suggested that the reorganization be postponed for a year until a 
suitable candidate had been found. The reorganization went ahead, 
without the appointment of a dean, an action MacMillan regarded as 
unwise. The resulting clash between him and the University of 
Toronto administration made headlines and his connection with the 
University was severed when the office of dean of the Faculty was 
discontinued.

In addition to his duties at the Conservatory and University, in 
1927 MacMillan undertook the task of editing A Canadian Song Book 
(in Britain, A Book of Songs), published under the auspices of the 
National Council of Education. This anthology, designed to serve 
Canadian homes, clubs, schools and colleges, became widely used in 
Canadian schools in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1930s, MacMillan 
prepared teaching materials, often collaborating with the pianist 
and pedagogue Boris Berlin. These include The Modern Piano Student 
(1931) and On the Preparation of Ear Tests (1938) both published 
by Frederick Harris Co. of Oakville, Ontario.

MacMillan, always closely associated with young people, was 
immensely popular with them. Children’s Concerts and Secondary 
School Concerts were important components of each Toronto Symphony 
Orchestra season. There was collaboration between the Orchestra, 
the Toronto Board of Education and the Ontario Department of 
Education. The Orchestra first presented Children’s Concerts 
during the 1924-25 season and, following an interruption these 
resumed in 1929-30. On February 11, 1941, MacMillan led the 
Orchestra in its first Secondary School Concert, after numerous 
requests from teachers and students. The Directors of the 
Orchestra Association had felt for some time that there should be 
programmes for young people who appreciated symphonic music, to 
fill the gap between the Children’s Concerts and the regular 
Series Concerts. A list of young Canadian guest soloists who 
performed with the Orchestra included Lois Marshall, Jon Vickers, 
Frances James and Glenn Gould.

In his memoirs MacMillan indicated that the Secondary School 
Concerts were the deciding factor in his refusal of the 
illustrious position of the Reid Chair of Music at the University 
of Edinburgh, succeeding the late Sir Donald Tovey. He wrote: 
“Playing to such an audience gave me (and I believe, most of the 
players) a thrill such as I had not previously experienced.”12 
MacMillan also presented similar concerts for children and young 
people while guest conducting in Vancouver, Montreal, the United 
States and while touring Australia.

Ontario’s first school broadcasts were presented in 1942-43, as an 
experimental series of ten 45-minute music appreciation programmes 
featuring various soloists accompanied by the Toronto Symphony 
Orchestra with MacMillan conducting. This initiated the series 
“Music for Young Folk,” designed originally for grades seven and 
eight and later for all levels primary, junior and senior. “Music 
for Young Folk” was presented in various formats until 1964. These 
broadcasts were not intended to take the place of classroom music 
teaching but rather to enrich the musical experience of the 
children. In 1945, the National Film Board of Canada filmed the 
Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the first time. The two films 
produced were released for distribution for educational purposes. 
During his trip to Brazil in 1946, MacMillan showed these films 
while visiting a school in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1936, a teacher at Templeton Junior High School in Vancouver, 
Marjorie Agnew, a childhood friend of MacMillan’s, founded the Sir 
Ernest MacMillan Fine Arts Clubs to foster fine arts activities 
among the students. Miss Agnew felt that her pupils were deprived 
if they had no direct experience with the arts. MacMillan approved 
the use of his name and maintained an active interest in the 
Clubs’ progress as they ultimately spread from school to school in 
Vancouver, to other cities and towns in British Columbia, and 
outside the province. The Clubs promoted a particular interest in 
music but extended to literary, visual-art and dance activities 
reflecting their sponsor’s interest and knowledge in other arts. 
The Clubs ceased to function in the mid-1970s due to Miss Agnew’s 
failing health.

MacMillan was also closely associated with the Jeunesses musicales 
of Canada (JMC) movement (now Youth and Music Canada outside 
Quebec), of which he was national president from 1961 to 1963 and 
then lifetime honorary president. Founded in 1949, this non-profit 
organization was created to encourage the pursuit of music among 
Canada’s young people and to help talented performers and 
composers develop their careers in Canada and abroad. It is also a 
member of the International Federation of Jeunesses musicales. The 
JMC is well-known for its summer music camp at Mount Orford, 
Quebec and the concert tours it arranges for young soloists. The 
long list of artists who have benefitted from this organization 
includes such outstanding Canadians as Maureen Forrester, Louis 
Quilico and Bernard Lagacé.

From 1959 to 1966, MacMillan conducted the CBC Talent Festival 
programmes. Forced to stop for health reasons, he continued to act 
as commentator and adjudicator for the Festival until 1968. This 
took him on regular travels throughout Canada and gave him a 
direct and personal medium by which to encourage younger 
musicians. He also appeared frequently in the mid-1960s as a 
commentator on CBC radio musical programmes and, from 1951 to 
1955, hosted a weekly hour-long radio program entitled “Sir Ernest 
Plays Favourites” on CKEY-Toronto. The show won two awards in 
1952, one from the Ohio Radio Awards and the other from the 
Canadian Radio Awards, sponsored by the Canadian Association for 
Adult Education.

MacMillan participated in many lesser-known activities. He was 
asked to submit a brief to the Royal Commission on Education in 
Ontario chaired by Justice J.A. Hope. Approached by the Citizens’ 
Committee on Children (Ottawa), MacMillan contributed an 
introductory chapter to the music section of the book What’s What 
for Children. Despite his demanding schedule, he made himself 
available as speaker or forum chairman at symposia of the 
International Federation of Music Students and of Student 
Composers. He also participated in important events of 
institutions dedicated to the encouragement of music, such as 
delivering convocation addresses.

Administrator

In an age when the government of practically every civilized 
country is concerned with disseminating and publicizing its 
nation’s cultural wares, we still lag woefully behind. We are 
losing more than we realize.13

MacMillan was involved in administrative matters for most of his 
career organizing choirs, concerts and special events, and serving 
on various commissions, committees and in organizations. As 
principal of the Conservatory, he was equally responsible for 
fulfilling non-musical obligations. Toward the end of the 1940s, 
MacMillan took on additional duties in connection with the 
Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC), 
the Canadian Music Council, the Canadian Music Centre and lastly, 
the Canada Council.
MacMillan was instrumental in the founding of the Canadian Music 
Council in 1946. When the House of Commons’ Committee on Post-War 
Reconstruction was ready in 1944 to listen to spokespersons from 
all walks of life, there was no organization to speak on behalf of 
Canada’s musicians. MacMillan, approached by interested persons, 
hastily assembled a committee and presented a report on the 
problems and hopes of the musical community. He asked Charles 
Peaker to take over the chairmanship. A few months later 20 people 
gathered for a discussion in Toronto, and the name Canadian Music 
Council was adopted. The following year, Peaker resigned and 
MacMillan was elected chairman. The organization aimed to provide 
information about music in Canada, to represent the musical 
community before governments and international organizations, and 
to assist in the development of music in Canada. When the Council 
received a federal charter in 1949, MacMillan became its president 
until his retirement in 1966.

Prior to the creation of the Canada Council which would provide 
subsidies, the Canadian Music Council completed many worthwhile 
projects. In 1955, it published the book Music in Canada, edited 
by MacMillan, with 18 chapters on specific aspects contributed by 
specialists. This was the first comprehensive survey of the 
Canadian music scene. A year later, it launched the Canadian Music 
Journal, the country’s first high-quality national music 
periodical. The Council’s largest and most far-reaching project 
was the establishment in 1959 of the Canadian Music Centre, a 
library and information centre for the dissemination and promotion 
of Canadian music which still flourishes.

The Canadian Music Council became the Canadian committee of the 
International Music Council in 1952 and of CIDEM (the Inter-
American Music Council) in 1959. Its membership grew to include 
individuals and organizations.

From 1947 to 1969, MacMillan served as president of CAPAC. In 
addition to its primary functions of licensing performances and 
collecting and distributing royalties, CAPAC provided support to 
the Canadian music community in other ways. Its bilingual monthly 
magazine The Canadian Composer and Le Compositeur canadien first 
appeared in 1965 and continued until 1990 when it was superseded 
by Canadian Composer and Compositeur canadien, a magazine 
published in separate French and English editions by SOCAN 
(Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada).

As improved levels of remuneration were achieved for its members, 
the number of Canadian composers increased significantly. 
MacMillan’s deep commitment to defending the rights of composers 
is not widely known; however, in 1957, GEMA (German Society for 
Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) awarded him 
the Richard Strauss Medal “in recognition of his outstanding 
services in protection of copyright.” Despite his devotion to so-
called “serious” music, he showed equal dedication to the 
advancement and recognition of composers working in popular-music 
idioms.

When the Canada Council was created in 1957, MacMillan was one of 
its charter members. The origin of the Council can be traced back 
to the period following the end of World War II, when a volunteer 
organization, the Canadian Arts Council, consisting of 
personalities from the artistic domain, patrons of the arts, and 
cultural groups, came into being. This council sought the creation 
of a royal commission into the development of arts, literature, 
and science. In fact, such a commission was established in 1949 
under the chairmanship of Vincent Massey. It was called the Royal 
Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and 
Sciences (commonly known as the Massey Commission). Between August 
1949 and July 1950, the Commission held public sessions across 
Canada, at which most of the 450 submitted briefs were heard, and 
invited experts in various fields to prepare special studies. One 
of these, on music, was written by MacMillan. In 1951 the 
Commission issued a report which gained recognition as a document 
of utmost importance in the cultural history of Canada since it 
advocated the principle of federal government patronage of 
cultural activities and proposed the establishment of a Canada 
Council. The Council’s principal objectives were to foster and 
promote the study, enjoyment, and production of works in the arts. 
MacMillan worked closely with such noted figures as Brooke 
Claxton, Georges P. Vanier and Albert Trueman, also members of the 
Council. MacMillan was appointed and served two terms of three 
years on the¨ Council. His advice was particularly valued not only 
because of his experience and renown, but because he was one of 
the few active professional artists among the appointees.

Honours

Maintenance of high standards and spreading of musical knowledge 
and activity were Sir Ernest’s life blood; there are few corners 
of our country which do not continue to benefit from such a 
forthright musical personality.14

MacMillan was one of the most influential Canadian musicians of 
his time, having devoted his life and energies to the service and 
advancement of music in our country. He is a pioneer to whom we 
owe much for the depth and richness of Canada’s musical heritage. 
MacMillan’s tremendous contribution was acknowledged through the 
numerous awards, honours and titles bestowed upon him throughout 
his career.

Interestingly enough, the first official recognition of 
MacMillan’s work came from abroad rather than from his native 
country. In 1931, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of 
Music in London, the first Canadian to receive this distinction, 
and named an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in 
1938.

MacMillan was knighted in 1935 by King George V “for services to 
music in Canada.” While in office, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett 
revived the practice, discontinued in 1919, of granting titles to 
Canadians. Knighthoods had been conferred in 1934 on Sir Frederick 
Grant Banting (co-discoverer of insulin) and other Canadians but 
the Prime Minister felt that the arts should be similarly 
recognized and thus recommended to the King the names of 
MacMillan, of painter Edmund Wyly Grier and of poet Charles G.D. 
Roberts. MacMillan, not yet 42, was the youngest of the three 
knighted, gaining honour for the music profession as a whole.

MacMillan was a recipient of the University of Alberta National 
Award in Music (1952); the Canada Council Medal (1964), 
established for outstanding achievements in the arts, humanities 
or social sciences; the Companion of the Order of Canada (1969), 
for outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree; and 
the Canadian Music Council Medal (1973, awarded posthumously), for 
outstanding service to music in Canada.

In addition, honorary degrees were conferred by the University of 
British Columbia (1936), Queen’s University (1941), the 
Université Laval (1947), McMaster University (1948), the 
University of Toronto (1953), the University of Rochester (1956), 
Mount Allison University (1956), the University of Ottawa (1959), 
the Université of Sherbrooke (1962) and the Chicago 
Conservatory College (1971).

On both MacMillan’s 70th and 75th birthdays, there were public 
tributes, special publications, and revivals of his works. In 
1963, CAPAC grants to the University of Toronto helped fund the 
MacMillan (later CAPAC-MacMillan) Lectures. These were given 
annually until 1977 as part of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s 
summer school. The inaugural lecturer was Glenn Gould. In 1964, 
MacMillan himself delivered the three public talks in this annual 
series, choosing as his topic “The Canadian Musical Public.” 
Subsequent lecturers were Jean Vallerand, Zoltán 
Kodály, Welton Marquis, Peter Maxwell Davies, Ravi Shankar, 
Wilfrid Pelletier, Aaron Copland, Galt MacDermot, György 
Ligeti, Maureen Forrester, Luciano Berio, Arthur Schwartz and 
Iannis Xenakis. In the new home of the University of Toronto’s 
Faculty of Music (opened officially in 1964), the MacMillan 
Theatre was named after him.

In 1970, CAPAC established the Sir Ernest MacMillan Fellowship, 
awarded for compositions for 12 or more players. Initially, the 
fellowship ($2000) was available only to composers who were 
graduates of Canadian universities and intending to take up post-
graduate studies in Canada. In 1976 the fellowship was increased 
and students at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the 
Conservatoire de musique du Québec became eligible. Winners 
were permitted to continue their studies either in Canada or 
abroad.

In 1984, MacMillan’s two sons, Keith and Ross, established the Sir 
Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation, providing annual awards of 
up to $10 000 for advanced education at the graduate level, in 
areas not funded by other granting agencies.



For additional information:

Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation
Suite 4700
Toronto Dominion Bank Tower
Toronto-Dominion Centre
Toronto, Ontario M5K 1E6
Telephone: (416) 601-7588

Notes
1.	Ernest MacMillan, [Memoirs] (unpublished, n.d.), chapter 
“Canadiana,” pp. 3-4. Sir Ernest MacMillan fonds, Manuscript 
Section, Music Division, National Library of Canada.
2.	Looking Back: Reminiscences of the Rev. Alexander MacMillan, 
D.D., Mus.D. (1864-1961) Written Between 1940-1945, edited by 
Keith and Pat MacMillan (unpublished, 1987-88), p. 36. Keith 
MacMillan fonds, Manuscript Section, Music Division, National 
Library of Canada.
3.	Ernest MacMillan, [Memoirs], chapter “Early Recollections,” 
p. 5.
4.	Ibid., p. 3.
5.	Ibid., p. 7.
6.	Letter to Elsie Keith, March 25, 1915. Sir Ernest MacMillan 
fonds, Manuscript Section, Music Division, National Library of 
Canada.
7.	Letter to Elsie Keith, August 12, 1917. Sir Ernest MacMillan 
fonds, Manuscript Section, Music Division, National Library of 
Canada.
8.	MacMillan, “Some Problems of the Canadian Composer,” The 
Samuel Robertson Memorial Lecture, delivered at Prince of Wales 
College, Charlottetown, P.E.I., May 7, 1956, p. 13. Sir Ernest 
MacMillan fonds, Manuscript Section, Music Division, National 
Library of Canada.
9.	Keith MacMillan, “Parallel Tracks: Ernest Campbell MacMillan 
in the 1930s and 1940s,” in Canadian Music in the 1930s and 1940s 
(Kingston, Ont.: Queen’s University, 1986), p. 11.
10.	Ernest MacMillan, “Music Concert Performance,” in 
Encyclopedia Canadiana (1958), Vol. 7, p. 225.
11.	MacMillan, “Music for Teenagers” (unpublished, n.d.), p. 1. 
Sir Ernest MacMillan fonds, Manuscript Section, Music Division, 
National Library of Canada.
12.	MacMillan, [Memoirs], chapter “The Toronto Conservatory,” p. 
12.
13.	MacMillan, “Some Problems of the Canadian Composer,” p. 13.
14.	J. Hugh Faulkner, The Canadian Composer, No. 82 (July 1973), 
[p. 3].