The Early Years

Sir Ernest MacMillan:
Portrait of a Canadian Musician (1893 - 1973)

Knox Church Choir (MacMillan seated at the organ), ca. 1909-1910.
Photographer unknown.

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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." 2

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."3

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. 4

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.

Notes

1. 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.

2. Ernest MacMillan, [Memoirs], chapter "Early Recollections," p. 5.

3. Ibid., p. 3.

4. Ibid., p. 7.

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