News Release

97-05

Rediscovered Works by Canadian Composer Presented to National Library of Canada

OTTAWA, May 26, 1997  --  Today, the National Library of Canada will receive nearly 350 original “lost” works by Canadian composer Clarence Lucas (1866-1947). These recently rediscovered compositions had lain dormant and forgotten in his family’s attics in England and France for almost half a century.

The ceremonial transfer of compositions for voice, choir, piano, organ, chamber ensembles, band and full orchestra from the Lucas family via the Canadian Musical Heritage Society to the nation takes place at the National Library at 4:00 p.m. An important addition to the Library’s archival music collection, the Lucas collection also includes several overtures (three with Shakespearean titles), The Birth of Christ (a cantata), a requiem mass and a string quartet, as well as correspondence, photographs, books and newspaper clippings. Along with other works in the Library’s collections, the Lucas documents will be preserved as part of Canada’s published heritage.

“We are delighted to be able to enrich our collection with the works of a man who was one of Canada’s most prolific composers, thus giving researchers access to almost six decades of his creative life,” says National Librarian Marianne Scott. “We are most grateful to both the Lucas family and the Canadian Musical Heritage Society for presenting us with the Clarence Lucas fonds, which is the largest single resource for the study of this Canadian musician.”

Clarence Lucas was one of Canada’s finest nineteenth-century composers. The son of a Methodist minister, he was educated in Montreal and Paris. After a brief period as a music teacher in Toronto and Hamilton, he spent the rest of his career in London, Paris and New York as correspondent for the Musical Courier and music editor for Chappell.

The Canadian Musical Heritage Society is a research and publishing organization, which was established in 1982. For the last year, the CMHS has worked with the Lucas family and the National Library of Canada to organize the collection and make available to Canadians the music of a composer who once feared that he was forgotten in his native land.

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For further information, contact:

National Library of Canada
Telephone: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll free in Canada and the U.S.)
Fax: 819-934-7272
E-mail: mus@lac-bac.gc.ca

or

Canadian Musical Heritage Society
Telephone: 613-520-2600 ext. 8265
Fax: 613-520-6677
E-mail: cford@ccs.carleton.ca