Barbara Pentland
Barbara Pentland was a Canadian composer and pianist, born on January 2, 1912, in Winnipeg. Despite facing health challenges in her childhood, she displayed musical talent early on, beginning piano lessons at the age of nine and secretly composing music against her parents' wishes. Her formal education in music began with composition studies in Paris, where she was influenced by the works of composers like César Franck and later, Stravinsky and Hindemith at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Pentland's career took off in Toronto, where she taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and later at the University of British Columbia, becoming known for her modernist compositions that often challenged prevailing gender norms in the music industry. Over the years, she experimented with various musical techniques, including twelve-tone methods, and incorporated contemporary elements such as microtones and found sounds in her later works. Pentland received numerous accolades throughout her life, including the Order of Canada and an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba. She remained active in music until her battle with Alzheimer's disease in her later years, ultimately passing away in Vancouver on February 5, 2000.
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Subject Terms
Barbara Pentland
Composer
- Born: January 2, 1912
- Birthplace: Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Died: February 5, 2000
- Place of death: Vancouver, British Columbia
Contribution: Barbara Pentland was a composer, pianist, and teacher known for her original, modernist works. Although she is considered one of the most important composers of twentieth-century Canadian music, her work has been criticized for being severe and emotionally cool. While it never found favor with a wide public audience, it was enjoyed by musicians, who appreciated its originality and quality. She composed music for film, stage, piano, orchestra, and voice.
Early Life and Education
Barbara Lally Pentland was born in Winnipeg on January 2, 1912 to a wealthy and socially prominent family. As a child, Pentland suffered from a heart condition, which forced her to spend much of her time resting. Musically gifted, she began taking piano lessons at Rupert’s Land Girls’ School in Winnipeg when she was nine and began composing her own music. While her teachers and parents discouraged her from composing, she ignored them and continued to compose music secretly. As a teenager, her musical compositions were inspired by the music of Beethoven and the stirring events of the French Revolution.
Early Music Career
The first person to encourage Pentland to compose was Frederick H. Blair, her piano teacher from 1927 to 1929 at a Montreal boarding school. In 1929, her parents finally allowed her to take formal studies in composition with Cécile Gauthiez in Paris, where she attended finishing school. Gauthiez taught Pentland the principles of French polyphony and composer César Franck’s chromaticism, which influenced her work for a decade.
After returning to Winnipeg in 1930, Pentland studied organ with Hugh Bancroft and piano with Eva Clare until 1936. She debuted as a concert pianist on September 21, 1936 at the Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg.
Also in 1936, Pentland was awarded a fellowship to the Juilliard Graduate School in New York City. At Juilliard, she studied sixteenth-century counterpoint with Frederick Jacobi and was also exposed to the work of many contemporary classical musicians, including Stravinsky and Hindemith. In her third year at Juilliard, Pentland stopped working with Jacobi and began studying with Bernard Wagenaar. She combined the influences of Stravinsky and Hindemith with the principles of counterpoint she had previously studied to create her own compositions.
From 1939 to 1942, Pentland taught privately and continued to compose. In the summers of 1941 and 1942, she studied with Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center. Copland’s clarity and energy inspired her, and she began seeking a similar feeling in her own work; his influence lasted until the middle of the 1950s.
Career
In 1942, Pentland moved to Toronto, where she taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. Her modernist music was regarded as radical, and she continued to fight conservative attitudes toward women in music and modern music in general. In 1947 and 1948, Pentland became interested in twelve-tone techniques, and her music began to embody this fascination. A year later, she moved to the more congenial atmosphere of the University of British Columbia, where she worked until she resigned in 1963. After her resignation, she taught independently and continued to compose and perform.
In 1955, Pentland traveled to Europe, where she heard the music of Anton Webern and similar composers. Their short pieces were delicate yet highly concentrated. In her later work, Pentland created a synthesis of all her influences, using as few notes as possible, adding her own lyrical touch, and applying the twelve-tone system in a relaxed manner. During the 1960s and 1970s, she added contemporary touches such as microtones, found sounds, and improvisation within a framework. In the 1970s, Pentland created a series of teaching materials for piano students, including short pieces and graded books.
In 1976, Pentland received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba. She was awarded the Diplôme d’honneur by the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1977, received the Order of Canada in 1989, and was named to the Order of British Columbia in 1993.
Personal Life
Pentland married John Huberman in 1958, an engineer whose father was the famed violinist Bronislaw Huberman. Pentland suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the last decade of her life and was unable to compose during that period. She died in Vancouver on February 5, 2000.
Principal Works
Lament, 1939
Arioso and Rondo, 1941
Three Symphonies, 1945–59
Five String Quartets, 1945–85
From Long Ago for piano, 1946
Octet for winds, 1948
The Lake, 1952
Concerto for piano and string orchestra, 1956
Symphony for Ten Parts, 1957
Toccata for piano, 1958
Three Duets after Pictures by Paul Klee for piano, four hands, 1958–59
Trio for violin, cello, and piano, 1963
Shadows/Ombres, 1964
Vita Brevis for piano, 1973
Ephemera for piano, 1974
Res Musica, 1975
Disasters of the Sun for voice and chamber orchestra, 1976
Trance for flute and harp or piano, 1978
Tellus for flute, cello, percussion, and keyboards, 1981–82
Piano Quintet, 1983
Vincula, 1983
Horizons for piano, 1985
Ice Age for voice and piano, 1986
Bibliography
Cross, Julie. “The Ice Age and Beyond: Songs by Canadian Women Composers.” IAWM Journal 16.2 (2010): 36–37. Print.
Danielson, Janet Henshaw. “Canadian Women Composers in Modernist Terrain: Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara Pentland.” Circuit: Musiques Contemporaines 19.1 (2009): 57–70. Print.
Stephen, Drew. “Barbara Pentland.” CAML Review 32.1 (2004): n.pag. CAML ACBM, 26 July 2013. Web. 26 July 2013.
Jones, Keith Davies. “Memorable Manitobans: Barbara L. Pentland (1912–2000).” Manitoba Historical Society. Manitoba Historical Society, 11 July 2009. Web. 26 July 2013.
Keyes, Daniel. “Whites Singing Red Face in British Columbia in the 1950s.” Theatre Research in Canada 32.1 (2011): 30–63. Print.
Murphy, Kirsten. “Lives Lived: Barbara Lally Pentland.” Globe and Mail [Toronto] 24 Mar. 2000: n.pag. Print.
“Pentland, Barbara,” Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion, 2012. Web. 26 July 2013.
Karantonis, Pamela and Dylan Robinson. “Peaceful Surface, Monstrous Depths: Barbara Pentland and Dorothy Livesay’s The Lake.” Opera Indigene: Re/Presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011. 245–257. Print.
Arts Alive. “NAC Music Box: Barbara Pentland,” Arts Alive. Arts Alive, 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.