Phyllis Gummer archive
I hold the main part of the musical documents of composer Phyllis Gummer (1919-2005) and would like to present here her compositions. If someone is interested in performing one of these works, please send me a message!
biography
Phyllis Mary Gummer was born on 12. March 1919 in Kingston, Ontario (Canada). Phyllis first studied at the Queen's University in Kingston under Frank Llewellyn Harrison. During her studies at the Queen's University she received in 1940 the first prize with her "Piano sonata" and the song "Requiescat" of the Canadian Performing Rights Society (CAPAC) in their annual composition competition for Canadian composer under 22.
After her Bachelor of Arts at the Queen's University she studied composition under Healy Willan and violin under Harold Sumberg at the Toronto Conservatory and received a Bachelor of Music. During her time at the Toronto Conservatory she was in a circle of friends with composers like John Weinzweig, Barbara Pentland, Godfrey Ridout, Leonard Basham and Eldon Rathburn.
At that time she also performed at various local concerts and played violin, but also piano, viola and organ. In 1942 she won a 3.year-fellowship in composition at the Juilliard Graduate School of Music in New York.
The juvenile compositions of Phyllis Gummer received high appraisal and attention in the early 1940s. Beside the CPRS prize in 1940 her works were performed at several national concerts. An article in the alumni journal of the Queen's University published the following article (Vol. 16, No. 4, page 105) which shows the appraial or her compositions:
In 1944 Phyllis Gummer was a staff member of the National Firm Board of Canada and part of a group of composers with again Eldon Rathburn, Robert Fleming and Louis Applebaum. She wrote music for several films at that time.
Curiously there is no information about the work and life of Phyllis Gummer after 1945. In my archive there are a few scores of compositions from the 1950s and 60s, so Phyllis Gummer was active in these decades too, but it seems that she made her living with something else than music in her later years.
I received information from the Queen's University archive that Phyllis Gummer died in 2005, but I found no evidence for that.
archive
All scores in my archive are handwritten manuscripts. Only a few of them are fair copies, most of them are working scores, sketches, etc. Manuscripts for the following compositions are in my archive:
piano works:
| year | composition |
|
1937.07 |
Sonata for piano - CAPAC prize in 1940 |
|
1937 |
Nine bagatelles for piano op.1 |
|
1938 |
March for piano |
|
1939 |
Chez Rosie, for piano |
|
1939 |
Organ prelude on „O love, who formedst me to wear“, for organ |
|
1939 |
Organ prelude on „Hail the day that sees him rise“, for organ |
|
1941 |
Prelude for piano |
|
1941 |
Night song, for piano |
|
1956 |
Bagatelles for piano |
| ? |
Chorale prelude on „Margot“, for organ |
| ? |
Trio for organ |
| ? |
Exercises for piano |
| ? |
Fugue for piano |
| ? |
Ostinto for piano |
| ? |
3 Exercises for piano |
duo works:
| year | composition |
|
1937 |
Scherzo for violin and piano |
|
1938 |
Birthday composition for father, for flute and piano |
|
1938 |
Scherzo for violin and piano |
|
1939 |
Fantasy for clarinet and piano (unfinished) |
|
1939 |
Scherzo for clarinet and piano |
|
1939 |
Romance for clarinet and piano |
|
1939 |
Scherzo for flute and violin |
|
1939 |
3 Bagatelles, for flute and piano in A |
|
1940 |
Allegro for violin and piano |
|
1940 |
Romance for violin and piano |
| ? |
Flute sonata for flute and piano |
| ? |
Sonata for cello and piano |
| ? |
Sonata for violin and piano |
| ? |
Romance for violin and piano |
| ? |
Romance for viola and piano |
| ? |
Air and variations for flute and piano |
trio works:
| year | composition |
|
1940 |
Piano trio for piano, violin and cello (also titled „Fantasy trio), revised 1960 |
|
1942 |
Suite for string trio, for violin, viola and cello |
| ? |
Exercise for 3 cellos |
| ? |
Trio for flute, violin and viola |
quartet works:
| year | composition |
|
1939 |
Scherzo for string quartet |
|
1940 |
Romance for string quartet |
|
1941 |
Second trio, for string quartet |
|
1941 |
String quartet No.1 |
|
1941 |
A bagatelle for string quartet |
|
1956 |
Piece for string quartet |
|
1962 |
String quartet in E minor |
| ? |
4 bagatelles for string quartet |
| ? |
String quartet No.2 |
| ? |
The sheep under the snow (traditional), arranged for string quartet |
| ? |
Two pieces for string quartet |
| ? |
Fugue for string quartet |
songs for voice and piano:
| year | composition |
|
1932 |
Sleep (words by Edward Young) |
| 1937 |
Break, break, break (words by Alfred Tennyson) |
| 1937 |
She walks in beauty (words by Lord Byron) |
| 1937 |
A widow bird (words by Percy Bysshe Shelley) |
| 1937 |
Requiescat (words by Oscar Wilde) - CAPAC prize in 1940 |
| 1937 |
Song (words by Hartley Coleridge) |
| 1937 |
An die Entfernte (words by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) |
| 1937 |
Schilflied (words by Nikolaus Lenau) |
| 1937 |
The part (words by Percy Bysshe Shelley) |
| 1937 |
From ducks on a pond (words by William Allingham) |
| 1937 |
To Daisies (words by Robert Herrick) |
| 1937 |
The primrose (words by Robert Herrick) |
| 1938 |
Matin song (words by Thomas Heywood) |
| 1938 |
Der alte König (words by Heinrich Heine) |
| 1938 |
Volkslied |
| 1938 |
Fifth Philosopher's song (words by Aldous Huxley) |
| 1938 |
Why so pale and wan (words by John Suckling) |
| 1938 |
God Lyaeus (words by John Fletcher) |
| 1938 |
Love (words by Abraham Cowley) |
| 1938 |
The unfaithful shepherdess (words by anonymous) |
| 1938 |
Proud Maisie (words by Walter Scott) |
| 1938 |
Aweary not is thine (words by Walter Scott) |
| 1938 |
To a young lady (words by William Cowper) |
| 1938 |
Music when soft voices die (words by Percy Bysshe Shelley) |
| 1938 |
To daffodils (words by Robert Herrick) |
| 1938 |
Lament |
| 1938 |
Epitaph upon a child that died (words by Robert Herrick) |
| 1938 |
On a goldfinch (words by William Cowper) |
| 1938 |
The journey (words by Christina Rosetti) |
| 1939 |
Bright be the place of thy soul (words by Lord Byron) |
| 1939 |
The violet (words by Walter Scott) |
| 1939 |
Tenement life (words by Margaret Fishback) |
| 1939 |
Mother, I cannot mind my wheel (words by Walter Savage Landor) |
| 1939 |
If I had but two little wings (words by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) |
| 1940 |
Sweet in her green dell (words by George Darley) |
| 1940 |
A passer by (words by Robert Bridges) |
| ? |
Annabel Lee (words by Edgar Allan Poe) |
choral works:
| year | composition |
| 1938 |
Ah, County guy, a serenade for chorus (words by Walter Scott) |
| 1939 | Roll, Jordan, Roll, for ladies chorus and piano (arranged by Gummer) |
| 1939 |
Lullay thou little tiny child, for men chorus |
| 1939 |
Rise, my soul, to watch and pray, for chorus |
| 1939 |
Prison song, for soprano, alto and baritone |
| 1940 |
To Blossoms, for mixed chorus (words by Robert Herrick), rev. 1960 |
| ? |
Weathers, for soprano, alto and bass (words by Thomas Hardy) |
| ? |
The maid of neidpath, for chorus (words by Thomas Campbell) |
| ? |
Waken, Lords and Ladies Gay, for chorus (words by Walter Scott) |
| ? |
Pack, clouds, away, for chorus (words by Elizabeth Gaskell) |
| ? |
How sweetly the air, for soprano, alto and bass (words by Phyllis Gummer) |
motets:
| year | composition |
| ? |
Domine, convertite et eripe animam meam, motet for mixed chorus |
| ? |
Vere languores nostros ipse Tulit, motet for mixed chorus |
| ? |
Ave verum corpus, motet for mixed chorus |
| ? |
Psalm 117, motet for mixed chorus |
Below you can find some of the music of Phyllis Gummer set into a scorewriting program. Feel free to study the music. But please have in mind that looking at the music does not allow you to perform the work without paying fees to the Canadian Author's Rights Society (SOCAN). It is also forbidden to publish or sell this score or parts neither in printed or electronical format.
I tried to find the actual copyright holders of the music of Phyllis Gummer, but failed. If you are a copyright holder of the music below and feel this violates your rights, please let me know. It is no problem to remove the scores, I just want to support the compositions of Phyllis Gummer the best I can.
Phyllis Gummer: Scherzo for clarinet and piano (1939)
PDF-Dokument [114.7 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Romance for clarinet and piano (1939)
PDF-Dokument [59.3 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Romance No.2 for clarinet and piano (1939)
PDF-Dokument [76.4 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Romance for violin and piano
PDF-Dokument [146.8 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Allegro for violin and piano (1940)
PDF-Dokument [236.3 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: [Untitled], for viola and piano (~1940)
PDF-Dokument [67.6 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Requiescat, for voice and piano (1937)
PDF-Dokument [107.1 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: Piano sonata (1937)
PDF-Dokument [224.9 KB]
In 2019 the distinguished Canadian pianist Elaine Keillor performed the Piano sonata by Phyllis Gummer at different occasions. Ms. Keillor recorded one of her private study performances and kindly granted her permission to publish the recording on my website. Therefore I am very happy to allow interested persons to listen to the Piano sonata by Phyllis Gummer below, performed by Elaine Keillor:
Phyllis Gummer: Suite for string trio (1942)
PDF-Dokument [260.3 KB]
Phyllis Gummer: The journey, for voice and piano (1938)
PDF-Dokument [80.3 KB]
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