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
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.

Gummer_Requiescat.pdf
PDF-Dokument [107.1 KB]

Gummer_PianoSonata.pdf
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:

Gummer_StringTrio.pdf
PDF-Dokument [260.3 KB]

Gummer_TheJourney.pdf
PDF-Dokument [80.3 KB]