As a conductor Upon return to Canada in 1919, MacMillan was appointed organist and choirmaster in Toronto at the
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church(then Methodist), where he served until the consummation of the
United Church of Canada in June 1925. He was especially known there for his performances of
Handel's
Messiah and
Brahms'
Requiem His career as a conductor truly began when he conducted a performance of
Bach's
St. Matthew Passion in the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in 1923. MacMillan conducted annual performances of this work for the next 30 years. Another annual tradition Macmillan initiated during his career includes the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir's Christmas-time performance of Handel's
Messiah. Throughout his time with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, MacMillan accomplished many of the major achievements of his conducting career. His authority as a composer influenced some major changes within the orchestra. During the Depression, he changed the concert times from 5 pm to a more "evening hour". As many theatre musicians were out of work during the Depression era, MacMillan hired them to play in these evening concerts on a regular basis. As a result, MacMillan was able to select much more ambitious repertoire for this stronger performing force, as well as lengthening its season, and increased their number of concerts. MacMillan tried to make concerts fun and entertaining. The Christmas Box Symphony Concerts were a great example of this. Not only did MacMillan conduct, but he dressed up as Santa Claus and had the audience participate by singing along. He also "appeared in overalls with a monkey wrench for a baton to conduct
Alexander Mosolov's
Iron Foundry". The entry of Canada into WWII proved to be "a difficult period", but it was during the post-war years that his conducting was regaled as being "the most successful in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's history". MacMillan innovations in his repertoire changed yet again. He included Canadian music, as well as works by Hungarian and Russian composers
Béla Bartók, and
Dmitri Shostakovich. During World War II, he gained fame as a guest conductor in the United States. He conducted many
Hollywood Bowl concerts, and the
National Broadcasting Company Symphony Orchestra in NYC. In Canada, he guest-conducted the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. By the end of the 1940s, he had conducted the Vancouver Symphony on 45 different occasions, and 25 different occasions in Montreal. MacMillan toured Australia as well for three months and conducted 30 concerts in
Sydney,
Melbourne and
Brisbane. Later in his career (1948–1953), MacMillan introduced Canada to entirely new prospects of recording and broadcasting. A good number of performances he conducted were recorded for Beaver Records; these were also broadcast nationally by
CBC Radio. However, his silence over the
Symphony Six issue prompted criticism.
As a composer While a prisoner in Ruhleben, MacMillan wrote what is seen to be his most significant composition, titled
String Quartet in C-minor. Influenced by the "war-time style and themes", the first performance of this piece was heard on 8 February 1925, by the Hart House String Quartet, and was conducted by MacMillan himself. Although MacMillan's composing abilities were much praised during this performance, he stated composition was not his main preoccupation; he preferred conducting to composing. Nevertheless, not only did the musical language of the 19th century romantic period influence MacMillan, but he was interested in Folklore music also. In 1927, he travelled alongside
Marius Barbeau to the Nass River region of British Columbia to "hear, record and notate music of the
Tsimshian People". As a result, he composed
Three Songs of the West Coast, arranged for voice and piano. MacMillan composed less during his commitment to the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Still, he managed to compose Scottish and French songs for the ballad opera "Prince Charming". In addition, he composed
Te Deum Landamus in E Minor (1936) and
Song of Deliverance (1944), both choral works. His only work composed strictly for the organ was named
Cortège académique. In 1953, he was asked both to compose and to perform it at the
University College in Toronto. Apart from composing his own works, MacMillan made arrangements of works by composers such as
Bach,
Beethoven,
Handel, and
Tchaikovsky, all of whom he said had great influence on his style. Both Canadian and US orchestras have performed his orchestra arrangement of
Bach's
Prelude and Fugue in C Minor.
As a performer MacMillan became well known in Toronto music circles after he first started giving performances in his earlier career. Upon returning to Canada after the war, MacMillan relaunched his later career as a performer by giving 5 organ recitals commissioned by the
Canadian Academy of Music from November 1919 to March 1920. In addition, he gave recitals at the
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church after each Sunday service. MacMillan gave "all Bach recitals" which attracted members of the congregation and Toronto musicians.
CBC Radio in the 1920s helped to heighten MacMillan's talent as a performer. Thus, he became acknowledged as far west as
Vancouver. He was frequently asked to perform there, as well as in the United States, and at the 1935 Convention of the Royal College of Organists in Toronto. , Sir Ernest MacMillan,
Kathleen Parlow). Photo, c. 1941–1944. Source: Sir Ernest MacMillan Collection, Library and Archives Canada In the early 1940s, MacMillan formed "The Canadian Trio". Alongside musicians
Zara Nelsova (cellist) and
Kathleen Parlow (violinist), MacMillan often performed in Toronto and occasionally elsewhere. Amazingly, they once performed
Beethoven's
Triple Concerto in C Major with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra at
Massey Hall. Furthermore, MacMillan founded "The Canadian Duo" with
Kathleen Parlow; their performances were broadcast on CBC Radio as well. MacMillan gave 100 concerts and recitals between the 1920s and 1950s. He eventually stopped performing due to his other responsibilities as a conductor, composer and an educator.
As an educator Throughout his professional life, MacMillan put emphasis on music education, and "contributed to the foundations of the development of music in Canada." In the year 1919, MacMillan was selected for a staff position at the
Canadian Academy of Music, though he had little training in teaching. He taught theory, harmony, counterpoint, piano and organ. MacMillan was sent to lead examination tours at
McGill University in Southern Ontario, and in various parts of the west coast on the Academy's behalf. Eventually, MacMillan was appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Music at the
University of Toronto. He made many innovations during his tenure with its music department. He then established a conservatory choir in 1927, because he felt that the vocal students "needed experience in choral singing". He also started the first opera classes at the conservatory in 1920, with performances of
Hansel and Gretel,
The Sorcerer,
Dido and Aeneas and
Hugh the Drover. He improved the library, made improvements to the college's sight reading/ear tests, and prepared teaching materials which include "The Modern Piano Student" in 1931 and "On the Preparation of Ear Tests" in 1938. MacMillan was interested as well in youth education. He worked in children's concerts and secondary school concerts, which were presented by the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. To enrich children's musical experience, he introduced a series called "Music for Young Folk" in 1942. Focusing on all primary, junior and senior levels, the program ran for 45 minutes with soloists accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Alongside composing, conducting and performing, MacMillan became recognized internationally as an adjudicator starting in 1924, when he adjudicated for the Ottawa Music Festival. In 1937, he was the first Canadian to adjudicate at the
National Eisteddfod of Wales; and he adjudicated at various festivals in
Jamaica and the United States.
Honours and awards On June 3, 1935, For his "services to music in Canada", MacMillan was knighted by
King George V, during the
Silver Jubilee on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada,
R. B. Bennett. He and eight other Canadians were so honoured, and announced at
1935 Birthday Honours, on the King's 70th Birthday. Earlier in the year, MacMillan had composed a
hymn for the Silver Jubilee and Birthday. He became an honorary member of the
Royal Academy of Music in 1938, and was made a recipient of the
University of Alberta National Award in Music (1952). MacMillan received the
Canada Council Medal twice (1964 and 1973) for "outstanding achievements in the arts, humanities or social sciences". The
University of Toronto's Faculty of Music received a new facility in 1964, named the new theatre "The MacMillan Theatre". It holds up to 815 people, and the orchestra pit is large enough to sit 60 musicians. Honorary degrees conferred upon MacMillan, include: •
1936, LL. D. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, • ''1941,
LL. D.,
Queen's University at Kingston,
Kingston, Ontario'', •
1947, Mus. D., Laval University, Quebec City, •
1948, Litt. D, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, •
1953, LL. D., University of Toronto. An Elementary School was named in his honour in
Scarborough, Ontario in 1978. It is now part of the
Toronto District School Board. MacMillan's sons, Keith and Ross MacMillan, established the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation. The annual award is endowed with $7,500. Sir Ernest MacMillan died in Toronto on May 6, 1973. He is buried along with family at Toronto's
Mount Pleasant Cemetery. == The Sir Ernest MacMillan Collection at Library and Archives Canada ==