Music Maker
As Toronto Symphony Orchestra Conductor Walter Susskind lowered his baton one evening last week, audience and orchestra together applauded Composer Oskar Morawetz, whose Divertimento for String Orchestra had just made its Toronto debut. Morawetz stood up, smiled, bowed briefly in acknowledgment, grabbed his coat and departed. Neither ingrate nor stage-frightened, Composer Morawetz had good reason for hurrying: a few minutes later, the small (20 members) Pro-Arts Orchestra, playing in the First Unitarian Church, was to give the Divertimento a second Toronto debut the same night.
Even for prolific, Czech-born Oskar Morawetz, 39, who has been performed as often as any other young Canadian composer, the double debut was a unique tribute. Son of a Prague textile merchant, he was advised by his teacher at the age of eight to give up the piano for lack of talent, instead changed teachers, and went on to study in Paris and Vienna. Escaping from Europe a half beat ahead of the German invasion of Paris, Morawetz took a doctorate in music at the University of Toronto, became a Canadian citizen, now teaches musical composition and counterpoint at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Absent-minded in his role of professor (he was once ribbed by his students for forgetting to wear a tie to class, cheerfully showed up the next day wearing two ties), shy, tousle-haired Musician Morawetz works with dedicated energy on his music. He has written 40 works, most of them neo-romantic in style, from symphonies to string quartets, has had 39 of them performed publicly. His
biggest monetary reward: a $1,500 fee for a movie score for
a Canadian film company that went bankrupt as soon as the picture was released. On the other hand, when his Symphonic Scherzo was played over the French radio network by the French National Orchestra, he was paid exactly 39¢. With five performances of his works scheduled for next month alone, Composer Morawetz is enjoying the aftertones of his unprecedented double debut. "That night," he says, "is something I shall never forget."
