Articles

The following are miscellaneous newspaper articles written about Morawetz and/or his music. Newspaper reviews of specific performances of Morawetz' compositions appear under the Reviews heading for the work in the His Music section.

• Oct. 12-18, 1963 CBC Times
  "One of Canada's most successful, most performed composers..."
   
• Mar. 30, 1965 Toronto Daily Star by Ralph Thomas
  "... Canada's most successful composer with the world's public, but not with his own colleagues."
   
• Oct. 1967 The Canadian Composer
  "The poet, the Composer and the Artist"
   
• Jul. 12-18, 1969 CBC Times
  "June Graham talks to the composer about premières of his latest musical works"
   
• Nov. 17, 1969 The Globe and Mail by Blaik Kirby
  "... a dozen performances of his works in six different cities by five different orchestras, within a single month" ...
  "I have always considered myself a composer who tried to express the music of today with my own personal feelings. I'm more interested in the quality and expression of music than I am in novelty. Many composers think music is like the car business; every year there has to be a new model."
   
• Jun. 8, 1970 TIME magazine
  "Tragic inspiration ... both prolific and widely performed. In the last year, there have been seven premières of Morawetz compositions..."
   
• Jun. 1972 The Canadian Composer
  "Morawetz works often performed"
   
• Mar. 1974 The Canadian Composer
  "Increasing popularity of Morawetz in concert, on record and on radio"
   
• Apr. 30, 1976 Onion by Pauline Carey
  "Portrait of the Artist ... his love of the human voice and his delight in the dramatic marriage between music and words ... Music for Oskar Morawetz must have an emotional message"
   
• Sep. 1976 The Canadian Composer
  "Oskar Morawetz goes from Guelph to Tel Aviv for two musical firsts in a busy composer's career"
   
• Jun. 1977 The Canadian Composer
  "Oskar Morawetz celebrates 60th birthday with CBC special in context of Jewish Festival"
   
• Apr. 5, 1978 University of Toronto Varsity by A.K.
  "... most widely performed Canadian composer ... largely self-taught ... Morawetz rejects the academic excommunication of composers sometimes considered sentimental or unprogressive ... his style is unique, personal, and very accessible ..."
   
• Aug. 12, 1978 The Calgary Herald by Jamie Portman
  "Young composers enjoying a dream situation at Banff"
   
• Jun. 1979 The Canadian Composer
  "Most successful season yet for Oskar Morawetz with 20-plus performances"
   
• Jan. 15, 1982 The Toronto Star by Peter Goddard
  "Composer used to criticism but don't say old-fashioned"
   
• 1981/1982 Toronto Symphony News by Molly Callaghan
  "Profiles ... imminent retirement from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music ..."
   
• Sep. 30, 1983 The London Free Press by Richard Newman
  "[Morawetz] thinks that composing in a "style" can be insincere ... can become dated within a few years ... his phenomenal memory ... will be composer-in-residence next week [at] University of Western Ontario [and] will speak on his composition The Diary Of Anne Frank ..."
   
• Jan. 5, 1987 The Toronto Star by William Littler
  "... 1987 is turning out to be the year of ... Oskar Morawetz"



• Nov-Dec, 2007 Journal of Singing by Kimberley Enns-Hildebrand
  "Morawetz's songs ... are well known to Canadian singers for their dramatic scope, lyric phrases, driving rhythms, and lofty texts"
  

 

Writings of Oskar Morawetz

Morawetz authored an article about the growth of creative activity in Canada for the Toronto Symphony News:

• Apr. 1963 Toronto Symphony News by Oskar Morawetz

His wife, Ruth Morawetz, authored an article after interviewing Morawetz on his thoughts on composing:

• Dec. 1973-Jan. 1974 Toronto Symphony News by Ruth Morawetz

Ruby Mercer, soprano and opera advocate in Canada, interviewed Morawetz about Richard Strauss and his opera Salome:

• Salome by Oskar Morawetz, as interviewed by Ruby Mercer

In the 1970s, the general public were clamoring for a full-season opera. Morawetz had just attended a Canadian première of Janáček's Katya Kabanova at the University of Toronto's music faculty which was poorly attended. With tongue in cheek, he wrote the following letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail, questioning whether Toronto deserved a full-season opera. As a result, the remainder of the Janáček performances were well-attended.

• Apr. 2, 1977. The Globe and Mail by Oskar Morawetz

After Herbert Von Karajan died, Morawetz was shocked that no major headline appeared in Toronto's major newspaper about his death. So he wrote the following letter to the Globe and Mail, and a few weeks later, an edited version of his letter appeared in the Letters to the Editor section.

• Jul. 20, 1989. Morawetz' letter to the editor
• Aug. 2, 1989. The Globe and Mail by Oskar Morawetz