Exploring Music Beyond the Canon: Radio Orchestras, the CBC and Contemporary Music in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Bailey, Robert Warren

Exploring Music Beyond the Canon: Radio Orchestras, the CBC and Contemporary Music in the Mid-Twentieth Century

dc.contributor.advisor	Sallis, Friedemann
dc.contributor.advisor	Radford, Laurie
dc.contributor.author	Bailey, Robert Warren
dc.contributor.committeemember	Elliott, Robin
dc.contributor.committeemember	Sutherland, Richard
dc.contributor.committeemember	Colpitts, George
dc.contributor.committeemember	Wolters-Fredlund, Benita
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-09-27T15:09:07Z
dc.date.available	2023-09-27T15:09:07Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09-18
dc.description.abstract	The emergence of broadcast technology in the twentieth century fundamentally changed how people could experience music. Networks across the world assembled orchestras to serve a variety of functions—background music for dramatic presentations, light entertainment and symphonic concerts. Radio emancipated the orchestral concert from the confines of the concert hall, bringing to the masses a cultural experience which was formerly the domain of the privileged classes. As early as the 1930s, the notion of a radio symphony orchestra—that is, a permanent concert orchestra based in the broadcasting studio—began to emerge. Through unconventional programming philosophies, as well as distinct social and political roles, many of these orchestras gradually acquired identities distinct from traditional symphony orchestras. However, radio symphonies have not received a large amount of scholarly attention. The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the historical context from which radio symphony orchestras emerged, with a specific focus on Canada. My primary focus is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and its relationship with twentieth-century music, as seen through the lens of the CBC Symphony Orchestra (1952–1964). The study proceeds in three stages. First, I provide a broad historical overview of the origins of radio symphony orchestras before World War Two, exemplified by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurter Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchestra and the BBC Symphony. Second, I look at the emergence of radio orchestras in Canada, and the CBC’s patronage of twentieth-century music in Canada following World War Two. These concepts are brought together in the final section, which focuses on the work of the CBC Symphony. Born as an intended symbol of Canada’s musical achievement, the CBC Symphony regularly featured music from outside the traditional orchestral canon. Not only did this policy introduce modern composition to Canadian listeners, it provided Canadian composers with regular opportunities to write for large orchestras—opportunities which had previously been few and far between, if present at all.
dc.identifier.citation	Bailey, R. W. (2023). Exploring music beyond the canon: radio orchestras, the CBC and contemporary music in the mid-twentieth century (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117135
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	CBC Symphony Orchestra
dc.subject	Radio Orchestras
dc.subject	Twentieth-Century Music
dc.subject	CBC Music
dc.subject	Music Broadcasting
dc.subject.classification	Music
dc.subject.classification	Canadian Studies
dc.title	Exploring Music Beyond the Canon: Radio Orchestras, the CBC and Contemporary Music in the Mid-Twentieth Century
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Music
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.