Did he ever play Hamlet? Has she worked in television? What was the title of his first novel? Under whom did she study? How many children has he? Answers to such questions about contemporary Canadian artists have often been difficult, even impossible, to find. This series has been created to provide the answers; it covers creative and performing artists who have contributed as individuals to the culture of Canada in the twentieth century. Each volume in the series presents a cross-section of many different kinds of artists: authors of imaginative works, artists and sculptors, musicians (performers, composers, conductors, and directors), and performing artists in ballet, modern dance, radio, theatre, television, and motion pictures; directors, designers, and producers in theatre, cinema, radio, television, and the dance; choreographers and, for cinema, cartoonists and animators. Within each category of art is included a selection of those who have achieved national and international recognition; those who have been recognized locally, and some, now deceased, who markedly influenced their contemporaries locally, nationally, or internationally. This is not a critical compilation; rather it is an objective and factual reference work for those interested in contemporary Canadian culture. Information was collected by painstaking research in a wide variety of sources, and wherever possible it has been verified by the artist to make each entry as accurate and comprehensive as possible.

This book is the only comprehensive bibliography of Canadian folklore in English. The 3877 different items are arranged by genres: folktales; folk music and dance; folk speech and naming; superstitions, popular beliefs, folk medicine, and the supernatural; folk life and customs; folk art and material culture; and within genres by ethnic groups: Anglophone and Celtic, Francophone, Indian and Inuit, and other cultural groups. The items include reference books, periodicals, articles, records, films, biographies of scholars and informants, and graduate theses. Each items is annotated through a coding that indicates whether it is academic or popular, its importance to the scholar, and whether it is suitable for young people. The introduction includes a brief survey of Canadian folklore studies, putting this work into academic and social perspective. The book covers all the important items and most minor items dealing with Canadian folklore published in English up to the end of 1979. It is concerned with legitimate Canadian folklore – whether transplanted from other countries and preserved here, or created here to reflect the culture of this country. It distinguishes between authentic folklore presented as collected and popular treatments in which the material has been rewritten by the authors. Intended primarily for scholars of folklore, international as well as Canadian, the book will also be of use to scholars in anthropology, cultural geography, oral history, and other branches of Canadian culture studies, as well as to librarians, teachers, and the general public.

"In these two volumes, which replace the Reader's Guide to Canadian History, experts provide a select and critical guide to historical writing about pre- and post-Confederation Canada, with an emphasis on the most recent scholarship" -- Cover.

Mapping Canada’s Music is a selection of writings by the late Canadian music librarian and historian Helmut Kallmann (1922–2012). Most of the essays deal with aspects of Canadian music, but some are also autobiographical, including one written during retirement in which Kallmann recalls growing up in a middle-class Jewish family in 1930s Berlin under the spectre of Nazism. Of the seventeen selected writings by Kallmann, five have never before been published; many of the others are from difficult-to-locate sources. They include critical and research essays, reports, reflections, and memoirs. Each chapter is prefaced with an introduction by the editors. Two initial chapters offer a biography of Kallmann and an assessment of his contributions to Canadian music. The variety, breadth, and scope of these writings confirm Kallmann’s pioneering role in Canadian music research and the importance of his legacy to the cultural life of his adopted country. In the current climate of cuts to archival collections and services, the publication of these essays by and about a pre-eminent collector and historian serves as a timely reminder of the importance of cultural memory.

The foremost historian of Canadian music and musical life, Helmut Kallmann is the inspiration for this volume. Its twenty-three contributions, written by prominent composers and writers representing many different regions and both national languages, present a cross-section of current work in historical research, bibliography, analysis, criticism, and creative composition. Among the subjects covered are bibliographical and historian research on recent musical findings from New France and on early musical activities in various Canadian cities and regions; critical appraisals of Canadian composers and performers; and surveys of Canadian musical organizations and their programs. Four short compositions have been written especially for the volume. The title is drawn from two early Canadian musical periodicals, the English-language Musical Canada and the French-language Le Canada musical. As those journals did for their time, so this volume provides a contemporary overview of Canadian music and music scholarship.

What is music -- where does it come from and what does it mean? If music is in the background, and no one listens to it, does it still exist? Why do composers write music, and how do they learn their profession? What about Canadian music -- a regional dialect of this "universal language"? How has it been created inside the country -- how well is it understood abroad? Music papers are reflections from a life of composing and teaching. These articles, talks and reviews, whether intended originally for general or professional audiences, communicate a passion for music rooted in a North American culture and place, informed by long and loving familiarity with masterpieces from elsewhere. Also included are alternative versions of the early life of Glenn Gould, proofs of the existence of musical life in Toronto, and some questions still unanswered.