No. 1 - Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

Ben Horch: Dean of Mennonite conductors
In June of last year Mr. Ben Ho rch retired
formallv from his position as producer of
music programming at the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, Winnipeg. Hi s retirement
marked a milestone in a di stinguished
career, for in 1973 Mr. Horch completed
42 years of dedicated service to the cause of
serious music among Mennonites. His retirement
marked also the end of what has already
come to be known among Manitoba
Mennonites as "the Ben Horch years."
A brief resume elsewhere in these pages
sets forth in chronological order the many
positions that Mr. Horch has held since
1932. He has indeed served as "a man for
all seasons" _.. as voice teacher, as conductor
and admini strator, as resource person, edito r
and professional broadcaster. Impressive as
this published record is, it fails to capture and
transmit those qualities for w hich most
Mennonites remember him.
Thousa nds of Ma nitobans who have witnessed
and heard a "Ben Horch production"
associate him with Haydn's Creation or -
more especially - with Handel's Messiah.
What they recall most vividly are the dynamism
and exuberance of the conductor, as
well as the high artistic quality of the performances.
The many hundreds of Manitobans
wllo have sung in hi s choirs and played
in his orchestras share memories that transcend
in importance any formal music
training tlley may have received from Mr.
Horch; what they remember is the powerful
impact of a flamboyant personality in the
intensely dedicated exercise of his craft.
These amateur musicians will never forget
the electric excitement of a performance or
the magic of a rehearsal.
A Ben Horch rehearsal was a controlled
"happening," a disciplined romp. To encourage
receptiveness in his young musicians,
or to hold their attention when fatigue set
in, Mr. Horch would regale them with
anecdotes (apocraphyl, surely ) of tone-deaf
harpists, of young violin ists paralyzed with
stage fright or of old cellists simply paralyzed.
He pulled all the theatrical stops, and he
was the master of comic timing.
He was also a master of that dramatic
technique, change of pace and mood. When
anecdotes, witty word play and clever mime
fell on deaf ears or lazy eyes, Mr. Horch
12/ mennonite mirror / october 1974
could alter the atmosphe re instantaneously
wi th a stern phrase or a look of grave
displeasure.
On those rare occasions when neither
the comic nor the serious modes were
effective Mr. Horch played his trump card:
the expression of paternal weariness and
keen disappointment in those whom he had
trusted. This last technique gave Mr. HOI"ch
the psychological upper hand, and it never
(in my experi ence) failed; we felt that we
Ilad ve ry m uch wanted to please. He was,
after all, our "Uncle Ben."
The theatrical and dramatic skills so
esse ntial to the in spiration and motivation
of young music students surfaced in the
young Ben Horch early in his high school
days. For three consecutive years he pl ayed
the roles of clowns and "licensed fools" in
high school productions of Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night and As You Like It.
The director of the Anna Bronaugh Company
(a professional stock company from
England) was so impressed with young
Ben's comic skills that he offered him a
position as understudy to the lead ing man.
"I skipped so many Wednesdays to go to
the matinees that it affected my chemistry
results," says an older Ben Horch, still
sporting an impish grin that belongs in
Shakespearean comedy. This early involvement
in high school drama, the lure of the
professional stage ("$35 a month and all
expenses! ") and later particiaption in Winnipeg
Little Theatre nearly propelled Ben
Horch into a career as s tage actor.
Competing IV ith this strong interest in
theatre - yet in many ways complementing
it - was an interest in music, especially
singing. After win ning a festival competition
in the baritone class and finishing as runner-up
to the Tudor Bowl, the teen-aged frequenterof-theatres
was invited to join the Winnipeg
Male Voice Choir. He was its youngest member
at the t ime, and "an out-and-out
Romanticist," to use his phrase. His earliest
musical inspiration (excluding his home
environment) derived from Hugh Ross, conductor
of both the Winnipeg Male Voice
Choir and the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir,
and later Arturo Toscanini's chorus master
w ith the N.Y. Philharmonic and NBC
by Lloyd Siemens
The combined Winnipeg Mennonite
Symphony and the Winkler Schools
Orchestra at one of their annual combined
concerts at the Playhouse Theatre in the
late 1940s.