Volume 23 Issue 7 - April 2018

This early exposure to landscape painting left a deep impression
on Raminsh. His concept for this new work was to reflect the many
regions of Canada, which led him to poets such as Newfoundland’s
Agnes Walsh (b. 1950); Milton Acorn (1923–1986) of P.E.I.; Quebecer
Anne Hébert (1916–2000); Barbara Klar (b. 1966) from Saskatoon;
Frederick George Scott (1861–1944), known as the Poet of the
Laurentians; English-born Vancouverite, Marjorie Pickthall (1883–
1922); and Mohawk-English writer and stage performer, Pauline
Johnson (1861–1913). The work’s eight movements are highly
contrasting in mood and temperament, appropriate to the range of the
poetry. The choir is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble that
includes flutist Robert Aitken and clarinetist James Campbell.
So what was it about Elmer Iseler that made him unique among
choral conductors? In preparation for the upcoming concert, I asked
a number of current and past members of his choirs for their insights
and memories.
Current artistic director Lydia Adams remembers how after
returning from England, studying at the Royal College of Music and
the National Opera Studio, and having learned so much from Sir David
Willcocks (1919–2015), “it was more than interesting to find myself
working with Elmer and his marvellous choir. As the pianist for the
Elmer Iseler Singers, I was able to watch, listen and discover how he
was able to make magic with sound, and I watched as he crafted the
sound to reflect the music. Everything was always connected to the
text and the music reflecting that text. Nothing was ever sung in an
ordinary manner. Every musical moment had a purpose and a musical
and emotional intent. Elmer lived in a rarified space of creating magic
with sound, and he inspired so many of us to do the same. How
fortunate we were!”
Robert Missen, who sang in all of Iseler’s professional choirs and
who serves as the Elmer Iseler Singers’ artist representative, also
commented on Iseler’s craftsmanship. “His rehearsal techniques
were second to none, his ear unerring,” he writes. “On the road he
would nimbly make adjustments to turn unfamiliar venues into as
congenial a choral acoustic as possible. A consummate showman,
he created programs that appealed to a broad range of audiences. He
would always include a huge proportion of Canadian works, including
popular folksong arrangements such as Song for the Mira.” By the
time of his death in 1998, writes Missen, Iseler had garnered high
praise from some of the world’s most distinguished choral eminences,
including Britain’s Sir David Willcocks, Estonia’s Tõnu Kaljuste and
America’s Robert Shaw and Margaret Hillis. “Canada is a major force
on the contemporary international choral scene thanks in no small
part to Elmer Iseler.”
Maggie McCoy, a student of Iseler and now the director of marketing
for the Ottawa Choral Society, remembers Iseler’s talent as a teacher.
“Elmer Iseler was possibly the most important influence on, not just
my musical education, but on my entire way of seeing the world,”
she says. “He was a kindly but challenging teacher who taught his
students to seek beauty... in music, in literature, in art, in the heavens,
and most importantly, in the small miracles of the natural world. I
don’t really know who I would have become if I had not met him as a
young person. He opened my eyes and my mind.”
Stephen Powell, a tenor in the Elmer Iseler Singers from 1991 to
2005, says this: “Interpretively, Elmer was a man of the big phrase,
and by phrase I don’t mean notes simply linked together, but rather
an overarching musical concept encompassing the entire musical
content. ‘No two notes,’ he said, ‘should ever sound the same.’ Powell
recalls how in the spring of 1997, shortly after his return from brain
surgery, “Elmer was rehearsing with us Healey Willan’s short motet
Who is she that ascendeth? which begins with three 4/4 bars scored
for double soprano and alto. As he worked on this section repeating
it several times, I realized that every beat in every bar was laden with
purpose and meaning. The master was back.
“For me, Elmer was one of the greats and I’m glad to have worked
with him so closely. Beneath his musical proficiency there was
passion, warmth, commitment and meaning, all providing a musical
outlook which I could relate to strongly and which influences me to
this day.”
Jean Stilwell sang in the Festival Singers under Iseler, along with
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