Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1946-present, 1965-present predominant (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
4281 events (1078 audio reels + 1146 audio cassettes + 1666 compact discs + ca. 2000 digital files + 3552 programs)
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Faculty of Music was created in 1918. The Senate of the University withdrew its affiliations with various music schools (Toronto College of Music and Royal Hamilton College of Music) and inaugurated a Faculty of Music to teach music and administer examinations. Along with his duties as music director of the Toronto Conservatory, Augustus Stephen Vogt was appointed Dean. “Courses of Instruction” were introduced, the first courses to be taught at the Faculty; which grew to offer courses with a full range of aspects involved with western music, including Jazz performance, ethnomusicology, and music and medicine.
In 1952, The Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music came under the same administration, placing a Dean in charge of both programs. The Conservatory would be known as The School of Music and was headed by a Principal. The Faculty of Music would be headed by a Director. In 1959 plans for an electronic music studio were announced, historically the second in a North American university. The Faculty regularly hosts events in one of its two theatres; MacMillan Theatre consisting of an 815-seat hall, designed for the production of operas and large ensemble concerts and named after former dean, Sir Ernest MacMillan. World-renowned for its excellent acoustics, and Walter Hall which commemorates Arnold Walter, Director of the Faculty from 1952-1968, Walter Hall was designed for chamber concerts and recitals. The house seats 490. The hall also contains a two-manual tracker-action Casavant organ.
In 1991, the School of Music/Royal Conservatory of Music separated and once again became its own institution.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Recordings transferred to the Music Library by the Faculty Recording Engineers.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Collection consists of recordings and programs of performances by by faculty members, students, student ensembles, and guest artists, at one of the Faculty of Music theatres (Walter Hall and MacMillan Theatre), and at other University venues.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Concerts are grouped into series by concert season, and into subseries based on the performers and concert series (e.g., Faculty and guest artists ; Faculty ensembles ; Jazz ; Student composers ; Thursday at Noon series ; Vocal studies series). Within each subseries, concerts are listed in the order that they were received by the Music Library.
Over the years, programs were collected in various ways: miscellaneous loose programs, origins unknown (1946-1986); in bound volumes by concert season, bound by the Music Library (1971-1996), including one volume for faculty events and another for student recitals and other large-format (8 1/2 in. x 11 in.) program pages, including the Thursday Afternoon Series; in binders, arranged in accession order and numbered with the recording identifier (1989-2013); and as digital transfers (PDF format) (2013-present). In addition to the programs digitized and itemized in this finding aid, the Faculty Events collection includes student recital programs (loose sheets, ca. 1967-1969; bound volumes, 1971-1996; binders, 1990-2003) and miscellaneous season calendars (1953-1977). Programs are arranged in chronological order on the shelf.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
From 1965 until about 1980, recordings were made on reel-to-reel tapes; reel-to-reel tapes were then replaced by audio cassettes, followed by compact discs in 1998. In 2013, concerts started to be recorded and stored digitally, with Flac preservation files and MP3 access copies. Starting in 2019, some concerts were also preserved as video, rather than, or in addition to, audio, recordings.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
For digital streaming copies of concerts, please contact the Music Library.
Related units of description
Some arrangements performed by the University of Toronto Vocal Jazz Ensemble, while under the direction of Lisa Martinelli (2000-2009), may be found in the Lisa Martinelli collection (OTUFM 75). Also see the Phil Nimmons fonds (OTUFM 30); Rob McConnell fonds (OTUFM 18); Frank Harmantas collection (OTUFM 79); and Michael Colgrass fonds (OTUFM 64) for manuscripts of compositions and arrangements performed by various Faculty of Music ensembles. Also see the Faculty of Music collection (OTUFM 04), which consists of promotional material generated by and for the Faculty of Music.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Dates of creation revision deletion
Last updated September 2024.