We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

THE SCOOP | Elementary School Uncovers Composition by Glenn Gould

By Michael Vincent on May 27, 2015

Glenn Gould at the piano, ca 1946 (via Library and Archives of Canada)
Glenn Gould at the piano, ca 1946 (via Library and Archives of Canada)

A “hidden treasure” was uncovered at Williamson Road Junior Public School in the Beaches area of Toronto. Housed in a room full of keepsakes, the elementary school found an early piece written by piano legend Glenn Gould while preparing for the school’s 100th anniversary in 2014.

The piece titled “Our Gifts,” is dated March 25, 1943 and written when Gould would have been just ten years old. Originally penned in support of the Junior Red Cross, it is scored for piano and two voices (boys and girls) in D major, and would have been sold to raise funds for the charity for 10 cents each. With so few surviving copies, the find represents an important historical discovery.

"Our Gifts", by Glenn Gould. Score excerpt
“Our Gifts”, by Glenn Gould. Score excerpt

We are the boys, we are the girls of all the public schools

We have a Red Cross Job to do, to furnish all the tools;

So many fathers, brothers too, may have a chance to live

When wounded on the battlefield, they’ll live because we give

Noble the deed is, though small, the gift of aught we bring,

Whether of time or talents too, or any loving thing

For love for fellow man gives hope, where hope before had fled

And many men will live again, that little gifts have fed

In a nice full-circle moment, the grade 5 and 6 class school choir of Gould’s former elementary school will perform the piece this coming Saturday at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala. The event will honour Toronto actor R.H. Thomson with a lifetime achievement award.

#LUDWIGVAN

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter here and follow us on Facebook for all the latest.

Michael Vincent
Follow me

Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2024 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer