Bernardus G. Bogisch

Bernardus G. Bogisch, 'Ben'. Bandmaster, composer, pianist, teacher, born The Hague 2 Nov 1932, died Napanee, Ont 9 Sep 2012; ARCM 1965, LTCL 1965, Associate LCM 1965. He emigrated to Canada in 1953 and became a musician with the Canadian armed forces, performing on the trumpet, french horn, and clarinet. As a clarinetist with the Royal Canadian Artillery Band he travelled extensively in Europe and Korea, and, as a civilian pianist he toured 1956-9 in Europe with a gypsy ensemble led by Sarközi Veres Lajos. Returning to Canada and the military, he served 1959-62 with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Band in Edmonton. He took courses in band conducting 1962-5 in England at the RMSM (Kneller Hall), where he won seven out of a possible eleven awards; he also earned diplomas from Trinity College and the Royal College of Music. Returning to Canada, he was briefly (1965) music director of the Royal Canadian Dragoons Band in Gagetown, NB. Later that year he was appointed musical training officer at the Canadian Forces School of Music in Victoria, BC, in which capacity he wrote books on harmony, military band instrumentation, and aural development, for the exclusive use of the Canadian armed forces.

In 1970 he became music director for the Naden Band, Victoria, which he led in hundreds of concerts at home and abroad. In 1975 he was posted to the Canadian Forces Stadacona Band in Halifax, NS. A major in the Canadian armed forces at his retirement in 1983, Bogisch composed pieces for band, including the overture Chebucto (1968) and Huronian Episode (1971), both published by Boosey & Hawkes, and The Legionnaire, official march of the Royal Canadian Legion from 1994 to 2006. In 1978 Bogisch constructed a clavichord and in 1979, a harpsichord, and using these and several dulcimers which he designed and built, he gave lectures and performances in New Brunswick featuring both folk music and baroque and pre-baroque keyboard music. He was heard on the 1988 Atlantic Satellite Network program 'New Faces' performing on clavichord and dulcimer. He prepared a music sequence for the Nova Scotia Tattoo held in July 1991.