Lawrence Mason

Mason, Lawrence

Lawrence Mason. Critic, b Chicago 8 Oct 1882, d Toronto 9 Dec 1939; PH D (Yale) 1916. He studied at Harvard U and Yale U and taught English at the latter for 17 years before his appointment in 1924 as music and drama critic for the Toronto Globe (after 1936 the Globe and Mail). He also was editor of the Globe's Saturday page 'Music in the Home - Concert - The Drama.' In his writings he staunchly supported the fledgling TSO. In 1925 he wrote an 11-part survey (4 Jul-26 Sep) of music and drama in communities of southwest Ontario; in 1936 he compiled bibliographies (actually biographies with bibliographic additions, and published 30 May-31 Oct) of 18 Canadian composers. He also contributed some 130 Canadian entries to Thompson's International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (New York 1938). Mason travelled widely in Canada and visited Great Britain as a lecturer, reporter, and drama adjudicator. On his death, John S. Atkinson, director of the Canadian Bureau for the Advancement of Music, wrote that he was 'a fine, fair, capable music critic, and a friend and strong supporter of every development of the love of music in the mind of the public and especially of children... He was keenly interested in the development of Canadian talent and a great supporter of music festivals throughout Canada' (Globe and Mail, 11 Dec 1939).