Edwin Parkhurst

Parkhurst, Edwin

Edwin (Rodie) Parkhurst. Music and drama critic, b Dulwich, near London, 1848, d Toronto 10 Jun 1924. He studied the violin with George Hart in London and moved to Toronto in 1870. He was a reporter for the Mail and the Globe until specializing as music and drama critic for the Mail 1876-98 and the Globe 1898-1924. He was music editor of Saturday Night and in 1906 founded the magazine The Violin, which became Musical Canada in 1907 with Parkhurst as editor and proprietor until 1920. He owned a Joannes Baptista Guadagnini violin and participated in amateur chamber music performances. The Royal Song Folio which he compiled in 1886 was devoid of Canadian content. For nearly half a century Parkhurst was a major voice in English-language musical journalism.