Robert Lenard Barclay

Barclay, Robert Lenard

Barclay (b Basham), Robert Lenard (b Leonard Edwin). Composer, writer, b Penticton, BC, 2 Feb 1918, naturalized US 1951; ATCM 1941, d Fort Lauderdale, Fla, 11 Mar 1980. He studied in Vancouver (with Arthur Benjamin) and Toronto and won two CPRS composition prizes (1938, 1939) before moving to the USA to study 1944-7 with Bernard Wagenaar and Frederick Jacobi at the Juilliard School. Barclay's works from his Canadian years, 1938-51, (listed in Catalogue of Canadian Composers) are tonally oriented and include works for orchestra and for strings, and duos for violin and piano and for clarinet and piano. His Set of Five (1938) was recorded by John Newmark (1958, RCI 134) and his Sonatine for piano (1947) by Ross Pratt (1951, RCI 47). His Symphony in One Movement (1950 Boosey & Hawkes - rental) had its European premiere in Baden-Baden over the Südwestfunk and has been performed in West Germany, Switzerland, and the USA. His works 1954-9 include three piano pieces, a duo for violin and piano, and a pavan for harp and strings, all published by Barger and Barclay. He was a partner of this small US publishing firm whose catalogue included Glenn Gould's String Quartet. Barclay's atonal Variations for Orchestra (1975) were premiered by the Indianapolis SO under Oleg Kavalenko at the 1976 Contemporary Music Festival at Indiana State U, where Barclay was artist-in-residence. He was a contributor during the 1950s to Music and Musicians and Records and Recordings.