Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge
Canada’s Popular Flute Virtuoso
by Bob Arlidge
Since my teen years in the late 1960’s, I have had a growing curiosity but only a smattering of knowledge about my great-grandfather, Joseph Churchill Arlidge. A brief biographical sketch in an old book in our basement told me he had been a flutist, organist and teacher in late 19th century Toronto.1 Searches in other published texts revealed little new information. My aunt Helen Lambert, one of his 3 surviving grandchildren, noted my interest and over time gave me her entire collection of his artifacts. This included; several photographs, professional and personal correspondence, published biographical sketches, compositions, a diploma, a booklet written by him, a costume he had worn, his marriage certificate and some promotional materials. With assistance from other family members and substantial research, I have now been able to piece together a more complete picture of his life and musical career.
Background and Early Career
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Born on March 17, 1849 in Stratford on Avon Warwickshire, Joseph Churchill was the only child of a Joseph Augustine Arlidge and his wife, Henrietta Theresa (pictured with Joseph). The Arlidge family had been ‘potters’ or brick-makers for several generations and although Joseph Augustine’s trade was listed as ‘Brick Manufacturer’ on his marriage registration in 1848, it was recorded as ‘Land Surveyor’ on Joseph’s birth registration in 1849.
Joseph began his study of the flute at the early age of six. Family lore states that he had a respiratory condition and upon entering school, was told he should play a wind instrument to “help keep his lungs clear”. It is also known that his father’s brother, Christopher Arlidge, had been an amateur flutist as early as 1850 and may have provided the inspiration for Joseph’s choice of musical instrument.2
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Joseph’s progress on his chosen instrument must have been swift. By 1857, Joseph now 8, was studying with Benjamin Wells, a noted flutist, and later also with Antonio Minasi at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Here, he also studied piano and organ under James Coward and would continue with these lessons until 1860.
Other teachers of Joseph’s would later include the flutists; Oluf Svendsen – a noted performer and member of the Crystal Palace Orchestra and the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Robert Sydney Pratten – a virtuoso performer and flute designer, and George Rudall – a flutist and teacher, whose greatest fame came from the innovative design and lasting quality of the instruments manufactured by his firm, Rudall, Rose, Carte and Company.
Joseph’s debut performance was in a concert given at the Crystal Palace for Queen Victoria in 1858 or 1859. [sources differ] This concert was organised by the conductor and composer, Sir Julius Benedict. Joseph provided a flute obbligato for Euphrosyne Parepa, a popular operatic singer who had first appeared in London in 1857, as well as playing a flute solo. His performance has been described thus:
…with such marked success as to guarantee his taking a first place as a flute soloist in the musical world.3
[Jessie Lay, the eldest surviving granddaughter of Joseph’s, claims that he received the Rudall, Rose, Carte and Co. silver cylinder flute that he played from this time onwards, as a gift from Queen Victoria for this performance.] Subsequently, Joseph would go on tour with Euphrosyne Parepa as well as with the singer Helen Sherrington, although little is presently known about the details of these tours.
In 1860, Joseph now 11, entered into a two-year professional engagement at the Royal Polytechnic on Regent Street, London. This institution was famous for its spectacular “magic lantern shows” [a precursor to silent movies, but created with multiple projected slides] as well as other scientific innovations.
Again in 1862, Joseph was contracted to perform every day for two years, but this time at the Royal Colosseum on Albany Street, London. [A similar institution that offered dioramas of famous cities, popular lectures, musical entertainments, etc.] Here, he performed every morning and every evening billed as “The Eminent Juvenile Flautist”.4
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A quote taken from the London Times, during this period, gives some indication of Joseph’s abilities as a performer:
The solo of Master Arlidge on the flute was exceedingly clever, and deserves special mention. His self-possession was remarkable and quite unalloyed by affectation or obtrusiveness. There was none of the straining or obviously painful effort which we generally see in precocious performers. On the contrary, the most difficult passages were given with an ease which very much added to the charm of the performance.
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In 1864, Joseph now 15 composed a set of variations on Elizabethan melodies for the Shakespearian Tercentenary Festival held in Stratford that year. According to the letters from a Mr. H. Kingsley, secretary for the festival committee, he performed these to a piano accompaniment, during the second week of the festival. Also in this year, the London Times announces that Joseph would be the only flutist at a concert given by a Mr. Dawson at St. James Hall where Mme. Parepa was to perform, Arabella Goddard would be the pianist, and Arthur Sullivan was to be one of the conductors.
There is speculation and some evidence, that Joseph may have received aristocratic patronage. Several ‘carte-de-visite’ pictures of elaborately dressed individuals can be found among his artifacts. One is a picture of the Duchess of Hamilton, a known patroness of the arts.
George Rudall’s flute company, also in the year 1864, posted the following notice in the London Times, Feb. 23. [capitalization retained]
RUDALL, ROSE, CARTE, and Co’s STANDARD CYLINDER FLUTE-Messrs. BENJAMIN WELLS, Rockstro, Drew Dean, Arlidge, &c., PERFORM on this instrument, and will be happy to explain its advantages, at 20 Charing-cross; 48 Cheapside; No. 201 Regent street; and the Oxford
Other, similar notices appear in the London Times during this period, announcing Joseph’s concerts and stating that he shall be performing on one of their flutes. It would seem as if Joseph at the tender age of 15, had already become something of a celebrity, at least to the London public, and that Rudall’s company was using his celebrity to promote the sale of their flutes.
In 1866, Joseph left England to continue his studies for the next three years in Belgium. He was enrolled at Melle College boarding school [near Ghent] while attending the Brussels Conservatory. Here, he studied flute with Oluf Svendsen, piano, organ and theory with Jacques Lemmens, as well as conducting, chorus and orchestral theory. Following this, Joseph spent the next two years studying music in Paris. Upon returning to England, “he resumed concert playing in association with the best London artists.”5
At about this same time, 1870, Joseph’s father writes a leaflet to announce the opening of his own school: a private college to prepare boys for the world of commerce, at his home, ‘Osborne Villa’, Acacia Grove, New Malden, Surrey. His son, J.C. Arlidge is listed as Professor of French, German and Music. I presume that Joseph taught at the school for the next few years as well as continuing with his concert career.
First Trip to America
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In 1873 or 1874, [sources differ] Joseph left England again, but this time, to come to America. This is referred to as an “experimental trip” in some of his biographies, but family lore states that he had a long-standing romantic attraction to his first cousin, Olivia Mary Arlidge. She had come with her father, Christopher and family to Canada in 1870, where they were now living in Yorkville. [Then a separate village north of Toronto.] Christopher was employed in a brickyard there.
The first reference to Joseph in North America was found in The New York Times. An announcement for “Gilmore’s Twenty-Second Regiment Band” promoting a concert on Monday evening, March 30, 1874, lists “Mr. J.C. Arlidge, solo flute, late of London” as one of the featured soloists. [This band would go on to become one of the first nationally known bands in America. Gilmore himself, had become director of the 22nd Regiment Band in the previous year, and was already a national musical figure due to the World Peace Jubilee held in Boston, in 1872.]
At some point during 1874, Joseph publishes the first composition that I have a copy of - a sentimental song for baritone voice and piano entitled “Remembrances of Childhood” in Rochester, New York. [This entire piece can be viewed on the website for The American Library of Congress, in the section entitled ‘American Memory’. Copies of this piece also reside at the Sibley Music Library in Rochester, New York and at Florida State University Music Library in a collection of sheet music attributed to a Corinne Turnbull.]
Late in 1874, Joseph came to Toronto and married his cousin Olivia, on December 2nd. According to their marriage certificate, they were wed in the Regular Baptist Church in Yorkville and Christopher, Olivia’s father, was a witness. Also in that year, Joseph was appointed first organist and choirmaster of the [then] newly erected Carlton Street Methodist Church.
In September of the following year, 1875, Joseph and Olivia’s first child, Joseph Augustine (Gus) Arlidge was born. Named after Joseph’s father, Gus would eventually go on to establish his own career in music.
On November 26 of 1875, Mr. J.C. Arlidge is listed as a flute soloist in the concert program for Torrington’s Toronto Philharmonic Society. He played two solo items in the concert: ”Duo Concertante” by Bucher and Benedict (with Mr. Collins on piano) and “Du, Du, Liegst Mir Am Herzen” by F. Boehme. This would mark the beginning of a long musical relationship between Joseph and Frederick Torrington.
During this same year, Joseph publishes another song in Rochester. This composition, entitled “Farewell,” is based on a text by Lord Byron and is for piano and tenor voice. The title page bears the inscription, “Dedicated to and Sung by the Popular English Tenor, F. H. Howell”
The only other information I have for Joseph from this time is a newspaper clipping from The Daily Globe, Tuesday, February 16, 1875 that reads:
Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge receives pupils for instruction on the piano, flute and in singing and harmony. Terms on application to his residence, 8 Grenville Street, Toronto.
Back to England
Sometime late in 1875, the proud parents, Joseph, Olivia and their new son Gus, return to England. Joseph goes back to teaching with his father, but at a new college in Wimbledon, Surrey, called ‘Holm Elms.’ Over the next ten years, seven more children are born to Joseph and Olivia although four die in infancy. Burial records for two of these children have been found at Gap Road Cemetery, Wimbledon.
In 1878, Joseph’s father dies at 53 years of age and Joseph becomes headmaster. Four years later, Joseph’s mother is remarried to a man named Emmanuel Francon whose trade is recorded as “Professor of Languages” on their marriage registration. Joseph and his family relocate to Hayling Island, England where they remain for the next few years. Unfortunately, little is known about Joseph’s musical activities during this period. His mother, now Henrietta Francon, would continue to run ‘Holm Elms’ school until her death in 1897, at 74 years of age. Both of Joseph’s parents are buried in Wimbledon.
Canada to Stay
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Joseph and his family [now 5 children] returned to Canada in 1885.6 He was very active musically from this time until the decade before his death. Joseph was always employed at one of Toronto’s leading churches. He was organist and choir director at the following; Church of the Redeemer from 1885 to 1886, Carlton Street Methodist Church, where he ‘opened’ the organ in 1874, from 1887 to 1892, Christ Church, Mimico from 1892 to 1897, Christ Church, Deer Park (pictured above) from 1898 to 1902, Bonar Presbyterian from 1902, and at the time of his death, organist at St. John the Evangelist, Garrison Church. Although Joseph was steadily employed in Toronto, it is believed that he and his family lived in Peterborough, for a short period prior to 1892.7
The Grip, a Toronto magazine, commented on seven church choirs that they described as “really excellent ones,” in their May 31, 1890 edition. They had this to say about the fourth one:
Carleton Street Methodist church has a choir which, though comparatively small, has no reason to fear comparison with any of its neighbours. The conductor and organist is Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge.
Teaching music, and particularly the flute, kept Joseph busy for many years. He taught flute at both the Toronto College of Music and at The Toronto Conservatory of Music at different times during the period 1887-1901. According to the yearbooks for these two schools, he was teaching at the Conservatory in its opening year in 1887, and then switched to the College for its opening year in 18888. His last year at either of these institutions, was the 1900/1901 school year when he was teaching flute, piccolo and voice at the Toronto College of Music.
According to the concert program, the First Toronto Musical Festival was held in the Caledonia Curling Club Rink, Mutual Street, in June of 1886. One of the greatest opera singers of her time, Lilli Lehmann, performed “Thema and Variations” by Mozart, to a flute obbligato provided by Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge. Joseph is also listed as the first of two flutists in the orchestra.
In a review of Mr. Torrington’s Amateur Orchestra, in the July 15th, 1887 edition of The Musical Journal, the writer said this about Joseph’s solo:
Mr. Arlidge as usual brought down the house with his variations on the National Anthem, showing his facile execution to excellent advantage, and his encore, the simple melody of “Home, Sweet Home!” played without even a grace note, was a gem of genuine merit, conceived with the soul of the artist, and performed with the finish and delicacy of the virtuoso.
In the program for Mr. Torrington’s Orchestra, December 13 1888, the ninth item is a “Flute Solo by Mr. Arlidge”, and ‘J. C. Arlidge’ is the first of four flutists listed. In 1890, Joseph is again found in Torrington’s Orchestra. Here he is described as “flute soloist” and “assistant to the conductor.”
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For some years, Joseph led a group he called “The Toronto Flute Quartette” which was made up of 3 of his best pupils as well as himself. According to The Globe, February 21, 1887,
The popular concert in Shaftesbury hall on Saturday evening, under the direction of Mr. J. C. Arlidge, was well attended. The Toronto Flute Quartette, composed of Mr. Arlidge and his pupils, Messrs. Lubraico, Glionna and Lye, made an excellent impression and showed careful practice.
Later, in the same article, it tells us that, “The piano accompaniments of Mr. Torrington were all that could be desired.”
On February 10, 1888, The Globe prints a revue of a similar concert at the Pavilion. Joseph is again the music director.
…a pleasing impression was produced by Mr. Herbert L. Clarke with cornet solos and Mr. J. C. Arlidge with a flute solo. The music of the Toronto Flute Quartette composed of Messrs. Arlidge, Lubraico, Glionna and H. Lye, was greeted with well-merited applause.
[Considering Joseph’s composing abilities and the uncommon grouping of instruments, it is likely that he was writing or arranging material for this quartet. He was composing up until 1905, 9 if not later.] It is unfortunate that we have so few documents of Joseph’s compositional skills.
Before listing more of his notable performances and musical associations, I would like to quote from The Grip, a Toronto magazine, on May 31, 1890, as they describe Joseph’s abilities.
This is what makes us so proud of Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge as a townsman, for example. This gentleman is a master of the flute, and one of the few artists who are able to convey to the hearer the possibilities of that little instrument. It is a revelation to hear Arlidge play. Technical difficulties, yea, the flute itself is forgotten, and we are only conscious of a melody almost impossibly beautiful, elaborately ornamented with variations of more than fairy delicacy.
On February 25, 1896, an article in The Globe announces that Joseph has been contracted to perform with the extremely popular Canadian singer, Emma Albani, at Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, within the following week. Although no reviews of these performances have been found, on Tuesday, February 23, the following year, The Globe published a detailed review of Albani’s concert at Massey Hall. The writer tells us, “The place was jammed veritably from dome to pit.” He also makes the following comments about Albani’s performance:
It is hard to have to say that Madame Albani herself was a great disappointment to many.” Later he states, “The trills also in this were anything but clear cut, and the high note at the end was so fearfully flat as to be positively painful.
The same writer has this to say in regards to Joseph:
Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge, by his flute obbligato to Madame Albani’s “Lucia” number, and his solo in the second part, ”Plasir d’Amour” (“Romance di Martini”), showed him to be a finished artist.
During the late 1890’s, a heated dispute is taking place in the media between the representative for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and some of Canada’s leading musicians. The Associated Board was offering impartial examinations at the same world standard as the schools that it represented. Many notable Canadian musicians seemed to be against this idea. Both Frederick Torrington and Edward Fisher, principals of the Toronto College of Music and the Toronto Conservatory of Music, respectively, as well as several other prominent musicians, were on the Canadian Protesting Committee against the Introduction into Canada of Musical Examinations by Outside Musical Examining Bodies in 1899. During this same year, Joseph writes a letter to Samuel Aitken, the secretary of the Associated Board of Examiners, to voice his support for these examinations. His letter was quoted on page 19 of Aitken’s pamphlet, “The Case of the Associated Board”.
Mr. J. C. Arlidge
Writes, March 18th, 1899: “I am of the opinion that all the members of the musical profession in Canada, who are in sympathy with the Associated Board of the R.A.M. and R.C.M., should express their appreciation of the great advantages offered by the establishment of local examinations in music. Actions speak louder than words, so I, to show my hearty sympathy with the Associated Board, intend to present one of my pupils as a candidate at the next examination and shall endeavor to send several next year. Wishing every success to the Associated Board in its laudable enterprise, etc.”
Joseph did present one of his pupils for examination that year. In a personal letter dated June 13 of 1899, Joseph states that his own son, Gus, has just successfully completed the senior singing exam by this same Associated Board of Examiners. He goes on to tell us who the examiners were; “Fred H. Cowen (one of the foremost musicians in England) and Graham Moore”, what pieces and exercises Gus performed, and where the exam took place.
At some point in 1902, Joseph announced the opening of his own school, “The Toronto Academy of Music” at his home address on St. Clarens Avenue. In a clipping from an unknown Toronto newspaper, he states the following about it:
…lately established under his [Joseph’s] direction for complete course of instruction in all branches of music. Annual examinations by the Examiners of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, London, England.
It is interesting to note, that Joseph is no longer teaching at either of the leading schools of music in Toronto as of this year. Also interesting, is the fact that three years after writing his letter to Mr. Aitken, Joseph still maintains his support of the Associated Board. Although Joseph himself was a product of this institution, this was likely a difficult and unpopular position to maintain.
The Toronto Star, on Saturday, November 30, 1901, published an announcement on page 14, stating that The Toronto Symphony Orchestra would give its “first grand orchestral concert” on December 5th, at Massey Hall. The conductor was Mr. James Dickinson. In describing the soloists, they said the following: “J. Churchill Arlidge, flautist, is without a peer in America.”
The thirty-first anniversary services of the Independent Order of Foresters took place at Massey Hall on Sunday, June 18, 1903.
The music was under the direction of Bro. J. Churchill Arlidge, High Organist, of the High Court of Central Ontario, while the Sherwood Forest Male Quartette, consisting of Bros. William Moore, J. Augustine Arlidge, E. R. Bowles and Theo. B. Arlidge gave very fine renderings of “When the Weary Seek Rest,” and the “Glory Song.10
The other Arlidges mentioned above were Joseph’s two oldest sons. During the period 1885 to 1898, in fact, six more children are born to Joseph and Olivia. One of these dies in 1893 and two more die in an Isolation Hospital in 1901. From the total of fourteen children born to Joseph and his wife Olivia, only seven would survive him.
Several of these would go on to establish professional careers in music; Gus was a tenor soloist, as well as choirmaster, at several Toronto churches before moving to Calgary in 1917. There, he continued in these capacities at Knox Church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, and others. Theophils, a bass vocalist, performed in Toronto on numerous occasions and was, at times, listed as “Music Instructor” in city directories. Henrietta, taught piano and was the organist at St. Alban the Martyr in Acton, Ontario for many years. Theresa was a piano and voice teacher throughout her career, as well as being a soprano soloist at All Saints Church. Her students included the children of Eddy Black (of camera store fame) and members of the Mirvish family.
Joseph’s last child, born in 1898, was Victor Conybeare Arlidge, my grandfather. Victor, only 15 when his father died, was a student of Dr. Albert Ham and was tenor soloist as well as musical director, at St. John’s Church, West Toronto. He was a member of the Tudor Singers, a select choir of 10 voices, directed by Healey Willan. He sang for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Merrymakers (at Sunnyside) and was a member of the Arts and Letters Club. He also taught singing at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, during the 1920’s.
The events listed so far certainly do not create a comprehensive picture of the scope of Joseph’s performance career in any way – only some of the published highlights. In 1903, Joseph had a promotional booklet printed [seen below] in which several reviews of his concerts, mainly as a solo artist, are included. Although no dates are given, we see that these performances were staged in the following centers; Rochester, Hamilton, Columbus, Montreal, Petrolia, Lindsay, Brampton and Peterborough. The reviewer from Lindsay, tells us this about his performance in the Canada Post:
Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge took the audience by storm with his magnificent flute playing. He is a finished performer and of ability very seldom reached. His tone is sweet, clear and powerful, while attitude and technique are faultless.
Throughout his life, Joseph had been a member of several benevolent fraternities and organizations. He was a high-ranking member of the St. Andrews Masonic Lodge. [A large lithograph still exists which portrays a congregation of Masons – King Edward is in front and center, and Joseph is just behind him and to his left.] Joseph was also a lifetime member of the Saint George’s Society. He was a member of the [then] Canadian Guild of Organists and as noted earlier, was also a high-ranking member (High Organist) of the Court Sherwood Forest, Independent Order of Foresters.
In the spring of 1907, a Grand Jury was struck in Toronto, to examine the state of most public institutions and services. They examined the Toronto Asylum, The Toronto Prison and the Toronto Suburban Railway. They also examined the most common crimes before the courts and made their recommendations. Joseph was one of the fourteen members of that jury.
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In order to facilitate teaching and to encourage students to practice, Joseph published a small booklet in 1907 entitled, “The Arlidge Practice Record for Students of Music.” This is a booklet of blank forms for any music student to record their practice assignments and work times in, with a two-page preface by the author. [Apart from the copy in my possession, the British Library holds one other.]
Joseph also appears to have been closely involved with the Toronto Y.M.C.A. for some time. In 1888, he was the conductor of a youth orchestra there, and in 1894, was music director at a Y.M.C.A. ‘entertainment’. This was not the first time Joseph had applied his substantial talents to helping others. I have a letter addressed to Joseph from “Customs Orphanage” [a home for children of deceased officers in London] dated 24th November 1866. It reads:
Sir, I am directed by the President and committee of the Customs Orphanage to thank you for your services at the Concert given on Wednesday last in behalf of the fund of that Institution, also to state that they highly appreciate your kindness on that occasion. The result of the Concert far exceeds their expectations and the large profit obtained will be a great benefit to the orphanage.
On January 22, 1913, Joseph Churchill Arlidge died at his home after several weeks’ illness. His burial record states the cause of his death as “Hepatic Tumour”. [Cancer of the liver] Detailed obituaries were published in several Toronto newspapers the following day; Toronto World, Globe & Mail, The Evening Telegram, and The Toronto Star.
The next month, February 1913, the following eulogy was published in the Canadian Music Trades Journal.
Prominent Musician Deceased
In the death of Professor J.C. Arlidge, Toronto loses a musician of rare skill, and whose passing away removes an important member of that rank of musician, whose supreme object in life is to elevate mankind, both by means of his talent, and by personal life and influence. Professor Arlidge was a flautist, pianist and organist and a composer, and at the time of his death was organist of the Anglican Church of St. John the Evangelist. He had made important tours with famous musicians, including Madame Albani. He had played before crowned heads in Europe, including the late Queen Victoria, with whose son, the late King Edward, he was personally acquainted. Professor Arlidge came first to Canada in 1873, but soon returned to England, again coming to Canada in 1884 and settling in Toronto. He is survived by a widow, four sons and three daughters, several of whom are musicians.
From the time of the above until the present day, very little has been published about Joseph or his accomplishments. There are two exceptions that I would like to mention, however. In 1932, The Etude Music Magazine began publishing a series of thumbnail pictures and brief biographies called The Etude Historical Musical Portrait Series: The World’s Best-Known Musicians. Joseph was included in October 1940, with some new information. It stated that he “appeared with Calve, Lilli Lehman, Sembrich and others.” [Emma Calve and Marcella Sembrich had both been members of the Metropolitan Opera Company during the 1899 season. That year began with a lengthy tour that included Toronto and Montreal.]
In 1960, Helmut Kallmann published, A History of Music in Canada 1534-1914, which is considered to be one of the first truly scholarly works on Canadian music history. At the bottom of page 147, in a footnote, he wrote: “Of the many other pioneer musicians in Toronto we can mention only the flautist J. Churchill Arlidge…” This brief mention, when I first encountered it, was one of the things that inspired me to begin investigating Joseph’s career.
I don’t regard my research of Joseph’s career to be finished, but now that I have been able to assemble this much material and information, the question arose as to what should be done with it. In 1997, I donated the costume of Joseph’s that he had worn at the Crystal Palace performance, to the Royal Ontario Museum. I also supplied them with a photograph of Joseph, as well as other supporting information. In February 2004, I donated the 3 compositions of Joseph’s, as well as a poster of him and a copy of the same photo, to the Music Division of the National Library in Ottawa. At the time of this writing, I am very pleased to say that an entry on Joseph is being prepared, based on my research, for inclusion into The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. As a result of these donations and inclusions, and with this present publication, I am confident that Mr. J. Churchill Arlidge will begin to take his rightful place in Canadian music history.
Published Sources
Adam, G. Mercer. Toronto, Old and New. Toronto: The Mail Printing Co., 1891.
Aitken, Samuel. The Case of the Associated Board. Toronto: 1899
The Canadian Protesting Committee. An Account of the Canadian Protest against the Introduction into Canada of Musical Examinations by Outside Musical Examining Bodies, Toronto, 1899.
Godfrey, H.H. (compiler) Musical Toronto 2nd ed.; Toronto: 1898-1899
Godfrey, H.H. (compiler) Musical Toronto Souvenir ed.; Toronto: 1907
Jones, Gaynor G. The Fisher years: the Toronto Conservatory of Music, 1886-1913. Toronto: Institute for Canadian Music, 1989
Kallmann, Helmut. A History of Music in Canada 1534-1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1960
The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Ed. H.Kallmann, G.Potvin, K.Winters, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981
McCoy, Guy. (ed.) Portraits of the World’s Best-Known Musicians. Philadelphia: Theodore Presser Co., 1946
Toronto Conservatory of Music. Yearbooks. Toronto: begins 1887
Toronto College of Music. Yearbooks. Toronto: begins 1888
The Grip. Toronto: The Grip Engraving Co., 1873 –1894
The Canadian Musician. Toronto: Whaley, Royce & Co., 1889-1906
Canadian Music Trades Journal. Toronto: Fullerton Publishing Co., 1900-32
Digitized versions of the following newspapers; The Globe, The Toronto Star, The New York Times and The London Times
Collection of Historic Concert Programs. Toronto Reference Library
Photographs of Well – Known Flute Players 2nd ed. London: Rudall Carte, 1938
The Etude Music Magazine. Philadelphia: Theodore Presser Co., 1883-1957