Article

Howard Fogg

Published Online June 14, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Howard (Frank) Fogg. Violinist, conductor, composer, b Lewiston, Me, 27 Apr 1892, d Montreal 17 May 1953. After studying music in Lewiston, notably with Gustav Haanka, Fogg moved to Montreal in 1913. He served as a lieutenant during World War I with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Fogg, Howard

Howard (Frank) Fogg. Violinist, conductor, composer, b Lewiston, Me, 27 Apr 1892, d Montreal 17 May 1953. After studying music in Lewiston, notably with Gustav Haanka, Fogg moved to Montreal in 1913. He served as a lieutenant during World War I with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. With only six days remaining in the war he was wounded by shrapnel in the right forearm. Unable to play the violin, he continued his studies in harmony, composition, and conducting with Gaston Borsch. During the early 1920s Fogg directed Montreal's Melody Kings Dance Orchestra and recorded with them Ballet Egyptienne. He conducted and toured 1925-30 in Canada and the US with the Dumbells; Fogg's name appears on the Dumbells recordings 'Winter Will Come' and 'Lill' Old Granny Mine.' During this time he was music director of the 17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars.

Fogg prepared and directed a number of musical broadcasts on CNRM radio and later on the CBC. He was arranger and conductor for the Canadian Victor Talking Machine Co and a pioneer in composition and synchronization for Associated Screen News. In 1933 Fogg attempted to create his own music union and succeeded in opening several branches across Canada. During production of his Canadian cameo 'Shadow River,' which featured a performance of Fogg and the Associated Screen News Orchestra, a complaint was made against him for using non-union members. In the end Fogg's union venture failed.

In 1934 he wrote the music for the documentary Rhapsody in Two Languages, considered the first original composition for a Canadian film. Among Fogg's symphonic suites, Remembrance Day was published by North American Music; Land of Beautiful Waters, Laurentian Suite, and Symphonic Suite were never published. He also composed works for small orchestra and for band, a Sonata in D for violin and piano, piano pieces such as Thought at Eventide (G. Schirmer), Wanatea 'Indian Intermezzo' (W. Rolfe), Valse Sybil (Turcot), and art songs published by Thompson, Sprague-Coleman, and Turcot. Some of his manuscripts are held at the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec in Montreal.