Age, Biography and Wiki

Colin McPhee was born on 15 March, 1900 in Montréal, Québec, Canada, is a Canadian composer and ethnomusicologist. Discover Colin McPhee's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 64 years old?

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Occupation Composer · ethnomusicologist · teacher
Age 64 years old
Zodiac Sign Pisces
Born 15 March 1900
Birthday 15 March
Birthplace Montréal, Québec, Canada
Date of death 1964
Died Place Los Angeles, California
Nationality Canada

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 15 March. He is a member of famous composer with the age 64 years old group.

Colin McPhee Height, Weight & Measurements

At 64 years old, Colin McPhee height not available right now. We will update Colin McPhee's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

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Who Is Colin McPhee's Wife?

His wife is Jane Belo (m. 1931-1939)

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Jane Belo (m. 1931-1939)
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Colin McPhee Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Colin McPhee worth at the age of 64 years old? Colin McPhee’s income source is mostly from being a successful composer. He is from Canada. We have estimated Colin McPhee's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
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Source of Income composer

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Timeline

1900

Colin Carhart McPhee (March 15, 1900 – January 7, 1964) was a Canadian-American composer and ethnomusicologist.

He is best known for being the first Western composer to make a musicological study of Bali, and to develop American gamelan along with fellow composer Lou Harrison.

He wrote original music influenced by that of Bali and Java, decades before such compositions that were based on world music became widespread.

McPhee was born on March 15, 1900, in Montréal, Québec, Canada, to a family of mostly Scottish and German ancestry.

His father, Alexander McPhee, was an advertising executive for Bell Telephone Company.

His mother, Lavinia McPhee (née Carhart) was originally from New Jersey and settled in Montréal after marrying Alexander.

1918

He enrolled in the Peabody Institute in 1918, studying composition with Gustav Strube and piano with Harold Randolph; subsequently he studied with the avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse before marrying Jane Belo, a disciple of Margaret Mead, in 1931.

McPhee joined the circle of experimental composers known as the "ultra-modernists" and was among those—along with the group's leader, Henry Cowell, John J. Becker, and Cowell protégé Lou Harrison—particularly interested in what would later become known as "world music".

McPhee and his wife moved to Bali together for Belo's anthropological work.

1936

Once there McPhee studied, filmed and wrote extensively about the culture and music of the gamelans, and in 1936 wrote an original musical score, Tabuh Tabuhan, in the Balinese style.

His best-known musical work is Tabuh-Tabuhan: Toccata for Orchestra, composed and premiered in Mexico in 1936.

Its title translates as "collection of percussion instruments", and it combines Balinese and traditional Western musical elements.

It is scored for Western orchestra but, in McPhee's description, the core of the ensemble is a "'nuclear gamelan' composed of two pianos, celesta, xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel," giving it a percussive balance of sound.

The orchestra is augmented by two Balinese gongs and cymbals.

The work is in three movements: "Ostinatos," a flute-related "Nocturne," and a syncopated "Finale."

Some of the themes in it derive from Balinese folk sources.

1939

McPhee, who was gay, divorced Belo in 1939.

1940

In the early 1940s he lived in a large brownstone in Brooklyn, which he shared with W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten, among others.

1942

In 1942, he arranged Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, a work for string orchestra, for two pianos, to be used for Lew Christensen's ballet Jinx.

McPhee was responsible for introducing Britten to the Balinese music that influenced such works by the British composer as The Prince of the Pagodas, Curlew River, and Death in Venice.

1947

In 1947, McPhee published a book A House in Bali, about Balinese culture and music during the 1930s.

1950

Later in the decade, McPhee fell into an alcohol-fueled depression, but began to write music again during the 1950s.

1958

He became professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA in 1958 and was also a respected jazz critic.

He died in Los Angeles.

1990

In the 1990s, Alex Pauk's Esprit Orchestra recorded and released renditions of several never previously recorded compositions by McPhee.

1998

This resulted in McPhee receiving posthumous Juno Award nominations for Best Classical Composition for "Symphony No. 2" at the Juno Awards of 1998 and "Concerto for Wind Orchestra" at the Juno Awards of 1999.

1999

He won the award in 1999.

American composer Evan Ziporyn wrote an opera about McPhee's life, titled A House in Bali.

2009

The opera premiered at Puri Saraswati in Ubud, Bali, on June 26 and 27, 2009.

2013

In 2013, the piece was choreographed and performed by the American Ballet Theater Company.

2017

In 2017, an album Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music, performed Thomas Bartlett & Nico Muhly and partly based on McPhee's transcriptions, was released on the Nonesuch/Warners label.

McPhee's A House in Bali, the chronicle of his life there, is still considered a valuable introduction to Balinese culture.

His posthumously published Music in Bali was the first comprehensive analysis of Balinese music published in English.