More information about Violet Archer

Violet Archer died just shy of her 87th birthday, in February 2000. Had it been possible, she would have kept on playing and composing music for all eternity. If you're now intrigued about her life, her achievements and how her legacy is being honoured, here are a few places to find more information :

Her Wikipedia entry

Her Canadian encyclopedia entry

Her Canadian Music Centre profile

If you enjoying research, many archives can be found online through the following databases:

Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (database is in French but many results are in English)

ProQuest (access available for free through some local library subscriptions

Internet Archive (photos, music scores, articles)

University of Alberta Violet Archer Fonds

You'll also find that many people have dedicated their masters thesis or doctoral dissertations to Violet Archer's personal life and work.

A few examples :

Violet Archer : a Canadian woman in composition - Emma Banfield
The Solo Piano Music of Violet Archer: A Study of Selected Didactic Works -Angela Sue Willoughby
The Composer's Voice: "What women can do" - Brenda Dalen
A pedagogical guide to select works by Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara Pentland - Leah Terrill
The Art Songs of Violet Archer: A Performer’s Analysis and Perspective on Repertoire for the Mezzo-soprano Voice - Kristina Alexander-Luna
Violet's Invention: A Piano Piece for Violet Archer in Her Seventy-Fifth Year - Larry Austin
Violet Archer's Formative Years: A Bibliographical Catalogue of Her Compositions, 1932–43 - James Whittle
Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard, and Barbara Pentland Remembered - James Deaville, Claude Kenneson, William Bruneau, Elaine Keillor, Alexandra Munn, Neil R. Hughes, Glenn Colton and John Beckwith
Selected intermediate to early-advanced works for piano solo by Violet Balestreri Archer : an analysis for teaching and performance - Rosalyn Wai-Yan Soo
The songs of Violet Archer: tracing the evolution of one of Canada's most influential composers - Paul Dauphinais
Violet Archer's Soliloquies : a structural and performance practice study - Daniel Sutherland
Violet Archer’s “The Twenty-Third Psalm” (1952): An Analytical Study of Text and Music Relations Through Fibonacci Numbers, Melodic Contour, Motives, and Piano Accompaniment - Jessica Jane Wan

Some of these documents are available online for free or for a fee.