Hart House Viols

Visiting Vancouver from Toronto in the fall of 1918, Roy Mitchell, an actor and theatre director, found a chest of six old and valuable viols at an antiques dealer for $1500. Encased in a large seventeenth century chest that had been specially tailored—lined with zinc and with velvet “nests” to hold each viol—the instruments were not only gorgeous museum pieces, but also in perfect playing condition.

Mitchell recruited seven friends and colleagues from Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club to co-finance the purchase. Though none was a performing musician, they were some of the youngest and brightest of Canada’s cultural elite: Lawren Harris (artist, leader of the Group of Seven), Henry Sproatt and E.R. Rolph (architect and engineer who designed Hart House), Robert L. Defries (corporate lawyer), James M. MacCallum (optometrist), George J. McMurtrie and the Honourable Vincent Massey (who was then Secretary-Treasurer for the Massey-Harris Company and Dean of Victoria University).

In August 1927, Massey decided to relocate them to Hart House—a fire-proof building—in order to lower the insurance premium. In this new setting the viols almost immediately created a buzz among interested scholars and players, and the Conservatory String Quartet members Elie Spivak, Harold Sumberg, Donald Heins and Leo Smith began practicing on the instruments. On January 29, 1932 they debuted at Hart House in a programme of Elizabethan music. The group was to have a two-decade-long relationship with the viols.

From 1952-69, most of the use of the viols was organized by Wolfgang Grunsky. A teacher of viols and recorders at the Royal Conservatory and the Faculty of Music, he and his ensembles performed more than 20 concerts using the viols. Starting in the mid-1960s, the viols were also used by members of the Centre for Medieval Studies,especially for the Poculi Ludique Societas, who incorporated them into a number of their productions of medieval to mid-seventeenth century plays. Peggie Sampson, generally described as the grande dame of viol playing in Canada, came to Toronto to teach theory and viols at York University and was much sought as a private teacher and solo recitalist. From 1973-77 she directed the Hart House Consort of Viols, staffing it with some of her most accomplished students.

Each instrument was made by a different luthier, and the collection represents some of the most renowned viol builders of all time. The two smallest instruments—called pardessus—come from eighteenth century Parisian makers Louis Guersan and Nicolas Bertrand. A third viol—a treble—is also eighteenth century French, but the maker’s name is unknown. The largest instrument (roughly cello-sized) of the collection is a bass viol made by Joachim Tielke in Hamburg, circa 1699. The stars of the collection are a small English treble viol attributed to Henry Jaye, circa 1615-20, and a large English treble viol (currently labeled an alto viol) attributed to John Rose Jr., circa 1580s. Few museums in the world boast viols by these renowned makers, let alone instruments that are in playing condition.

Now safeguarded from the deleterious effects of the environment in a special humidity-controlled display case located in the Gallery Grill, the viols are on permanent display to the public. But they also are brought out and played for such projects as Joëlle Morton’s Scaramella series (2005 and 2007), the Hart’s Ease Consort performance as part of Winterlicious (2006) and a recording of Henry Purcell’s Fantasias, performed by Les Voix Humaines, of Montreal (2008).

Present Use and Future Plans

Hart House still permits the instruments to played. In 2005 and 2007, the viols have been heard in programmes on Joëlle Morton’s Scaramella series at Victoria Chapel and Hart House, and the “Hart’s Ease Consort” performed on them as part of a Winterlicious event at Hart House in February 2006. In 2008-09, Les Voix Humaines utilized the viols for a program of fantasias by Henry Purcell (recorded on the ATMA label). The viols are also appreciated on a regular basis by viol students in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music’s Gamba Consort, who hold their ‘open-door’ rehearsal sessions at Hart House.

In the fall of 2009, Joëlle Morton was hired by Hart House to serve as Viol Consultant, inspecting and maintaining the instruments, and helping to process application for use of the instruments. Viol policy inquiries may be directed to: viols@harthouse.ca