Ronald Napier

Napier, Ronald

Ronald (Richard) Napier. Administrator, editor, b London 9 Feb 1921. He studied 1947-8 at the GSM and moved to Toronto in 1948. He joined BMI Canada (PRO Canada) in 1956 and served 1959-69 as head of publishing and thereafter as manager of Concert Music Administration until his retirement in 1984.

Napier served as chairman of the CMLA 1965-6 and of the CMPA 1966-8, president of the Canadian Music Council 1973-5, secretary of the NYO 1974-6, and president of that organization 1978-9. In 1984 he was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal. An amateur recorder player, Napier has edited Jean-Baptiste Loeillet's Twelve Sonatas, Opus 2 for recorder and continuo (vols 1-3 BMIC 1966-7, vol 4 Avondale 1990) and the collection Baroque Arias and Dances for recorder duet (BMIC 1968).

Through his Avondale Press, Napier has published his own A Guide to Canada's Composers (Willowdale, Ont, 1973, 1976), Joseph Macerollo'sAccordion Resource Book (Willowdale 1980), and Gerda Nielsen's A New Guide to Good Singing (Willowdale 1975). Nielsen, Napier's first wife (b Breslau, Germany, 17 Sep 1906, naturalized Canadian 1935, d Toronto 28 Jan 1977) was a dramatic soprano 1925-48 with the Dresden and Wiesbaden state operas and Covent Garden, and a voice teacher 1948-76 in Toronto. In 1986 Napier moved to Vancouver, and Avondale began publishing music by Canadian composers and books on music pedagogy. By 1989 the catalogue included chamber music and works for piano solo by Violet Archer, Keith Bissell, Jean Coulthard, Kenneth Meek, and BarbaraPentland.