Douglas Bodle

Bodle, Douglas

(George Talbot) Douglas Bodle. Organist, harpsichordist, pianist, b Winnipeg 7 Aug 1923; LRSM piano 1946, ACCO 1951, AAGO (Associate American Guild of Organists) 1957. His teachers included Bernard Naylor (general music studies), Gwendda Owen Davies (piano), Greta Kraus (harpsichord), and Hugh Bancroft (organ). He served 1963-6 as organist-choirmaster at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Toronto, resuming duties there in 1969 and becoming organist-choirmaster also at Holy Blossom Temple that year. He continued in both positions in 1990. He commissioned the composition of Walter Buczynski'sMass with Outside Prayers (1976) for St Andrew's.

Bodle has given organ and harpsichord recitals in major cities in Canada, Europe, and eastern USA. As a soloist and a member of the St Andrew's Consort he has performed often on CBC radio, his engagements including a performance 15 Feb 1959 of Bach's Concerto for Two Harpsichords with Greta Kraus and the CBC Symphony Orchestra. He has accompanied many solo performers during more than 30 years in that branch of the profession. He has accompanied the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Festival Singers, has performed in chamber works with the York Winds and the Toronto Chamber Winds, and has been orchestral pianist with the CBC SO and the TS.

Bodle has had a notable career as a teacher, beginning in 1959 at the RCMT, continuing 1966-8 at the school of music, University of Manitoba (during which time he also toured as a member of the Manitoba University Consort), and as a member 1969-89 of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto where he taught piano, harpsichord, and organ. He continued to teach at the University of Toronto on a part-time basis in 1990. Among those who have studied with Bodle in Winnipeg and Toronto are John Derksen, Donald Hadfield, and Peter McCoppin (organ), Audrey Cooke Belyea, John Kruspe, and R. Murray Schafer (piano), and numerous singers whom he has coached and taught piano. After an organ recital at St James' Cathedral in Toronto John Fraser described Bodle's style as 'impeccably sharp and clean' (Toronto Globe and Mail, 13 Mar 1974).