In this collection of 46 articles written over a period of some 41 years, John Beckwith displays insatiable curiosity, sharp critical skills, a gracious literary style, and a boundless knowledge of music. The current anthology is a sequel to his well received and much praised earlier book Music Papers: Articles and Talks by a Canadian Composer 1961–1994 (Ottawa, 1997), and is being published in celebration of the author’s 95th birthday.

From reviews of Music Papers:
“Few individuals have influenced the musical affairs of Canada during the past 50 years as profoundly as John Beckwith. Music Papers is an important addition to the field of Canadian music. The author’s modernist, nationalist, and distinctly Canadian perspective underscores what is perhaps the book’s most valuable attribute: its insightful glimpse into one of Canada’s foremost musical minds.”
Glenn D. Colton, Canadian University Music Review
“Music Papers is eminently readable as well as informative. Most important is that Music Papers reveals Beckwith’s wide-ranging knowledge and ever-present attention to detail, his enormous commitment and contribution to all aspects of Canadian music, his sense of humour, as well as a profoundly human spirit.”
Gordon E. Smith, University of Toronto Quarterly
JOHN BECKWITH, composer, music educator, and writer, was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1927. He received his musical education in Toronto (1945–50) and Paris (1950–52). He was associated with the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto from 1952, serving as dean 1970–77 and as the first director of its Institute for Music in Canada from 1985 until his early retirement in 1990. Music Annals is his seventeenth book.