The Glenn Gould Archive

Glenn Gould

Childhood and Education

Part 3 of 4

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Program for concert at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, Toronto, December 9, 1938. Included was a piano composition by "Glen Gold", the family's original name

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Kiwanis Music Festival silver trophy

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Kiwanis Music Festival silver trophy. Detail of inscription: "Kiwanis Music Festival, Toronto, solo grand prize won by Glen [sic] H. Gould 1944"

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Glenn Gould's childhood home in Toronto, 1987

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Glenn Gould at the piano, ca 1942

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Toronto Conservatory of Music silver medalists for 1940 (Glenn Gould is in the front row, third from the left)

World War II was a part of Gould's childhood. Day after day the radio brought news of victory and defeat, survival and destruction. Hitherto unknown sights – ration cards, banners announcing Victory Bond drives, women streetcar operators – became part of life in Toronto.

At Massey Hall and Eaton Auditorium, music seemed to come from a better world. But even in music there were sounds that had not been heard before – music from composers with names like Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Hindemith.

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First Annual Kiwanis Music Festival certificate for first prize in the piano trophy competition, February 1944

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Kiwanis Music Festival adjudicator's report for the piano solo contest, 16 years and under, Toronto, February-March 1945

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Glenn Gould at the piano, with his dog and his budgie, ca 1944

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Toronto Conservatory of Music silver medalists for 1941 (Glenn Gould is in the front row, far right)

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