Archer built a career as a musician and composer in addition to her teaching. She played percussion with the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra from 1940 to 1947,[6] a time period when major municipal orchestras were not admitting women to their ranks.[7] In addition to percussion, Archer played clarinet and strings,[8] and worked in Montréal as an accompanist and organist.[6] As a composer, Archer's prolific work of more than 330 compositions included traditional and more contemporary works for instrument and voice.[2] Examples of her wide-ranging work include a 1973 comic opera, Sganarelle, the film score for a 1976 documentary, Someone Cares, and experiments with electronic music.[6] Her music includes some 90 compositions for novice musicians, written to acquaint performers and audiences with modern concepts of harmony, melody, and rhythm.[6]
In 1985 the three day Violet Archer Festival was held in Edmonton where 14 of her works were performed.[9] This festival is credited as being first festival to honour a living Canadian composer.[12] She is memorialized at Violet Archer Park in the Parkallen neighbourhood of Edmonton.[12] In Calgary, the Prairie Region of Canadian Music Centre Library is home to The Violet Archer Library which holds over 20,000 scores.[13][14]
Violet Archer, age 4. Source: University of Alberta Archives
Violet Archer age 11 with her parents. Source: University of Alberta Archives
Violet Archer on graduation day, Yale University. Source: University of Alberta Archives
Violet Archer with friends at Yale University. Source: University of Alberta Archives
Violet Archer at the piano. Source: University of Alberta Archives
Selected worksedit
3 Concerti, Archer Piano Concerto, Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, Centrediscs(CMCCD)15610
Women Composers for Organ, Barbara Harbach. Peterborough, NH: Gasparo Records (294), 2006.[17]
Ovation, Volume 2. Toronto: CBC Records (PSCD 2027-5), 2002.[18]
Canadian Composers Portraits. Toronto: Centrediscs, (CMCCD 8502) 2002.[19]
Sinfonietta (CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, John Avison, conductor)
Trio no. 2 (The Hertz Trio)
String Quartet no. 3 (University of Alberta String Quartet)
The Bell (CBC Chorus and Orchestra, Geoffrey Waddington, conductor)
Northern Landscapes – A Tribute to Violet Archer, Sarah Muir and Ann Nichols, performers with the Columbian Girls Choir and Chanteuses. Edmonton, 1997.[20]
^Schreyer, Edward Richard (30 April 2009). "Violet B. Archer, C.M., D.Mus". archive.gg.ca. Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
^ abAubrey, Merrily K. (2004). Naming Edmonton : from Ada to Zoie. Edmonton Historical Board. Historic Sites Committee. Edmonton : University of Alberta Press. p. 319. ISBN 9780888644237.
^"Canadian Music Centre – Prairie Region Library Research Guide". library.ucalgary.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
^"Canadian Music Centre – Prairie". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^UNESCO, Canadian Commission for. "The Canada Memory of the World Register Lists Three New Collections". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
^"See: "our namesake"". Thevioletarchers.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Women Composers For Organ – Amy Beach, et al. / Harbach Classical". Cduniverse.com. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Canadian Music Centre — About the CMC". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Violet Archer. Canadian Composers Portraits". Yorku.ca. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Canadian Music Centre – About the CMC". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Surrealistic Portraiture / Kenneth Fischer, Thomas – ACA Digital – ACD 20036 – – HBDirect Classical". Hbdirect.com. 2001-04-01. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
^"Canadian Music Centre – About the CMC". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Canadian Music Centre – About the CMC". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
^"Canadian Music Centre". Musiccentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
External linksedit
University of Alberta Archives – Violet Archer Fonds (28 m of textual records. – ca. 750 sounds recordings. – 18 video cassettes. – 20 art works. – 2420 graphic materials.)
University of Calgary Special Collections – Violet Archer fonds. (0.525 m of textual records.)