Walter MacNutt

Walter Louis MacNutt (2 June 1910 – 10 August 1996) was a Canadian organist, choir director, and composer. His compositional output includes numerous choral works, songs, pieces for solo organ, and works for orchestra, many of which have been published by companies like Broadcast Music Incorporated, Frederick Harris Music, the Waterloo Music Company, and the Western Music Company. In 1938 his Suite for Piano was awarded the first Vogt Society prize for Canadian composition. One of his more popular works, the secular song Take Me to a Green Isle, is taken from a poem by H.E. Foster. He also composed many songs to the poems of William Blake. In his later years, he composed music mainly for the Anglican church, include two Missae breves and the Mass of St James (1974). Life and career Born in Charlottetown, MacNutt began his music studies with W.E. Fletcher and Roberta Spencer Full on Prince Edward Island. In 1929 he entered the Toronto Conservatory of Music (TCM) where he studied through 1932 with Reginald Godden (piano) and Healey Willan (organ and composition). He notably won the TCM’s Vogt Memorial and Marion Ferguson scholarships and won a national competition in 1931. In 1931 Ma