Looking Back: Remembering Maestro Roy Edwin Upton

It is very heartwarming to watch the musical recitals and concerts unfold this week on the 100th anniversary of the Crowsnest Pass Music Festival.  The Pass is well known for fostering strong musical talents and this year is a banner one.  There are few if any communities that can claim such a long lasting legacy. 

Back when it all started in the early 1920’s one of the names that became a cornerstone of the first formed orchestra and festival was the name of Upton.   J. E. Upton, who ran a haberdashery in Pincher Creek back as far as 1904, was an extraordinary musician who moved his family to Blairmore in 1921. He co-founded the Crowsnest Symphony Orchestra in 1924 and a year later organized the Crowsnest Pass Music Festival.  His son, Roy Upton, born in 1914 in Pincher, was associated with the orchestra right from its inception.    The other co-founder, Walter Moser was the son of a Swiss banker who came here to teach violin. Walter led the Crowsnest Orchestra until just before his death when a then 44-year-old. Roy Upton took over as conductor  in 1959.  It is said that Mr. Moser was not so inclined towards wind instruments but when Roy Upton took over he reintroduced them into an almost all string orchestra.  Mr. Upton was a man who brought stern discipline to his musicians and oft times had difficulty hiding his irritation at a player or group of musicians not executing properly. For budding musicians he inculcated (instilled) an appreciation and respect for classical music.  Roy was an accomplished musician himself and his interests also included swing and show music. In that capacity he played, in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, variously the trumpet, string bass, violin and tuba in the popular big-band orchestra known as the Arcadians.  

Amongst his memorabilia, recently donated to the museum by his daughter Christine Duteau, is a program for a piano and violin recital from 1928 that lists no less the 33 offerings. The recital was organized by Madelaine Chardon (Pinkney)and Walter Moser and one of pieces listed was a 14-year-old Roy Upton playing Reiding’s “Tempo di Valse”.  It is a piece described as a beautiful romantic waltz for easy violin.   

After 67 years as a musician Roy retired from playing the cello in the orchestra in 1999 because of an arthritic shoulder.  Incredibly he was an accomplished performer on many instruments including the violin, viola, cello, string bass, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, alto horn, tuba and percussion. 

Mr. Upton was orchestra conductor for 28 of his career years from 1959 until he stepped down in 1987. In 1984 Roy went to Edmonton to receive the Alberta Achievement Award for his orchestra leadership and at his retirement from conducting, in 1987, was named Citizen of the Year here.   

Roy’s wife Bessie was also a competent musician with the orchestra and was originally taught by Frank Edl to play flute and piccolo.  

Amongst Mr. Upton’s memorabilia is a collection of insignia and air force items including his blue RCAF uniform.  The only interruption in his music career was as a navigator in a De Havilland Mosquito during the Second World War. The Mosquito was a twin engine fighter bomber made entirely of wood and could fly over 415 mph, faster than the infamous Spitfire. Christine was kind enough to share some little known stories about her amazing father with me. 

Apparently at one time the Upton’s owned a boarding house that local RCMP stayed in.  The RCMP decided to seize a spider monkey and a bear cub from a travelling circus because they were being badly abused.  The bear cub was then given to Roy who raised him and then, when mature, gave him to a lumber camp as a mascot. 

Another fascinating item in Roy Upton’s memorabilia is his violin, kept in a beautiful green velvet case along with two bows. When the collection was first handed over to maestro Kirk Muspratt, his curiosity was aroused about the violins origins so he engaged an amazing local luthier named Colin Scott.  The name of the violin maker is usually written inside the instruments body and hard to discern through the f holes but Colin made out the following words.  “Otis Henry - 1929 - Granum”.  Colin and Kirk didn’t expect that it would have been made somewhere so close. Like most violin makers Otis Henry had his own idiosyncrasies in creation, which in this case included reverse “f holes”.  Colin did some restringing and restoration on Upton’s Otis and perhaps someday it will be played again.   There are in fact two other Otis Henry violins in the Pass, one of which is owned by violinist Shelley Groves. 

As an aside, both Colin and Kirk are Mosquito bomber fans so there was a lot of high fiving when it came to viewing Upton’s war memorabilia.  Also found amongst the numerous  collection of newspaper clippings was a list, presumably written by Roy, that summarized his long musical career. It is a stunning compilation  of achievements and reads as follows:  1923- Piano lessons (Miss McKrill), 1926-  violin lessons W. Moser, 1929- Blairmore School Orchestra -violin, 1930-36 - Hillcrest amateur orchestra - violin, 1931 to 1941 and 1945 to 1952 - Arcadian Dance Orchestra -trumpet, 1931-39 - West Canadian Collieries Band - trumpet, 1932 - taught music in Corbin, BC until the strike of 1934, 1932-33 - Conducted Blairmore School Orchestra, 1936- trumpet with CNP Amateur  Symphony Orchestra, 1937-39 - violin with CNP Symphony, 1946-1958 - played violin with CNP String Orchestra, 1959-1987- conducted the CNP Symphony Orchestra (24 years), played alto horn and tuba with Pincher Creek Community Band and played violin with Lethbridge Symphony. 

For his final conducting performance in 1987 Mr. Upton selected a program that highlighted the spectacular first movement of Dvořák’s New World Symphony, one that is often seen as a reflection of Dvořák’s experiences and inspirations in America, including African American spirituals and Native American melodies.

After retiring as a conductor Roy continued playing with the orchestra up until 1999.  His love of and commitment to music and to the beloved Pass orchestra was monumental. The Crowsnest Pass Orchestra symbolizes the special role that music, in all its forms, has in this community. Roy Edwin Upton passed on Christmas Day 2005 and is buried along with his beloved wife Elizabeth (Bessie) in Pincher Creek’s Fairview Cemetery. While he is no longer forcefully waving his cork handled baton at symphony rehearsals or playing his cello amongst the always eclectic mix of younger and older musicians, Roy Upton’s influence will always be there as long as the orchestra exists.