Maurice Blackburn (composer)

Joseph Albert Maurice Blackburn (22 May 1914 – 29 March 1988 in Montreal) was a Canadian composer, conductor, sound editor for film, and builder of string instruments. He is known for his soundtracks for animated film.

Early life
Blackburn was born in Quebec City. He was a graduate of the Université Laval and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He won the George Allan Prize in 1940.

Career
From 1942-1978 Blackburn worked as a film composer for the National Film Board of Canada, where he was a frequent collaborator of Norman McLaren. Together they developed techniques for etching sound and image directly on film. Blackburn composed the music for McLaren's animation film Blinkity Blank (1954) which won twelve prizes, including the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1969 he created an animated film of his own, Ciné-Crimé.

In 1983 he was awarded the Albert-Tessier Prize by the Quebec government. Science Fiction writer Esther Rochon is his daughter.

Compilations

 * Filmusique-Filmopéra with Yves Daoust (Analekta, AN 7005/06, 1996) (2CD)