John Jacob Weinzweig OC OOnt (March 11, 1913 – August 24, 2006) was a composer, teacher, and advocate of contemporary Canadian concert music.

In Russian-occupied Poland, his father was temporarily imprisoned for participating in radical union movements, and the family moved to Canada shortly after.

He went on to attend Harbord Collegiate Institute, a secondary school where the students consisted primarily of the children of Jewish immigrant families.

Harbord had one of the only school orchestra programs in Canada at the time, and it was here that he learned to play the tuba and saxophone, and even had the opportunity to conduct.

He studied under several teachers and in the years following high school, Weinzweig attained a university entrance level in both piano and theory at the Royal Conservatory.

[4] The University of Toronto Faculty of Music was founded in 1918, but it was not until the early 1930s that it began to offer classes leading to a degree.

Weinzweig's move toward serialism was not a complete transition; he was very selective and deliberate in which principles he chose to adopt.

Though the original members were all from close within Weinzweig's circle, the idea of the CLC was to bring composers together to work for a common cause, not to achieve a uniform national style.

These concerts featured many different kinds of repertoire, including orchestral works, chamber music and opera, but they lacked the support of many established performing groups.

The concert was jointly held with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) of Toronto, and was given a favourable review by the art critic for The Globe and Mail.

[7] After a decade, national membership had grown to around 40 people, including four women, and continued to grow steadily throughout the century.

His large number of notable students include the following: John Weinzweig's early works concentrate primarily on orchestra.

Some pieces that he wrote as a student include Whirling Dwarf, The Enchanted Hill, and A Tale of Tuamoto (based on a Polynesian legend).

In 1948, Weinzweig won a silver medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Divertimenti for Solo Flute and Strings".

It contains a 12-note series that unfolds one or two notes at a time and keys are often implied during cadences, showing no clear effort to avoid doing so.

Rather than just composing an accompaniment for an original folk song, Weinzweig took small rhythmic and melodic gestures from the melodies and incorporated them into his writing.

In this piece, the tone row is treated as motivic material used with the traditional neoclassic forms, such as ABA and theme and variations.

This row, which seems to show a preference for minor thirds and sixths, is used as the basis of both the melody and the rhythmic ostinato that accompanies it.