H. Barrie Cabena

(Harold) Barrie Cabena, husband, father, musician, poet, teacher, puzzler, seeker, friend, died peacefully on April 24th, 2025 in Guelph, after a long illness. He died in the loving presence of Sheri Cabena, his wife of 30 years. Barrie will be fondly remembered by a loving circle of friends and family.  

Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1933 to Harold Cabena, car mechanic and entrepreneur, and Gertrude (McDowell), violinist, Barrie, who was the youngest of three boys, gravitated towards music at an early age, and his childhood home was full of music. His lifelong love of liturgical music began in his early teens; and he sang as a countertenor in the daily services at St. Paul’s Cathedral for several years. Barrie studied the organ under the tutelage of Bernard Clarke and piano, theory, and composition under A.E.H. Nickson, and, after his time of military service, moved to England to study at the Royal College of Music.

There, he studied organ with Sir John Dykes Bower, theory with William Lloyd Webber, composition with Herbert Howells, and piano with Eric Harrison. His time in England (1954-1957) was one of deeply formative musical immersion. It was also one of cultural, pedagogical, and spiritual immersion, setting him upon many of the byways that he would explore over the course of his life.

Barrie immigrated to Canada in 1957, moving from London to London. In the second of these Londons, he established himself, in his playing, composing, and church choir directing, as a leading voice in Canadian music. His recitals at First-St. Andrew’s United Church became a feature of London’s musical life, as did the large and theatrical musical productions that he spearheaded and which brought the whole congregation into the adventure of music-making.

At First-St. Andrew’s, Barrie met Barbara Grose, a physiotherapist who had trained at the University of Western Ontario. They married in 1973. Shortly after Sarah was born, the couple moved to Waterloo, where Barrie had begun teaching at Waterloo Lutheran/Wilfrid Laurier University. Christopher, and then Daniel were born over the course of the following few years. Their home was a place of much piano, cello, and violin practicing, and it was a lively centre of activity, a meeting place for friends and family. The family suffered the loss of Barbara, who died of cancer in 1990.

A few years later, Barrie met Sheri, who would become his loving partner for the remainder of his life. They married in 1994 and made their home first in Waterloo and then in Guelph. Barrie and Sheri have been active members of Guelph’s musical life, notably contributing to the Guelph Spring Festival, of which Barrie was for a time artistic director. Sheri’s beautiful singing was an inspiration to Barrie, who wrote many works for her to sing both for worship at Dublin Street United Church and at home. Some of those works were duets that Sheri and Daniel could sing together, filling the house with song.

Barrie and Sheri’s coming together brought into the Cabena family circle Sheri’s son John, with whom Barrie loved to discuss all manner of subjects, from the humorous to the automotive. John’s eldest son, Liam, who carries on a long family tradition of Star Trek discipleship, was a tremendous support to Sheri as she cared for Barrie in recent months.

Barrie was also grandfather to Liam’s brother Jack, youngest child of John and Kim. And he was grandfather to Sarah’s three children, Jacob, Soveida, and Arwyn. Barrie was also part of the wonderful circle of elders to Daniel’s stepchildren, Theo and Henry Peirson, for whom he wrote oodles of playfully pedagogical piano works, which festoon the music room at Daniel and Mary’s Guelph home.

Barrie was ‘Barrie’ to a close circle of loving friends and colleagues, many of whom are former students. His family is a big tent, full of music, welcome and affirmation.

Barrie’s life followed a musical course, but his curiosity led him down many enriching byways.

One such path was the Alexander Technique, of which he was a student for 70 years and which would inform his playing and teaching, both of which were characterized by ease, clarity, purposefulness, lightness, playfulness. Barrie’s son, Daniel, who, in addition to being a musician and music teacher is an Alexander Technique teacher, had the great joy of teaching his father in the last couple of years of Barrie’s life.

Another of Barrie’s paths of study was anthroposophy, of which he was a student into his middle life, participating in Waldorf Schools and the Christian Community in London, UK, London, ON, Toronto, and Spring Valley, NY. (Along with The Magic Pudding and Blinky Bill and Nutsy Have Fun) Barrie read anthroposophical stories to his children; and his daughter, Sarah, is a trained Waldorf school teacher.

A seeker by nature, Barrie followed a spiritual path, characterized by fruitful diversity. He studied everything from Gurdjieff and Ouspenskii’s Fourth Way, to religious traditions of Asia, Christian mysticism, Theosophy and other occult traditions, A Course in Miracles, and many other spiritual traditions and disciplines. He was also a lifelong dowser, which practice brought him into many wonderful and unexpected conversations.

He also engaged in a lifelong exploration of holistic healing traditions. These were perhaps a small part of the secret to his longevity, the vastly larger part being the care, nourishment, and partnership of his loving wife Sheri. Barrie and Sheri shared a commitment to spiritual practice and health, a love of music, a loving circle of friends and family, and a home life full of lively conversation, books, British crime dramas, puzzles, delicious food, and canine companionship.

Music seemed to pour out of Barrie Cabena, to which fluidity his one thousand or so opus numbers attest. Those opuses include organ music, choral music, music for handbells, chamber music for every family of instruments, orchestral music, operas, oratorios, songs….

His music is full of inheritances, like the harmonic and modal influences of Paul Hindemith and Olivier Messiaen, and the structures – modes, dances, counterpoint, canons – of earlier musics. And it’s full of inspiration from figures like Ralph Vaughan Williams, with whose musical voice and heart Barrie felt a special kinship. Barrie listened deeply for a quality that he always called “personality,” which he nurtured in his students and cultivated in his own music. He was perhaps listening for what was longing to be said, a presence of heart.

He was also in every sense a practical musician, a concert organist, accompanist (at the organ, piano, harpsichord, clavichord, celeste…), and composer of music for practical use: for liturgical and other celebrations; for pedagogical development; and commissioned works of all kinds. And Barrie was profoundly a church musician, steeped in a rich and varied tradition of liturgical and devotional music, committed to the clear and purposeful expression of the words.

Barrie loved also to write music for his family and friends, and countless of his works are dedicated to the memory of loved ones, colleagues, mentors. Many are his works of musical thanksgiving and homage.

Though his music was nourished by a rich inner life, a contemplative spirit, Barrie’s music-making was done in community, and he loved to write music for the communities in which he participated. Many of those were churches, like First-St. Andrew’s United Church (London), Church of St. John the Evangelist, Anglican (Kitchener), Church of the Holy Saviour, Anglican (Waterloo), Christ Lutheran Church (Waterloo), and Dublin Street United Church (Guelph), of which he had been a member for more than a quarter century and where he served as Organist Emeritus.

Barrie also contributed to the musical world as a teacher and mentor. He was Professor Emeritus of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Music, where he served as Professor of Music from 1969-1996. He taught the organ and church music alongside his longtime friend and closest of collaborators, Jan Overduin. He also taught theoretical subjects (notably counterpoint) and conducted the Chapel Choir.

Barrie was an honorary lifetime member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists of which organization he served as president (1967-1969) and under whose auspices a scholarship program in his name supports the musical education of aspiring organists, composers, and church musicians.  

Barrie also shared his expertise in pipe organ design, acting as consultant for many refurbishment and installation projects. 

Over the course of his life, Barrie was the recipient of many awards, prizes, fellowships, honours that commemorated his contributions to musical composition, performance, and teaching. The details of a few of these he delighted to recount, like when, upon receiving the Haigh Prize from the Royal College of Music (London, UK), he had the opportunity to take tea with the Queen Mother. He also treasured the silver medal awarded to him by the Académie Française. And he celebrated his Honorary Doctorate in Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology (his first ever university degree) by penning a ditty entitled “I’m divine” and which kindly offered to “turn all your water to wine.”

Barrie left no bookshop unrummaged, and he collected books on each and every one of his subjects of interest. His extraordinarily extensive library has been a resource and a place of refuge and learning for his children and for other spiritual seekers, dear friends, and students. Nor is it any surprise that his son, Christopher, has been a bookseller for more than 25 years.

An essential feature of Barrie’s library was the science fiction section. Dr. Cabena and Dr. Who were well acquainted; and Star Trek (especially the Next Generation) was a frequent place of gathering and conversation in the Cabena home.

Another essential feature of his library was the poetry section; and Barrie, in his turn, contributed to the commonwealth of poetry. Much of his verse, like so much of his music, is devotional in nature and liturgical in purpose; and much of it was set to music by him. Barrie was, however, also devoted to the limerick, in which he was, as with his music, prolific. 

Barrie was a thoughtful conversationalist and a gentle listener; and he taught and parented gently, by invitation, always deeply respectful of the uniqueness and autonomy of his interlocutors. Pencil in hand, he’d playfully mark a student’s counterpoint exercise with “piffle!,” noting, for instance, an egregious instance of parallel fifths. But, in the same breath he’d observe that “it’s useful to learn the rules well so that you can break them just as you wish.”

All of Barrie’s music-making, relationships, and spiritual seeking were guided by the knowledge that “nothing can separate us from the love of god.” He followed his inner light and nurtured the inner light in all those with whom he was in relationship. Barrie Cabena followed his heart and shared its music generously.

Barrie’s family are profoundly grateful for the medical care and personal support that he received from Arbour Medical (Dr. Gabriel Ting), Grand River Regional Cancer Centre (Dr. Ramana Rachakonda and Sara Kaune), Guelph General Hospital, the palliative care of Dr. Sid Brodovsky and Bayshore Integrated Care Solutions. They wish also to express their thanks for the pastoral care of Revs. Bruce Dickson, Emmy Beauchamp, and John Buttars.

A celebration of life will take place at Dublin Street United Church, 68 Suffolk St W, Guelph, on Saturday, May 17th, 2025 at 10:30am. For anyone that wishes to watch the service remotely, please use this YouTube link. 

Remembrances can be made through Wall-Custance Funeral Home and Chapel. Arrangements entrusted to the WALL-CUSTANCE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL 519-822-0051 / www.wallcustance.com.

Donations in Barrie’s memory to the Barrie Cabena Music Scholarship Fund and to Dublin Street United Church’s Ministry of Music are gratefully accepted.

A tree will be planted in memory of H. Barrie Cabena in the Wall-Custance Memorial Forest.