=Chadwick=.—A composer who has won appreciation in Europe is George
W. Chadwick, born in Lowell, Mass., in 1854. His studies were carried
on in the New England Conservatory, at Boston, which institution he
entered in 1872. Five years later he went to Leipzig to study, giving
special attention to composition. In 1879, he went to Dresden to study
with Rheinberger. In 1880, he returned to the United States and settled
in Boston. His professional activities included work as organist,
conductor, and teacher at the New England Conservatory. In 1897, he was
called to the directorship of the Conservatory. His compositions are
written in all the various forms, his reputation as a composer of high
rank being based upon his large orchestral works, which include three
symphonies, four overtures, chamber-music, a comic opera, a sacred
opera, “Judith,” two cantatas, popular with choral societies, “Phœnix
Expirans” and the “Lily Nymph,” a ballad for chorus and orchestra,
“Lovely Rosabelle,” part-songs, church music, and a number of songs of
high merit.
=MacDowell=.—An American composer in thorough accord with the modern
musical tendencies in composition is Edward Alexander MacDowell, born
in New York, in 1861. His most famous teacher was Mme. Teresa Carreño,
the celebrated pianist. He became a pupil of the Paris _Conservatoire_,
in 1876, and after three years under French masters and influences,
went to Germany, where he studied under Ehlert, Heymann and Raff, the
latter giving him a thorough grounding in the technic of composition.
His musical education, therefore, included both French and German
ideas. He remained in Germany as pianist, composer and teacher until
1888, when he returned to the United States and settled in Boston.
In 1896, he accepted the position of professor of music in Columbia
University, New York City, which he held until 1904, when he resigned
to devote himself to composition exclusively. MacDowell was trained to
a thorough understanding of form, yet his works show that he regards
only the spirit of form, that he is its master and not its servant. He
has plenty of force, vigor and originality of melody and rhythm and is
resourceful in his command of modern harmony. Critics of high authority
have unhesitatingly awarded him the highest rank among American-born
composers. His compositions include works in the large forms, two
concertos, two suites, four poems for orchestra, four piano sonatas of
striking romantic content, a number of smaller works for the piano,
studies, songs and part-songs, principally for male voices.
=Horatio Parker=.—It is significant of the advance in music over
other sections of the United States that New England should have been
the birthplace of a number of composers of reputation. Besides Paine
and Chadwick, two others have achieved eminence in the large forms:
Horatio Parker and Arthur Foote. Mr. Parker was born near Boston,
in 1863; his father was an architect, his mother a woman of fine
literary and musical culture. His first lessons in music, piano and
organ, were received from his mother, and such was his interest that
he made attempts at composition. At sixteen, he was appointed to a
position as organist and was thus launched into musical life. He kept
up his studies with Boston teachers, in composition with Chadwick, and
afterwards with Rheinberger, in Germany, in which country he remained
until 1885. His first appointment was director of music at Garden City
Cathedral Schools, Long Island, afterwards filling organ positions in
New York City, the most notable one being at the Church of the Holy
Trinity. He also taught in the National Conservatory. In 1893, he went
to Boston as organist and director of music at Trinity Church, and
in 1894, to Yale University, as professor of music. In addition to
the work in composition and history of music, Mr. Parker conducts a
series of orchestral concerts given by an orchestra supported by the
University. Mr. Parker’s compositions in large form include a symphony,
several overtures, a concerto for organ and orchestra, chamber-music,
cantatas for chorus and orchestra, and in smaller forms, piano and
organ pieces, songs and many part-songs. His cantata “Hora Novissima”
is one of the best works in this style produced by an American
composer, and has been given in England with success. The legend of
“St. Christopher” furnished material for a work of a secular character
that has been taken up by some important choral organizations.
=Arthur Foote= was born at Salem, Mass., in 1854. His musical education
was wholly acquired in Boston, his leading teachers having been
Stephen A. Emery and B. J. Lang. Mr. Foote is also a graduate of
Harvard University. His home is in Boston, where his professional
work is that of an organist, and teacher of piano and composition.
His most important work in large form is a suite for orchestra, Op.
36; in addition to this he has written successfully in the domain of
chamber-music, works for string orchestra, a quartet, a quintet, a trio
and a sonata for piano and violin; he has also written excellent works
for chorus with orchestra, “Wreck of the Hesperus,” piano and organ
pieces, a number of fine songs and part-songs. He is perhaps at his
best in writing for male voices, notable works being “The Skeleton in
Armor” and “Farewell to Hiawatha.”
=Hadley=.—A younger composer than those mentioned, whose work in the
large forms has received commendation, is Henry K. Hadley, born at
Somerville, Mass., in 1871. His father was a member of the musical
profession, and first taught his son, who later went to Boston to study
with Emery, Chadwick and Allen (violin). In 1894, he went to Vienna
to study and wrote several works for orchestra while there. In 1896,
he returned to the United States and taught in St. Paul’s School, at
Garden City. He has written several symphonies, suites, an overture,
a cantata and a number of songs; two comic operas are also among his
works. He has won the Paderewski Prize for composition.
=Frank van der Stucken=, born in Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1858, of
Belgian descent, was educated abroad, mainly under Benoit, at Antwerp,
and entered professional life in Europe, yet he is classed with
American composers, for he has spent a great part of his active musical
life in this country. It was in 1884, that he came to New York City as
conductor of a large German singing society, at the same time giving
much attention to conducting orchestral works, in which branch he had
had considerable experience in Europe. In 1895, he went to Cincinnati
as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of that city and two years
later, was dean of the College of Music, from the active management
of which he retired in 1903. Although he has written a number of
orchestral pieces, his most important work, modern in form and scored
for the full modern orchestra is “William Ratcliffe,” a symphonic
prologue, which has a very dramatic program. He has also written songs
that are in the extreme style of the most advanced composition.
=Mrs. Beach=.—Few women have won any success in composition in the
large musical forms. A most notable exception is Mrs. H. H. A. Beach
(Amy Marcy Cheney), who was born at Henniker, N. H., in 1867. She
showed marked inclination for music while still a child and was given
regular instruction when only six years old. Soon after this her
parents moved to Boston and she continued her musical education there
under Ernst Perabo and Carl Baermann. Her studies in composition were
largely made without teachers, guided principally by the most thorough
and extensive study of the scores of the masters. She was married in
1885 to a prominent Boston physician. Mrs. Beach’s most important works
are her “Gaelic” symphony, a mass for chorus with organ and small
orchestra, a sonata for violin and piano and a piano concerto. In
addition to this she has written a number of piano pieces and songs.
=Loeffler=.—An account of music in the United States would not be
complete without reference to the work of Mr. Charles M. Loeffler, one
of the most important figures in modern musical composition. Although
he was born in Europe (1861) and educated there, he has spent his
adult life in this country, having been for many years a violinist in
the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His best-known work is the “Death of
Tintagiles,” founded upon Maeterlinck. Rollinat and Verlaine have also
furnished inspiration to him. A concerted work for violin and orchestra
shows his skill both as composer and violinist. Of late years, Mr.
Loeffler has turned his attention to song composition.
=Other Composers=.—In a concise account of the work of American
composers, short mention only can be given to a number of men who have
worked earnestly in composition, a field in which appreciation seems to
be granted freely to the foreigner but grudgingly to the compatriot.
Conditions are not favorable to development along the lines of public
performance of works in large forms, orchestras are under the control
of foreign conductors, most of the players are foreigners, and the
concert-going public gives but scant attention to works by an American.
Therefore much credit is due to those who have worked quietly and
with but little hope of hearing their works, doing their best to
produce music in accord with the best canons of the art. Such men are
=Frederick Grant Gleason=, born at Middletown, Conn., 1848 (died in
Chicago, 1903), studied at home and abroad; =Adolph M. Foerster=, born
in Pittsburgh, Pa., 1854, who was educated in Germany, and is now a
resident of his native city; =Ernest R. Kroeger=, born at St. Louis,
1862, educated at home, and still a resident of the city of his birth;
=Henry Schoenefeld=, born at Milwaukee, 1857, educated at home and
abroad; =Henry Holden Huss=, born in Newark, N. J., in 1862, studied in
New York and at Munich, under Rheinberger, now a resident of New York
City; =Arthur B. Whiting=, born in Cambridge, Mass., 1861, educated
in Boston and by Rheinberger, at Munich, a resident of Boston; =Louis
A. Coerne=, professor of music at Smith College, who was educated in
Boston and Munich (Rheinberger); and =Harry Rowe Shelley=, of New York
City, who was born at New Haven, Conn., 1858, studied there and in New
York (Buck and Dvořák). These composers have by no means confined their
work to compositions for orchestra, chamber-music, cantatas, etc., but
have also written useful piano and organ pieces, and in a number of
cases, songs that have become extremely popular.