William Gilchrist
William Wallace Gilchrist | |
---|---|
Born | January 8, 1846 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
Died | December 20, 1916 |
Genres | Classical |
Occupation(s) | Composer |
Instrument(s) | Piano, strings, flute, clarinet, horn |
William Wallace Gilchrist (January 8, 1846 – December 20, 1916) was an American composer and a major figure in nineteenth century music of Philadelphia. He founded the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in 1874.
Early life
Gilchrist was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to William Wallace Gilchrist and Redelia Ann (Cox) Gilchrist. At the age of eleven months he moved with his family to Philadelphia. His father's business suffered during the Civil War, so young Gilchrist turned to the law and to business for his own living, but eventually decided to take up music as a career.
Career
From 1865 to 1868 Gilchrist studied privately with
In 1871, he was appointed organist and choirmaster at
In 1882, Gilchrist won the Cincinnati Festival Prize for his setting of the 46th Psalm, for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra [2] where the judges included Camille Saint-Saëns and Carl Reinecke.[1] Among his other choral works are Ode to the Sun, Journey of Life, The Uplifted Gates, and Legend of the Bended Bow. He composed two non-programmatic symphonies,[3] and some chamber music, including a nonet for piano, strings, flute, clarinet and horn.[4]
In addition to Mendelssohn Club, Gilchrist also conducted the West Philadelphia Choral Society, the Germantown Choral Society, the Harmonia, the Harrisburg Choral Society and the Tuesday Club of Wilmington, Delaware. He was organist and choirmaster at St. Clement's, Christ Church in Germantown, and at the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem. He was a founding member of both Music Manuscript Society and the American Guild of Organists. He was the head of voice instruction at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, and from 1893 to 1899 he conducted the Symphony Society of Philadelphia.[1]
Gilchrist was one of the very few American composers of this period who did not study in Europe.[5] His pupils included Anna Priscilla Risher.[6]
Personal life
His son, William Wallace Gilchrist, Jr. (1879-1926), became a painter of some note.
References
- ^ a b c d Mendelssohn Club of America website, http://www.mcchorus.org/wp/history
- ^ May Festival website, http://www.mayfestival.com/search-detail.php?N_ID=1561
- OCLC 858798431).
- OCLC 842155856(OCLCs are both links to Free Library of Philadelphia entries- which don't show up under "Worldwide libraries..."). Date is estimated to ca.1910.
- . Retrieved 2023-02-05.
- ^ John Tasker Howard (1939). Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of it. Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
- Martha Furman Schleifer, William Wallace Gilchrist, 1846-1916: A Moving Force in the Musical Life of Philadelphia (Metuchen, NJ, and London: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1985).