Horatio Parker
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al life in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the teacher of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
.
Biography
He was born in AuburndaleAuburndale, Massachusetts
Auburndale is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts. It lies at the western end of Newton near the intersection of interstate highways 90 and 95, and is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike. Auburndale is surrounded by three other Newton villages as well as the city of Waltham and the...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. After early study in the United States with George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
and others, he went to Europe, a common destination for a young American composer in the 1880s. In Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
he studied with Josef Rheinberger
Josef Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
; also in Munich he composed his first significant works, including a symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and a dramatic cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
. After his return to the United States in 1885, he was for two years professor of music in the Cathedral School of St. Paul in Garden City, Long Island
Garden City, New York
Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is located on Long Island, to the east of New York City, from mid-town Manhattan, and just south of the town of...
. From 1888 to 1893, he was organist of Trinity Church, New York City, and from 1893 to 1901 organist of Trinity Church, Boston
Trinity Church, Boston
Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 3,000 households, was founded in 1733. The current rector is The Reverend Anne Bonnyman...
. In 1893, Parker became professor at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He was appointed Dean of Music at that school in 1904, a position which he held for the rest of his life. Cambridge University bestowed on him the degree of Mus. Doc. in 1902. In 1915, he was elected as a national honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music. Parker died in Cedarhurst, New York
Cedarhurst, New York
Cedarhurst is a village in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, New York, in the USA. The population was 6,592 at the 2010 United States Census. The village is named after a grove of trees that once stood at the post office....
.
Before leaving New York City in 1893, Parker had completed his oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
, Hora Novissima, set to the opening words of De contemptu mundi by Bernard of Cluny
Bernard of Cluny
Bernard of Cluny was a Benedictine monk of the first half of the 12th century, a poet, satirist, and hymn-writer, author of the famous verses De contemtu mundi, "On Contempt for the World"....
. It was widely performed in America; and also in England, in 1899 at Chester, and at the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
at Worcester, the latter an honour never before paid an American composer. While he is mostly remembered for this single work, he was a prolific and versatile composer in a mostly conservative Germanic tradition, writing two operas, songs, organ and incidental music, and a copious quantity of works for chorus and orchestra. Influences in his compositions include Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, as well as Debussy and Elgar in some works which he composed closer to 1900. During his lifetime he was considered to be the finest composer in the United States, a superior craftsman writing in the most advanced style.
In 1892, Parker composed the hymn tune
Hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....
"Auburndale" in celebration of the laying of the cornerstone of the new church building of the Episcopal parish he was baptised in, Parish of the Messiah. His father, Charles Parker, had been the architect for that congregation's chapel; famed Episcopal bishop Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks was an American clergyman and author, who briefly served as Bishop of Massachusetts in the Episcopal Church during the early 1890s. In the Episcopal liturgical calendar he is remembered on January 23...
laid the cornerstone. "Auburndale" was later published in the 1916 Hymnal ("The Messiah Miracle: A History The Church of the Messiah of West Newton and Auburndale 1871–1971," privately published, 1971).
Parker entered his opera, Mona
Mona (opera)
Mona is an opera in three acts by composer Horatio Parker with an English libretto by Brian Hooker. The opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 March 1912 after the work won the Met's composition competition in 1911.- Roles :...
, into a contest at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
winning the prize for best composition in 1911. He won 10,000 dollars and his opera was performed by the company. Mona premiered on March 14, 1912 and ran for four performances. The title role was created by Louise Homer
Louise Homer
Louise Homer was an American operatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932. After a brief stint as a vaudeville entertainer in New England, she made her professional opera debut in France in 1898...
.
Oratorios and Cantatas
- Hora Novissima, Op. 30 (1893)
- The Holy Child, Op. 37 (1893)
- The Legend of Saint Christopher, Op.43 (1898)
- A Wanderer's Psalm, Op. 50 (1900)
- A Star Song, Op. 54, (1902)
- Morven and the Grail, Op. 79 (1915)
Orchestral Works
- Concert Overture in E, Op. 4 (1884)
- Regulus, Overture héroïque, Op. 5 (1884)
- Venetian Overture in B, Op. 12 (1884)
- Scherzo in g, Op. 13 (1884)
- Symphony in C, Op. 7 (1885)
- Count Robert of Paris, Overture, Op. 24b (1890)
- A Northern Ballad, Op. 46 (1899)
- Organ Concerto in E-flat, Op. 55 (1902)
- Vathek, Op. 56 (1903)
- Collegiate Overture, Op. 72, with male chorus (1911)
- Fairyland Suite, Op. 77d (1915)
Orchestral Songs
- Cahal Mor of the Wine-Red Hand, Op. 40 (1893)
- Crepuscule, Op. 64 (1912)
- The Red Cross Spirit Speaks (J. Finley), Op. 83 (1917)
Organ
- Geschwindmarsch for 2 Organists (1881)
- 4 Compositions, Op. 17 (1890) : 1. Concert Piece No 1 - 2. Impromptu - 3. Romanza - 4. ...
- 4 Compositions, Op. 20 (1891) : 1. Melody and Intermezzo - 2. Wedding-Song - 3. ... - 4. Fantasie
- 4 Compositions, Op. 28 (1891) : 1. ... - 2. Concert Piece No 2 - 3. Pastorella - 4. ...
- 5 Sketches, Op. 32 (1893)
- 4 Compositions, Op. 36 (1893) : 1. Canzonetta - 2. ... - 3. Fugue - 4. Eglogue
- 3 Compositions (1896)
- Organ Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 65 (1908)
- 4 Compositions, Op. 66 (1910) : 1. Festival Prelude - 2. Revery - 3. Postlude - 4. Scherzino
- 5 Short Pieces, Op. 68 (1908)1. Canon In the Fifth - 2. Slumber-Song - 3. Novelette - 4. Arietta - 5. Risoluto
- Introduction and Fugue in e (1916)
Chamber Music
- String Quartet in F, Op, 11 (1885)
- Suite Op. 35, for Piano Trio (1893)
- String Quintet in d, Op. 38 (1894)
- Suite in e, Op. 41 for Violin and Piano (1894)
Piano
- Präsentirmarsch for 4 hands
- 5 Morceaux caractéristiques, Op. 9 (1886)
- 4 Sketches, Op. 19 (1890)
- 6 Lyrics, Op. 23 (1891)
- 2 Compositions (1895)
- 3 Morceaux caractéristiques, Op. 49 (1899)