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Short Name: | Richard Storrs Willis |
Full Name: | Willis, Richard Storrs, 1819-1900 |
Birth Year: | 1819 |
Death Year: | 1900 |
Richard Storrs Willis (February 10, 1819 – May 10, 1900) was an American composer, notably of hymn music. One of his hymns is "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1850), with lyrics by Edmund Sears. He was also a music critic and journal editor.
Willis, whose siblings included Nathaniel Parker Willis and Fanny Fern, was born on February 10, 1819, in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Chauncey Hall, the Boston Latin School, and Yale College where he was a member of Skull and Bones in 1841.
Willis then went to Germany, where he studied six years under Xavier Schnyder and Moritz Hauptmann. While there, he became a personal friend of Felix Mendelssohn. After returning to America, Willis served as music critic for the New York Tribune, The Albion, and The Musical Times, for which he served as editor for a time. He joined the New-York American-Music Association, an organization which promoted the work native of naturalized American composers. He reviewed the organization's first concert for their second season, held December 30, 1856, in the Musical World, as a "creditable affair, all things considered".
Willis began his own journal, Once a Month: A Paper of Society, Belles-Lettres and Art, and published its first issue in January 1862.
Willis died on May 7, 1900. His interment was located at Woodlawn Cemetery.
His works and music compilations include:
Church Chorals and Choir Studies (1850)
Our Church Music (1856)
Waif of Song (1876)
Pen and Lute (1883)
--en.wikipedia.org
Tunes by Richard Storrs Willis (21)![]() | As | Instances | Incipit |
---|---|---|---|
[A charge to keep I have] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 33221 14433 22232 |
AFFLICTION (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 12333 45555 43221 |
[By cool Siloam's shady rill] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 32176 71222 43217 |
CAROL (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis, 1819-1900 (Composer) | 483 | 53221 65655 67112 |
[Come, humble sinner, in whose breast] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 53217 23432 56521 |
CRUSADERS' HYMN (111271) | Richard Storrs Willis, 1819-1900 (Arranged) | 270 | 11127 13333 42351 |
[Glorious things of thee are spoken] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 32213 22136 52565 |
[Hear, O sinner, mercy hails you] (Wilis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 55571 12626 53132 |
[Jesus, I love thy charming name] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 32151 12343 56712 |
LAMENT (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 11112 11733 33433 |
[Lord, we come before thee now] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 12367 67121 71236 |
MADISON (Willis) | R. Storrs Willis (Composer) | 5 | 54321 76667 1765 |
MEDFIELD | Richard S. Willis (Harmonizer) | 1 | 51324 32171 27617 |
SCHÖNSTER HERR JESU (51277) | Richard S. Willis (Arranger) | 2 | 51277 12345 5 |
SNOWDON (Willis) | Richard S. Willis (Composer) | 3 | 33443 21755 65432 |
STORRS | R. Storrs Willis (Composer) | 4 | 33234 21715 54564 |
[The winter is over and gone] | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | |
[There is a land of pure delight] (Willis 11111) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 11611 31161 |
[Through thy protecting care] | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 51271 21232 14325 |
WILLIS | R. S. Willis (Composer) | 5 | 32165 54321 71653 |
[With all my powers of heart and tongue] (Willis) | Richard Storrs Willis (Composer) | 1 | 32315 45317 16765 |