Person Results

Switch back to the old search page.Advanced Search

Showing 1 - 10 of 12Results Per Page: 10 20 50

Fred Pratt Green

1903 - 2000 Person Name: Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) Author of "By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered" in Ancient and Modern The name of the Rev. F. Pratt Green is one of the best-known of the contemporary school of hymnwriters in the British Isles. His name and writings appear in practically every new hymnal and "hymn supplement" wherever English is spoken and sung. And now they are appearing in American hymnals, poetry magazines, and anthologies. Mr. Green was born in Liverpool, England, in 1903. Ordained in the British Methodist ministry, he has been pastor and district superintendent in Brighton and York, and now served in Norwich. There he continued to write new hymns "that fill the gap between the hymns of the first part of this century and the 'far-out' compositions that have crowded into some churches in the last decade or more." --Seven New Hymns of Hope , 1971. Used by permission.

Jean Sibelius

1865 - 1957 Person Name: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) Composer of "FINLANDIA" in Ancient and Modern Johann Julius Christian [Jean] Sibelius DM Finland 1865-1957. Born at Hameenlinna, Finland, the son of a Swedish-speaking medical doctor, he lost his father to typhoid in 1868, leaving the family in substantial debt. His mother, again pregnant, had to sell their property and move in with her widowed mother. His aunt Julia gave him piano lessons when he was seven on the family upright piano, wrapping him on the knuckles when he played a wrong note. He learned to improvise as he played. His uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, was interested in music, especially the violin, and gave Jean a violin when he was 10. As his musical advisor his uncle encouraged him to play and compose music. He played music with sister on piano, brother on cello, and himself on violin. He attended a Finnish-speaking prep school in 1874 and continued his education at the Hameenlinna Normal Lyceum thereafter. Jean also showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside when the family moved to the Loviisa coast for the summer months. In 1881 he took violin lessons from the local bandmaster, and developed a strong interest in violin. He became an accomplished player, and thought of becoming a virtuoso, but realizing he began study too late in life for that, instead opted to compose. He often played music in quartets with neighboring families, adding to his chamber music experience. He took the French form of his name, Jean. He studied law at the Imperial Alexander University in Finland, but showed far more interest in music. He then studied music at the Helsinki Music Institute (now Sibelius Academy) from 1885-1889. The school’s founder, Martin Wegelius, did much to support education development in Finland and gave Sibelius his first lessons in composition. Another teacher,,Ferruccio Busoni, a pianist-composer, helped him as well and became a life-long friend. Other friends, pianist Adolf Paul, and conductor-to-be, Armas Jarnefelt, also helped him. In 1892 he married Armas ‘s sister, Aino Jarnefelt, daughter of General Alexander Jarnefelt, governor of Vaasa. They had six daughters, Eva, Ruth, Kirsti, Katarina, Margareta, and Heidi. He continued his musical studies in Berlin (1889-1890) with Albert Becker, and in Vienna (1890-1891) with Robert Fuchs and Karl Goldmark. In Berlin he had opportunity to attend concerts and operas. In Vienna he turned to orchestral composition and had much success, although he had gallstone surgery during that period. He also traveled to the UK, France, Germany, and the USA during this time in his life, composing, conducting, and socializing. In 1892 he took on teaching assignments at the Music Institute and at Kajanus’s conducting school, but this left him with little time for composing. Sibelius’ works were more and more appreciated in Helsinki concert halls as he composed and conducted symphonies in the mid-1890s. In 1898 he was awarded a substantial grant, initially for 10 years, and later extended for life, allowing him to concentrate on composition. Much of his music became popular in Finland and in Germany. In 1899 he began work on his first symphony. It went well, but other patriotic music hehad composed did even better, since Russia was trying to restrict the powers of the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1900 Sibelius went on an international tour with Kajanus and his orchestra, presenting his recent works. In 1901 he wrote his second symphony, which received rave reviews. He continued to compose as he became popular and well-known. In 1903 he had a new home built near Lake Tuusula north of Helsinki, calleed Ainola (after his wife). He gave concerts in and around Finland, spending more and more time away from home, to the chagrin of his wife. After a time he returned home and composed from there. He spent much time wining and dining in Helsinki, and it had a disastrous effect on his wife, who finally entered a sanitorium. He resolved again to give up drinking and concentrate on composing his 3rd symphony. He met Gustav Mahler in Helsinki and they became friends. He performed his 3rd symphony in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1907 he underwent a serious operation for suspected throat cancer, and spent time in the hospital in 1908. His smoking and drinking had now become life-threatening. He cancelled concerts for Rome, Warsaw, and Berlin, but kept one in London. His health deteriorated further, And his brush with death inspired him to compose his 4th symphony. In 1909 his successful throat operation resulted in renewed happiness for him and his wife, Aino. He continued conducting concerts, and met Claude Debussy, who further encouraged his musical efforts. He began working on his 4th symphony in 1910, but had to write other music to compensate for dwindling funds. He finished his 4th symphony in Berlin and conducted concerts in Sweden in 1911. In 1912 he completed short orchestral works. Over the next several years he continued producing a variety of pieces of music, well-received, especially in America. He was given an honorary DM degree from Yale University and also another from the University of Helsinki about the same time. WW1 interrupted his music royalties in 1915, and he was forced to compose smaller works for publication to make ends meet. He completed his 5th symphony at age 50, but he was dissatisfied with it and reworked it three times In 1917 he starting drinking again, triggering arguments with his wife. The Russian Revolution in 1917 caused an improvement in their personal relationship, and he wrote his ‘Jager March’ to celebrate Finnish independence from Russia. The next year the Finnish Civil War began, putting a damper on his march. In 1919, after the war, he completed his 6th symphony. In 1920 George Eastman , of Eastman Kodak, asked him to teach for a year in New York, but he declined. He did enjoy a trip conducting several concerts in England in 1921. He premiered his 6th symphony in 1923. In 1924 he completed his 7th symphony. The next year he composed a number of small pieces. He began drinking again. He did write a few more major works, but for the last thirty years of his life he avoided publicly talking about his music. He tried to write an 8th symphony, but was unsatisfied with it and burned the scores. In fact, he burned a laundry basket full of music he had written, to the chagrin of his wife. But, afterward, he became calmer and gradually had a lighter mood. In 1935 he was awarded the Goethe-Metal, with a certificate signed by Adolf Hitler. A Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939 was repelled, but Finland gave up territory to Russia as a result. In 1941 Sibelius and his wife returned to their Finland home, Ainola, after a long absence. He did not compose much the last few years, and died at Ainola. His wife outlived him by 12 years. John Perry

John Bacchus Dykes

1823 - 1876 Person Name: John B. Dykes, 1823-1876 Arranger of "O QUANTA QUALIA" in Worship and Rejoice As a young child John Bacchus Dykes (b. Kingston-upon-Hull' England, 1823; d. Ticehurst, Sussex, England, 1876) took violin and piano lessons. At the age of ten he became the organist of St. John's in Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. After receiving a classics degree from St. Catherine College, Cambridge, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. In 1849 he became the precentor and choir director at Durham Cathedral, where he introduced reforms in the choir by insisting on consistent attendance, increasing rehearsals, and initiating music festivals. He served the parish of St. Oswald in Durham from 1862 until the year of his death. To the chagrin of his bishop, Dykes favored the high church practices associated with the Oxford Movement (choir robes, incense, and the like). A number of his three hundred hymn tunes are still respected as durable examples of Victorian hymnody. Most of his tunes were first published in Chope's Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (1857) and in early editions of the famous British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern. Bert Polman

C. Hubert H. Parry

1848 - 1918 Composer of "INTERCESSOR" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Charles Hubert Hastings Parry KnBch/Brnt BMus United Kingdom 1848-1918. Born at Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, England, son of a wealthy director of the East India Company (also a painter, piano and horn musician, and art collector). His mother died of consumption shortly after his birth. His father remarried when he was three, and his stepmother favored her own children over her stepchildren, so he and two siblings were sometimes left out. He attended a preparatory school in Malvern, then at Twyford in Hampshire. He studied music from 1856-58 and became a pianist and composer. His musical interest was encouraged by the headmaster and by two organists. He gained an enduring love for Bach’s music from S S Wesley and took piano and harmony lessons from Edward Brind, who also took him to the ‘Three Choirs Festival in Hereford in 1861, where Mendelssohn, Mozart, Handel, and Beethoven works were performed. That left a great impression on Hubert. It also sparked the beginning of a lifelong association with the festival. That year, his brother was disgraced at Oxford for drug and alcohol use, and his sister, Lucy, died of consumption as well. Both events saddened Hubert. However, he began study at Eton College and distinguished himself at both sport and music. He also began having heart trouble, that would plague him the rest of his life. Eton was not known for its music program, and although some others had interest in music, there were no teachers there that could help Hubert much. He turned to George Elvey, organist of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and started studying with him in 1863. Hubert eventually wrote some anthems for the choir of St George’s Chapel, and eventually earned his music degree. While still at Eton, Hubert sat for the Oxford Bachelor of Music exam, the youngest person ever to have done so. His exam exercise, a cantata: “O Lord, Thou hast cast us out” astonished the Heather Professor of Music, Sir Frederick Ouseley, and was triumphantly performed and published in 1867. In 1867 he left Eton and went to Exeter College, Oxford. He did not study music there, his music concerns taking second place, but read law and modern history. However, he did go to Stuttgart, Germany, at the urging of Henry Hugh Pierson, to learn re-orchestration, leaving him much more critical of Mendelssohn’s works. When he left Exeter College, at his father’s behest, he felt obliged to try insurance work, as his father considered music only a pastime (too uncertain as a profession). He became an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London, 1870-77, but he found the work unappealing to his interests and inclinations. In 1872 he married Elizabeth Maude Herbert, and they had two daughters: Dorothea and Gwendolen. His in-laws agreed with his father that a conventional career was best, but it did not suit him. He began studying advanced piano with W S Bennett, but found it insufficient. He then took lessons with Edward Dannreuther, a wise and sympathetic teacher, who taught him of Wagner’s music. At the same time as Hubert’s compositions were coming to public notice (1875), he became a scholar of George Grove and soon an assistant editor for his new “Dictionary of Music and Musicians”. He contributed 123 articles to it. His own first work appeared in 1880. In 1883 he became professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of Music (of which Grove was the head). In 1895 Parry succeeded Grove as head of the college, remaining in the post the remainder of his life. He also succeeded John Stainer as Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford (1900-1908). His academic duties were considerable and likely prevented him from composing as much as he might have. However, he was rated a very fine composer, nontheless, of orchestrations, overtures, symphonies, and other music. He only attempted one opera, deemed unsuccessful. Edward Elgar learned much of his craft from Parry’s articles in Grove’s Dictionary, and from those who studied under Parry at the Royal College, including Ralph Vaughn Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge, and John Ireland. Parry had the ability when teaching music to ascertain a student’s potential for creativity and direct it positively. In 1902 he was created a Baronet of Highnam Court in Gloucester. Parry was also an avid sailor and owned several yachts, becoming a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1908, the only composer so honored. He was a Darwinian and a humanist. His daughter reiterated his liberal, non-conventional thinking. On medical advice he resigned his Oxford appointment in 1908 and produced some of his best known works. He and his wife were taken up with the ‘Suffrage Movement’ in 1916. He hated to see the WW1 ravage young potential musical talent from England and Germany. In 1918 he contracted Spanish flu during the global pandemic and died at Knightsscroft, Rustington, West Sussex. In 2015 they found 70 unpublished works of Parry’s hidden away in a family archive. It is thought some may never have been performed in public. The documents were sold at auction for a large sum. Other works he wrote include: “Studies of great composers” (1886), “The art of music” (1893), “The evolution of the art of music” (1896), “The music of the 17th century” (1902). His best known work is probably his 1909 study of “Johann Sebastian Bach”. John Perry

Joseph Gelineau

1920 - 2008 Person Name: Joseph Gelineau, b. 1920 Composer of "LE CÉNACLE" in The Hymnal 1982 Joseph Gelineau (1920-2008) Gelineau's translation and musical settings of the psalms have achieved nearly universal usage in the Christian church of the Western world. These psalms faithfully recapture the Hebrew poetic structure and images. To accommodate this structure his psalm tones were designed to express the asymmetrical three-line/four-line design of the psalm texts. He collaborated with R. Tournay and R. Schwab and reworked the Jerusalem Bible Psalter. Their joint effort produced the Psautier de la Bible de Jerusalem and recording Psaumes, which won the Gran Prix de L' Academie Charles Cros in 1953. The musical settings followed four years later. Shortly after, the Gregorian Institute of America published Twenty-four Psalms and Canticles, which was the premier issue of his psalms in the United States. Certainly, his text and his settings have provided a feasible and beautiful solution to the singing of the psalms that the 1963 reforms envisioned. Parishes, their cantors, and choirs were well-equipped to sing the psalms when they embarked on the Gelineau psalmody. Gelineau was active in liturgical development from the very time of his ordination in 1951. He taught at the Institut Catholique de Paris and was active in several movements leading toward Vatican II. His influence in the United States as well in Europe (he was one of the founding organizers of Universa Laus, the international church music association) is as far reaching as it is broad. Proof of that is the number of times "My shepherd is the Lord" has been reprinted and reprinted in numerous funeral worship leaflets, collections, and hymnals. His prolific career includes hundreds of compositions ranging from litanies to responsories. His setting of Psalm 106/107, "The Love of the Lord," for assembly, organ, and orchestra premiéred at the 1989 National Association of Pastoral Musicians convention in Long Beach, California. --www.giamusic.com

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1906 - 1945 Person Name: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) Author of "By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered" in Ancient and Modern Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German: [ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ]; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship became a modern classic. See also in: Wikipedia

Richard Runciman Terry

1865 - 1938 Person Name: Richard Runciman Terry 1865-1938 Composer of "HIGHWOOD" in Together in Song Terry, Richard R., was born at Morpeth, Jan. 3, 1868, and was Tate Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge. In 1896 he became organist and music-master at Downside R. C. College and Abbey, Bath; and in 1901 organist and director of the choir at Westminster Cathedral (R. C.) London. He contributed to A. E. Tozer's Catholic Hymns, 1898, thirteen tunes and the words of two hymns:— 1. Christ, the Lord, is my true Shepherd. Ps. xxiii. 2. Peaceful eve, so still and holy. Christmas Carol. It is marked as D. C. B., i.e. for Downside Coll., Bath. The tune by Mr. Tozor was published in 1881 to a carol beginning with the same first line, but otherwise entirely different. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Robert Buckley Farlee

b. 1950 Person Name: Robert Buckley Farlee, b. 1950 Composer of "TELOS" in Evangelical Lutheran Worship Robert Buckley Farlee is Associate Pastor and Director of Music at Christ Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Bob Farlee and his wife Jane Buckley-Farlee (pastor at Trinity Lutheran Congregation, ELCA, Minneapolis) were ordained on July 13, 1980, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Unity Lutheran Church, Bel-Nor. It was at Unity Lutheran that Bob served as music director. Then in November of 1981, Bob joined the staff at Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis, where he has served both as a pastor and as cantor. Buckley Farlee is a graduates of Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, Missouri. He also serves on the worship editorial staff at Augsburg Fortress Publishers, and was deeply involved in the recent publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the new book of worship for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They are continuing to develop its supporting materials for this resource. --metrolutheran.org/2010/07 (excerpts)