Manso E Suave

Author: Will L. Thompson

Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) Born: November 7, 1847, East Li­ver­pool, Ohio. Died: Sep­tem­ber 20, 1909, New York, New York. Buried: Ri­ver­view Cem­e­te­ry, East Li­ver­pool, Ohio. Rebuffed in an ear­ly at­tempt to sell his songs to a com­mer­cial pub­lish­er, Thomp­son start­ed his own pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny. He lat­er ex­pand­ed, open­ing a store to sell pi­an­os, or­gans and sheet mu­sic. Both a lyr­i­cist and com­pos­er, he en­sured he would al­ways re­mem­ber words or mel­o­dies that came to him at odd times: "No mat­ter where I am, at home or ho­tel, at the store or tra­vel­ing, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem wor­thy of a song, I jot it down in verse. In this… Go to person page >

Translator: Francisco Caetano Borges da Silva

Francisco Caetano Borges da Silva was born in 1863 on the island of São Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He was pastor of the Portuguese Church of New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. He published the hymnbook Christian Songs, in that locality where there was a Portuguese colony. Even today there are many churches with services in the Portuguese language in this region. Borges da Silva translated several hymns, one of which was "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling", considered one of the most beautiful and expressive evangelistic hymns, which was composed (lyrics and music) by Will Lamartine Thompson, a notable American composer who founded W. L. Thompson Music Company, and experienced some success in early compositions, before finding his… Go to person page >