William Henry Fry

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William Henry Fry

William Henry Fry (born August 10, 1813 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † December 21, 1864 on Santa Cruz (Virgin Islands) ) was an American composer and music critic.

Career

The early gifted Fry received a gold medal from the Philadelphia Philharmonic Society in 1823 for an overture he had composed . He studied at the University of Pennsylvania until 1830 . In 1836 he became secretary of the Philharmonic Society in Philadelphia. At the same time he wrote the first music reviews for the Philadelphia National Gazette, which was directed by his father . From 1841 Fry was a member of the teaching staff of the socially utopian community Brook Farm . From 1846 he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and Philadelphia Public Ledger magazines in London and Paris .

From 1852 Fry was a music critic for the New York Tribune . Fry's opera Leonora from 1845 is considered the first major opera in the USA. His four programmatic symphonies were premiered by Louis Antoine Jullien's orchestra in 1853–54. He composed other operas, several programmatic symphonies , overtures, a stabat mater , cantatas and songs .

Works

  • Aurelia the Vestal , Opera, 1837–41
  • Leonora , opera based on a play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton , premiered in 1845
  • The Breaking Heart , Symphony, 1852
  • Santa Claus , Symphony, 1853
  • A Day in the Country , Symphony, 1853
  • Child Harold , Symphony, 1854
  • Niagara , Symphony, 1854
  • Notre Dame de Paris , Opera, 1864

reception

Claudio S. Grafulla arranged melodies from the opera Leonora into a Leonora Quick Step .

literature

  • William Treat Upton: William Henry Fry: American Journalist and Composer-Critic . Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York 1954

annotation

  1. ↑ The majority of sources - New Grove, American National Biography, Encyclopedia of World Biography, etc. a. - indicates the date of death as December 21, 1864, MGG indicates September 21.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David E. Campbell, Laura Moore Pruett:  Fry, William Henry. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ Short CV at US Opera
personal data
SURNAME Fry, William Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and music critic
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1864
Place of death Santa Cruz (Virgin Islands)