Frederick Converse
Signature

Frederick Shepherd Converse (January 5, 1871 – June 8, 1940), was an American composer of classical music, whose works include four operas and five symphonies.

Life and career

Converse was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Winchester and Charlotte Augusta (Shepherd) Converse. His father was a successful merchant, and president of the National Tube Works and the Conanicut Mills. Frederick Converse's higher education was at Harvard College, where he came under the influence of the composer John K. Paine.[1] Converse had already received instruction in piano playing, and the study of musical theory was a most important part of his college course. Upon his graduation in 1893, his violin sonata (op. 1) was performed and won him highest honors in music.

After six months of business life, for which his father had intended him, he returned to the study of composing, Carl Baermann being his teacher in piano, and George W. Chadwick in composition. He then spent two years at the Royal Academy of Music in Munich, where he studied with Joseph Rheinberger, completing the course in 1898. His Symphony in D minor had its first performance on the occasion of his graduation.[2]

During 1899–1902, Converse taught harmony at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then joined the faculty of Harvard University as instructor in music, and was appointed assistant professor in 1905. Two years later he resigned, and afterwards devoted himself exclusively to composition.

Among Converse's notable students were Alan Hovhaness, Florence Price (1888–1953), and Hisato Ohzawa (1907-1953). See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#Frederick Converse. He died in Westwood, Massachusetts.

Family

He married, 6 June 1894, Emma Tudor, daughter of Frederic Tudor of Brookline, Massachusetts. They had seven children,[3] including five daughters. His daughter Louise married Junius Spencer Morgan III.[4] His daughter Virginia married Paul Codman Cabot.[5]

Compositions

Even though he was firmly committed to composing in the late Romantic idiom of his European contemporaries, his works often dealt with American subjects. The lush orchestral scoring of his program music has been compared to the early style of Richard Strauss. In 1910, Converse's opera The Pipe of Desire became the first American work ever to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.[6] Today, Converse is best known for his symphonic poem The Mystic Trumpeter (1904), based on the poem of the same name from Walt Whitman's iconic anthology, Leaves of Grass.

With opus number

Converse largely numbering his works after Op. 30 except for the arrangement for band of Laudate Domine (Op. 32), My wish (Op. 61), Haul Away, Joe!, Op. 91, and Symphony Nr. 6. op. 107.[9]

Without opus number

———

References

Citations
  1. ^ Garofalo 1994, pp. 3–4.
  2. ^ Garofalo 1994, pp. 7–8.
  3. ^ Garofalo 1994, p. 6.
  4. ^ Times, Special to The New York (1915-06-15). "J. S. MORGAN WEDS TODAY.; Son of J. P. Morgan and Miss Louise Converse to be Married". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. ^ "tG_ t, CORS , ,WEDS PAUL C. CABOT; Composer's Daughter Is Married to Member of a Promii nent Boston Family". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  6. ^ "American Opera at the Met: 1910-1935". 2007-03-17. Archived from the original on 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  7. ^ Barton, George Edward (1905). The Pipe of Desire and other plays Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Boston: The Merrymount Press.
  8. ^ a b c d Christopher Hapka (ed.). "Frederick Shepherd Converse". USOpera. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ^ Garofalo 1994, p. 196.
  10. ^ "VARIOUS MUSIC EVENTS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  11. ^ Garofalo 1994, p. 98.
  12. ^ "WITH SOME ORCHESTRAS; SCHOOLS AND COURSES". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  13. ^ Cooper, Michael (2016-03-01). "Have We Been Playing Gershwin Wrong for 70 Years?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  14. ^ "Red Rhapsody". Time. 1927-01-31. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
Sources

Further reading

External links

Archives at
LocationLibrary of Congress
SourceFrederick Converse collection, 1890s-1960s
How to use archival material
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frederick Shepherd Converse.
Authority control databases
Categories