Samuel Brenton Whitney

Samuel Brenton Whitney (June 4, 1842 – August 3, 1914) was a United States organist, conductor and composer. His compositions were primarily church music and chamber works.

Samuel Brenton Whitney
Born(1842-06-04)June 4, 1842
Woodstock, Vermont
DiedAugust 3, 1914(1914-08-03) (aged 72)
Woodstock, Vermont
Occupation(s)Composer, conductor, organist
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Biography

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Samuel Brenton Whitney was born in Woodstock, Vermont on June 4, 1842.[1] He was a pupil of Charles Wels of New York City and then John Knowles Paine of Cambridge, Massachusetts.[2][3] He secured his first organ appointment in Cambridge. He came to be regarded as the greatest interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach in the United States, and was appointed professor of organ playing and lecturer in music at the Boston University and the New England Conservatory. In 1871 he was appointed organist and choir director of the Church of the Advent, Boston. His compositions included many anthems and other church pieces, songs, pianoforte music, sonatas, transcriptions, and arrangements for the organ.[4] The Arthur P. Schmidt company's first publication was the Whitney anthem Deus misereatur (God Be Merciful Unto Us).[5]

He died at his sister's home in Woodstock on August 3, 1914.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. IX. James T. White & Company. 1907. p. 388. Retrieved November 16, 2020 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Rand, John C., ed. (1890). One of a thousand: a series of biographical sketches of one thousand representative men resident in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89. Vol. 3. Boston: First National Publishing Company. p. 655.
  3. ^ Baltzell, Winton James (1918). Baltzell's dictionary of musicians. Boston: The Oliver Ditson Company. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  4. ^ Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Whitney, Samuel Brenton" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  5. ^ Waters, Edward N. (1960). "Music". Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. 18 (1): 13–39. ISSN 0090-0095.
  6. ^ "Organist Whitney Dies at Woodstock". The Boston Globe. Woodstock, Vermont. August 4, 1914. p. 10. Retrieved November 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

References

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  • Howard, John Tasker (1939). Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
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