Rootīuilding on his talent for song-writing, Root moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1859 to work for his brother's music publishing house of Root & Cady. Ĭover to "The Battle-Cry of Freedom" by George F. The Flower Queen has been regarded as the first secular cantata written by an American. His first cantata, The Flower Queen: or The Coronation of the Rose, was composed in 1851 with libretto by Fanny Crosby, and gained immediate success in singing schools across the United States. Root's cantatas were popular on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the 19th century. He also composed various sacred and secular cantatas including the popular The Haymakers (1857). In 1860 he compiled The Diapason: Collection of Church Music. The cantata was a collaboration between Root and Bradbury musically, with text by Fanny Crosby and C.M. Root assisted William Bradbury in compiling The Shawm in 1853, a collection of hymn tunes and choral anthems, featuring the cantata Daniel: or the Captivity and Restoration.
īesides his popular songs, he also composed gospel songs in the Ira Sankey vein, and collected and edited volumes of choral music for singing schools, Sunday schools, church choirs and musical institutes. Root chose to employ the pseudonym Wurzel (German for Root) to capitalize on the popularity of German composers during the 1850s, and to keep his identity as a serious composer against his composition of minstrel and popular songs. On his return from Europe, Root began composing and publishing sentimental popular songs, a number of which achieved fame as sheet-music, including those with Fanny Crosby: The Hazel Dell, Rosalie the Prairie Flower, There's Music in the Air and others, which were, according to Root's New York Times obituary, known throughout the country in the antebellum period. JSTOR ( June 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "George Frederick Root" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. He was a follower of the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. He applied a version of Pestalozzi's teaching and was instrumental in developing mid- and late-19th century American musical education. From 1855 on, Root would spend most of his summers traveling and teaching at music education conventions throughout New England. įrom 1853 to 1855, Root helped Lowell Mason and William Bradbury establish the New York Normal Musical Institute, which served as a school for aspiring music educators.
He returned to teach music in Boston, Massachusetts as an associate of Lowell Mason, and later Bangor, Maine, where he was director of the Penobscot Musical Association and presided over their convention at Norumbega Hall in 1856. In 1850, he made a study tour of Europe, staying in Vienna, Paris, and London. He worked for a while as a church organist in Boston, and from 1845 taught music at the New York Institute for the Blind, where he met Fanny Crosby, with whom he would compose fifty to sixty popular secular songs. Root left his farming community for Boston at 18, flute in hand, intending to join an orchestra. Root was born at Sheffield, Massachusetts, and was named after the German composer George Frideric Handel.
0 kommentar(er)
