William Wallace Gilchrist (January 8, 1846 – December 20, 1916) was an
American composer and a major figure in nineteenth century
music of Philadelphia.
Gilchrist was born in
Jersey City, New Jersey in 1846 and at the age of eleven months moved with his family to
Philadelphia, where he studied music with
Hugh Archibald Clarke. His father's business having been ruined during the
Civil War, young Gilchrist turned to the law and to business for his own living, but finally decided to take up music as a career. With the exception of a short period in
Cincinnati (1871–1872), he lived in Philadelphia, where he was active as church organist, teacher, and leader of musical clubs. He founded the
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (1874).
In 1882 Gilchrist won the
Cincinnati Festival Prize for his setting of the 46th Psalm, for
soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra. Among his other choral works are
Ode to the Sun,
Journey of Life,
The Uplifted Gates, and
Legend of the Bended Bow. He composed two nonprogrammatic symphonies, and some
chamber music, including a
nonet for
piano,
strings,
flute,
clarinet and horn (recently published, along with Gilchrist's Piano Trio and Piano Quintet) by Soundpost.org.
Although Gilchrist was one of the very few American composers of this period who did not study in
Europe, his style is no less imitative and conventional than that of his Europeanized colleagues.
References
External links
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