Dudley Buck
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and writer on music. He published several books, most notably the Dictionary of Musical Terms and Influence of the Organ in History, which was published in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1882. He is best known today for his organ composition, Concert Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner, Op.
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
23, which was later arranged into an orchestral version.
Life and career
Born in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Buck was the son of a merchant who gave him every opportunity to cultivate his musical talents. After attending Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
, for four years (1858-1862) he studied in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was a pupil of Louis Plaidy
Louis Plaidy
Louis Plaidy was a celebrated German piano pedagogue and compiler of books of technical music studies....
. He then pursued further studies in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. On returning to America he held positions of organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
in Hartford, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(1869), and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
(1871).
In 1875 Buck went to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to assist Theodore Thomas
Theodore Thomas (musician)
Theodore Thomas was an American violinist and conductor of German birth. He is considered the first renowned American orchestral conductor and was the founder and first music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra .-Early life:Theodore Christian Friedrich Thomas was born in Esens, Germany on...
as conductor of orchestral concerts, and from 1877 to 1902 was organist at Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. By this time he had become well known as a composer. His compositions included church music, a number of cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
s (Columbus (1876), Golden Legend (1880), Light of Asia (1885), etc.), a grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
Serapis, a comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
Deseret (1880), a symphonic overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
Marmion, a symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
in E flat, and other orchestral and vocal works.
Buck also taught private music lessons throughout his career. Among his notable pupils were Paul Ambrose
Paul Ambrose
Paul Ambrose was a Canadian organist, conductor, composer, and music educator who was primarily active in the United States. His compositional output includes more than 200 songs, choral pieces, and works for solo piano and organ. He is particularly remembered for his anthems which have been...
, William Howland
William Howland (musician)
William A. Howland was an American operatic bass, voice teacher, composer, conductor and university administrator. He was the head of the music department at the University of Michigan from 1900-1914...
, Daniel Protheroe
Daniel Protheroe
Daniel Protheroe , was a Welsh composer and conductor, born at Cwmgiedd near Ystradgynlais, Brecknockshire. After success at the National Eisteddfod at a young age, he emigrated to the USA, where he was educated...
, Harry Rowe Shelley
Harry Rowe Shelley
Harry Rowe Shelley was an American composer, organist , and professor of music. He was born in New Haven, Conn. Shelley studied with Gustav J...
, and Charles Sanford Skilton
Charles Sanford Skilton
Charles Sanford Skilton was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Blair Fairchild, Arthur Nevin, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist composers of the early twentieth century.-Life:Skilton was born in Northampton,...
.