Edwin Lemare
Encyclopedia
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
and 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...
who lived the latter part of his life in the United States.
Biography
He was born in VentnorVentnor
Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...
, on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, and received his early musical training as a chorister and organist under his father (a music seller, also called Edwin Lemare) at Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church, Ventnor
Holy Trinity Church, Ventnor is a parish church in the Church of England located in Ventnor, Isle of Wight.-History:The church dates from 1860 to 1862 by the architect C. E. Giles.The first vicar was Revd...
. He spent three years at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
from 1876 on a Goss Scholarship, where he studied under Sir G. A. Macfarren, Walter Cecil Macfarren, Dr Charles Steggall and Dr Edmund H. Turpin. He obtained the F.R.C.O. in 1886. He became an organ professor and examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
ABRSM is an internationally recognised educational body and charity that provides examinations in music The organisation, based in London, UK, runs exams in centres all over the world...
in 1892.
He gained fame by playing two recital
Recital
A recital is a musical performance. It can highlight a single performer, sometimes accompanied by piano, or a performance of the works of a single composer.The invention of the solo piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt....
s a day, over a hundred in total, on the one-manual
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
Brindley & Foster
Brindley & Foster
Brindley & Foster was a pipe organ builder based in Sheffield who flourished between 1854 and 1939.-Background:The business was established by Charles Brindley in 1854. He was joined by Albert Healey Foster in 1871 and the company acquired the name Brindley & Foster.Charles Brindley was born in...
organ in the Inventions Exhibition in 1884. He gave bi-weekly recitals at the Park Hall, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, from 1886; this was followed by further appointments around Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
After apparently treating church service
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
s in London as concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, he left for a hundred-recital tour of the USA and Canada from 1900–1901, and stayed in North America for most of the remainder of his life. He also toured Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, where he helped to design the organs for Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Town Hall
The Auckland Town Hall is a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions , as well as for its famed Great Hall and its separate Concert Chamber...
and Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...
. He died in Hollywood, California.
Organist posts held
- St. Mary’s, Brookfield, HighgateHighgateHighgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
- St. John’s, Finsbury ParkFinsbury ParkFinsbury Park is a 46 hectare public park in the London Borough of Haringey. Officially part of the London area of Harringay, it is also adjacent to Stroud Green, the Finsbury Park district and Manor House. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian...
, 1882 - Park Hall, CardiffCardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
- Sheffield Parish ChurchSheffield CathedralSheffield Cathedral is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status when the diocese was created in 1914...
, 1886 - Albert Hall, SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, 1886 - Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1892 - St. Margaret's, WestminsterSt. Margaret's, WestminsterThe Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London...
, 1897-1902 - Carnegie InstituteCarnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, Pittsburgh, 1902-1905 - Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915
- City Organist, San Francisco, 1917-1920
- Portland, MainePortland, MainePortland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, 1921-1923 - Civic Organist, Chattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, 1924-1929
Abilities as organist and composer
As a player, he had a very large repertoireOrgan repertoire
The organ repertoire consists of music written for the organ. Because it is one of the oldest musical instruments in existence, written organ repertoire spans a time period almost as long as that of written music itself. The organ's solo repertoire is among the largest for any musical instrument...
and was in constant demand; he was the most highly-paid organist of his day, and earned previously unheard-of sums when he went to America. He performed to as many as 10,000 people, and travelled the Atlantic so often that crew members of the ocean liners knew him by name. Some evidence of his excellent playing survives to this day: he made 24 player rolls for the Aeolian Company
Aeolian Company
The Æolian Company was a manufacturer of player organs and pianos.- History :It was founded by New York City piano maker William B. Tremaine as the Æolian Organ & Music Co. to make automatic organs, and, after 1895, as the Æolian Co. automatic pianos as well. The Æolian Company was a...
and 96 for Welte
Welte-Mignon
M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte in 1832.-Overview:...
in Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
, which have been played again and recorded. He was also a very capable improviser
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
; he recorded and transcribed some of his improvisations for publication.
Of his many compositions for the organ, many are 'light music
Light music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
' designed to show off the tone and capabilities of the huge organs of his day, and have fallen out of favour (though Christopher Herrick
Christopher Herrick
-Early life:Born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, Christopher Herrick was a boy chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and attended its choir school; he sang at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and later that year went with the choir on a three-month tour of America which included a private...
has recorded much of Lemare's music in his Organ Fireworks series). Unusually, his qualities as a composer are generally thought to have declined rather than improved with age; his first two organ symphonies are considered to rival those of his French contemporaries in quality.
Moonlight and Roses
The Andantino in D-flat, known as MoonlightMoonlight
Moonlight is the light that reaches Earth from the Moon. This light does not originate from the Moon, but from sunlight. The Moon does not, however, reflect sunlight like a mirror, but it reflects light from those portions of its surface which the Sun's light strikes. See diffuse reflection.In...
and Rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s, op.83 no.2 (1888), is one of Edwin Lemare's few well-known original compositions. It became so popular that he was asked to play it in nearly all his concerts. It sold tens of thousands of copies, though he did not initially make any money out of it; when it was published in 1892 by Robert Cocks in London, he received a flat fee of three guinea
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
s. Lemare did not call it Moonlight and Roses nor did he attach any words to the tune; it was American songwriters Ben Black
Ben Black
Ben Black was an English composer of popular song and an impresario.Born in Dudley, England, Black worked as music director in Paramount Pictures' cinemas across the US, before moving on to theatrical production in his own right...
and Charles N. Daniels (under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Neil Moret
Neil Moret
Charles N. Daniels , was a composer, occasional lyricist, and music publishing executive. He employed many pseudonyms, including Neil Moret, Jules Lemare, L'Albert, Paul Bertrand, Julian Strauss, and Sidney Carter...
) who added these words to the melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, without permission
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
, in 1921:
Moonlight and roses
Bring wonderful mem'ries of you.
My heart reposes
In beautiful thoughts so true.
June light discloses
Love's olden dreams sparkling anew,
Moonlight and roses
Bring mem'ries of you.
The piece became extremely popular and sold over one million copies. Lemare threatened legal action in 1925, resulting in his obtaining a share of the royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
; he finally profited from his popular tune
Tune
Tune may refer to:* A melody* A tune-family* A tune , a short piece of instrumental music, usually with repeating sections, and often played a number of times* British slang term, often said when referring to a piece of music that is enjoyed...
.
The piece uses the technique known as thumbing down; the left hand plays an accompaniment on the choir manual, while the finger
Finger
A finger is a limb of the human body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates....
s of the right hand play the tune on the solo manual, and the thumb of the right hand simultaneously plays the tune on the great manual, in parallel sixth
Sixth
Sixth can refer to:* The ordinal form of the number six* Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution* A keg of beer equal to 5 U.S. gallons or 1/6 barrel of beer.* A fraction, such as 1/6-Music:*Interval*Major sixth*Minor sixth...
s. The player is thus playing on three manual
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
s at once.
Compositions for organ
Church music
Church music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...
and an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l 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...
.
Original
- Allegretto in B minor
- Andante Cantabile in F (Op. 37)
- Andantino in D flat (also known as “Moonlight & Roses”)
- Arcadian Idyll (Op. 52) (1: Serenade; 2: Musette; 3: Solitude)
- Barcarolle in A flat
- Bell Scherzo (Op. 89)
- Bénédiction Nuptiale (Op. 85)
- Berceuse in D
- Cantique d’Amour (Op. 47)
- Caprice Orientale (Op. 46)
- Chanson d’Été in B flat
- Chant de Boneur (Op. 62)
- Chant sans paroles in D
- Cloches Sonores (Basso Ostinato) - Symphonic sketch (Op. 63)
- Communion “Peace” (Op. 68)
- Concert Fantasia in F
- Concertstück No 1 - In the form of a Polonaise (Op. 80)
- Concertstück No 2 - In form of a Tarantella (Op. 90)
- Contemplation in D minor (Op. 42)
- Elegy in G
- Evening Pastorale “The Curfew” (Op. 128)
- Fantaisie Fugue in G minor (Op. 48)
- Fantasie Dorienne in the form of variations (Op. 101)
- Gavotte Moderne in A flat
- Gavotte à la cour (Op. 84)
- Idyll in E flat
- Impromptu in A
- Intermezzo : Moonlight (Op. 83/2)
- Intermezzo in B flat (Op. 39)
- Irish Air from “County Derry” (arr. by)
- Madrigal in D flat
- Marche Heroïque (Op. 74)
- Marche Solennelle in E flat
- Meditation in D flat (Op. 38)
- Minuet Nuptiale (Op. 103)
- Nocturne in B minor (Op. 41)
- Pastorale No 2 in C
- Pastorale Poem (Op. 54)
- Pastorale in E
- Rêverie in E flat (Op. 20)
- Rhapsody in C minor (Op. 43)
- Romance in D flat
- Romance in D flat (No 2) (Op. 112)
- Salut d’Amour (Op. 127)
- Scherzo
- Second Andantino in D flat
- Sonata No 1 in F (Op. 95) (1: Maestoso; 2: Largo; 3: Scherzo; 4: Intermezzo; 5: Finale)
- Spring Song - From the South (Op. 56)
- Summer Sketches (1: Dawn; 2: The Bee; 3: The Cuckoo; 4: Twilight; 5: Evening) (Op. 73) Sunshine (Op. 83/1)
- Symphony No 1 in G minor (1: Allegro Moderato; 2: Adagio Cantabile; 3: Scherzo; 4: Finale) (Op. 35)
- Symphony No 2 in D minor (1: Maestoso con fuoco; 2: Adagio patetico; 3: Scherzo; 4: Allegro giusto) (Op. 50)
- Tears and Smiles (1: Tears; 2: Smiles) (Op. 133)
- Toccata di concerto
- Twilight Sketches (Op. 138) (1: Sundown; 2: The Glow-Worm; 3: The Fire Fly; 4: Dusk)
Transcriptions
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l music for the organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, for his own performance in concerts. While there was likely an element of pure showmanship to these transcriptions - which allowed Lemare to display his uncanny skill as a transcriber of major symphonic works, as well as his phenomenal technique - Lemare sincerely believed he was also performing a service in letting concert audiences in mid-sized American towns hear important orchestral works from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
that would otherwise go unknown in locales with no resident symphony orchestra. Many of his transcriptions are still performed today, especially those he did of the works of Wagner.
Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
- Gavotte in A
- Idylle (Op. 4/1)
- Pomp & Circumstance March No 1 (Op. 39)
- Salut d’Amour (Op. 12)
- Sursum Corda (Élévation) (Op. 11)
- Triumphal March from Caractacus (Op. 35)
Richard Wagner
- Overture to Die Fliegende Holländer
- Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- Overture to Rienzi
- Overture to Tannhäuser
- Ride of the Valkyries
Further reading
- Edwin H. Lemare: Organs I have Met: the Autobiography of Edwin H. Lemare, 1866–1934, together with Reminiscences by his Wife and Friends (Los Angeles: Schoolcraft, 1956)
- Nelson Barden: Edwin H. Lemare, in The American Organist
- Part 1: Becoming the Best (January 1986, Vol.20, No.1)
- Part 2: Pittsburgh and Australia (March 1986, Vol.20, No.3)
- Part 3: The Midlands, Liverpool, Freiburg (June 1986, Vol.20, No.6)
- Part 4: San Francisco, Portland, Chattanooga, Hollywood (August 1986, Vol.20, No.8)
External links
- Edwin H. Lemare: The most detailed biography of Lemare on the web by Nelson Barden. English and French version.
- Recordings: 'In 1913, at the height of his career, Lemare recorded 96 organ rolls for Welte & SöhneWelte-MignonM. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte in 1832.-Overview:...
in Freiburg, Germany. These selections were re-performed in 1973 on the Welte-Tripp organ in the Church of the Covenant, Boston.' - Letter written by Lemare in which he refers to his wife as his 'other eleven sixteenths'
- Sheet Music by Edwin Lemare
- Edwin H. Lemare at www.edwinlemare.com - website representing a biographical book
- The Citizens' Committee To Preserve The San Francisco Municipal Pipe Organ at SFExpositionOrgan.org - website and video for The Citizen's Committee to Preserve The San Francisco Exposition Organ