Francis Boott (composer)

Francis Boott (Boston, Massachusetts, June 24, 1813 – Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 1, 1904)[1] was an American classical music composer of art songs and works for chorus.

Contents

Biography

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, of English parentage. He attended Harvard University and graduated in 1831.[1] Following the death of his wife, Boott took his young daughter Elizabeth (Lizzie) (1846–88) to Florence, where he studied harmony with Luigi Picchianti. He became an honorary professor at the Academy of Fine Arts.[1] He was friends with others in the Anglo-American community in Italy, including Henry and William James, the Brownings, Isa Blagden and Constance Fenimore Woolson. The Bootts lived at the Villa Castellani in the Bellosguardo heights.[1] He returned to America in 1875[2] and continued to compose music. He died at the age of 91 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He bequeathed $10,000 to Harvard University as a prize fund for the best 4-part vocal work written by a Harvard student.[1] In 1960 the amount was increased to $15,246 through capital gains.[3]The prize continues to be awarded by the Harvard University Department of Music.[4]

Music

His first first six songs appeared under the pen name of Telford in 1846; Upton described them as "quite undistinguished".[5] Eight songs were published in 1857, followed by many individual songs in the following years. He composed at least 140 songs during his long life, as well as a handful of duets, choral works, part-songs, and instrumental works. He also composed hymns for church services, many of which were included in the hymnal for King's Chapel in Boston.[3]

While his melodies and piano accompaniments are considered "commonplace, with little harmonic interest"[6], his choices of texts were sophisticated, embracing the literary world of his time. In 1857, John Sullivan Dwight wrote that his songs are "not strikingly original, but graceful and facile, much to be preferred to the popular sweetish, sentimental type".[7]

Musical compositions

Songs for voice and piano

under the pseudonym Telford:
  1. The Convict's Lullaby (Henry Kirke White); revised 1874, S. Brainard's Sons, publisher
  2. It is O'er (Mrs. Jameson)
  3. Lass of Northmaven (from The Pirate)
  4. Byron's Farewell (Lord Byron)
  5. Tirana Española; revised 1874, S. Brainard's Sons, publisher
  6. My Home and Thee
under his own name
  1. Sands o' Dee (Charles Kingsley)
  2. Stars of the Summer Night (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
  3. The Night is Clear and Cloudless (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
  4. Ring Out Wild Bells (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
  5. Break, Break, Break, at the Foot of Thy Stones, O Sea (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
  6. From the Close-shut Window (Lowell)
  7. Battle of the Baltic (Campbell)
  8. I am Weary with Rowing (William Wetmore Story)
  1. The Heathen Chinee
  2. Chiquita
  3. Twenty years
  4. Jim
  5. Flynn of Virginia
  6. Upon the Stanislow
  1. (Unknown song)
  2. The Rivulet (Lucy Larcom)
  3. Lady Moon (Lord Houghton/Richard Monckton Milnes)
  4. Little Nanny (Lucy Larcom)
  5. Swing Away (Lucy Larcom)
  6. Berrying Song (Lucy Larcom)
  1. Violet (Colonel John Hay), 1825
  2. We Two (Jean Ingelow), 1840
  3. The Lighthouse-keeper's Child (Thomas Hood), 1849
  1. The Honeymoon, 1884
  2. A Year After, 1886
other single songs, all published by Oliver Ditson unless noted

Vocal duets

Large works

Shorter choral works and part-songs

Instrumental works

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e John C. Schmidt, Grove online
  2. ^ Upton, p. 51
  3. ^ a b Baker's Biographical Dictionary 7th edition, p. 303
  4. ^ http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~musicdpt/mmperformance.html
  5. ^ Upton, p. 52
  6. ^ Upton, p. 53
  7. ^ Quoted in Upton, p. 53
  8. ^ Manuscript located at the New York Public Library, OCLC number 649461516
  9. ^ Mentioned in John C. Schmidt, Grove online

References