Clifford Demarest (August 12, 1874 – May 13, 1946) was an American composer. He wrote a number of anthems,
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educat ...
, and from 1911 until his death he served as organist at
Church of the Messiah (New York City)
The Second Congregational Church in New York, organized in 1825, was a Unitarian congregation which had three permanent homes in Manhattan, New York City, the second of which became a theater after they left it. In 1919 the congregation joine ...
In 1901 Demarest was appointed organist and choir director at the Reformed Church on the Heights,
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. The following year he passed the examination to become a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, and he played a central role in that organization for two decades. For ten years he also dabbled in business ventures with members of his family; but in 1911 he became organist at the Church of the Messiah, New York, and thereafter concentrated solely on music. The minister,
John Haynes Holmes
John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879 – April 3, 1964) was an American Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU. He is noted for his anti-war activism.
Early life
Holmes was born in Philadelphia on November 2 ...
, was a progressive reformer and pacifist who became a close personal friend and who helped shape Demarest's interest in education, reform, and musical communities.Holmes, John Haynes (1960). ''The Collected Hymns of John Haynes Holmes''. Boston: Beacon Press. p. 100.
From about 1915 Demarest began playing recitals and touring on behalf of the A. G. O. In 1919 fire destroyed the Church of the Messiah, and Demarest became music supervisor at
Tenafly High School
Tenafly High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school in Tenafly in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Tenafly Public Schools. S ...
. He returned to be organist at the church after it was rebuilt, but he also continued teaching until 1937. He played at the church until his death.
Music
Demarest composed almost exclusively for the church, producing music for organ and for solo and ensemble voices. He copyrighted a steady stream of music from 1899 forwards, averaging about four or five pieces per year, though his productivity declined after 1927. His primary publishers were G. Schirmer and Arthur P. Schmidt. He was musically conservative as both player and composer, preferring music that directly addressed the needs and tastes of churchgoers and listeners and rejecting theatrical performances characterised by novel effects. His brief treatise on organ playing is a model of practicality. But he was versatile and open-minded, incorporating idioms from popular music into several extended compositions for piano and organ. He worked closely with John Haynes Holmes, and one of his most ambitious and successful pieces, "America Triumphant," set Holmes's poetry.Demarest, Clifford (1915). "America Triumphant". Boston: Arthur P. Schmidt. /ref> Holmes was a strong supporter of the Harlem Renaissance, and Demarest followed his lead by introducing spirituals and other music of African Americans into services at the church.
Demarest was not an innovator, but he provided a steadying hand in leading his profession, true service to communities in his church and elsewhere, and a body of music that was highly regarded by his peers.