Francis Judd Cooke (December 28, 1910 – May 18, 1995) was an American
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
,
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
,
cellist
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...
,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
,
conductor,
choir director
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
, and professor.
Life
Cooke was born December 28, 1910 in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, to a family of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
missionaries turned cattle ranchers. He was the great grandson of
Gerrit P. Judd
Gerrit Parmele Judd (April 23, 1803 – July 12, 1873) was an American physician and missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii who later renounced his American citizenship and became a trusted advisor and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III.
He ...
, the first doctor to reside in Hawaii, and grandson of
Albert Francis Judd
Albert Francis Judd (January 7, 1838 – May 20, 1900) was a judge of the Kingdom of Hawaii who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court through its transition into part of the United States.
Life
Judd was born January 7, 1838, at what was ...
, Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Hawaii
The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the Hawaii, State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decis ...
. His mother was Sophie Boyd Judd, and father was George Paul Cooke, grandson of
Amos Starr Cooke
Amos Starr Cooke (December 1, 1810 – March 20, 1871) was an American educator and businessman in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was patriarch of a family that influenced Hawaii during the 20th century.
Life
Amos Starr Cooke was born in Danbury, Co ...
and Juliette Montague Cooke, founders of the
Royal School of Hawaii.
Cooke began composing at an early age and his first serious pieces date from age 14. He received a B.A. in music from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1933, where he was a member of
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
.
He then studied for two years with
Charles Martin Loeffler
Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (January 30, 1861 – May 19, 1935) was a German-born American violinist and composer.
Family background
Charles Martin Loeffler was born Martin Karl Löffler on January 30, 1861, in Schöneberg near Berlin to par ...
in
Medfield, Massachusetts
Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,799 according to the 2020 United States Census. It is a community about southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a 40- ...
. In 1935 he went to
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
to study with
Donald Francis Tovey
Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...
at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, receiving a Mus. Bac. (Bachelor of Music) degree with First Class Honours in 1938. While studying in Scotland he met and married
violist
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
May Ludwig. They settled in
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
, where they raised six children.
In 1939 Cooke began teaching at the
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music Music school, conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The ...
, at the request of the Conservatory's then-director,
Quincy Porter
William Quincy Porter (February 7, 1897 – November 12, 1966) was an American composer and teacher of classical music.
Biography
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David St ...
. His notable students there included John Bavicchi,
Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell (March 6, 1924March 23, 2006) was an American opera conducting, conductor, impresario, and stage director.
Early life
Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and ...
,
Héctor Campos-Parsi
Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...
, Stephen Casale, Robert Ceely,
Robert Cogan
Robert Cogan (February 2, 1930 – August 19, 2021) was an American music theorist, composer and teacher.
Career
He studied at the University of Michigan (B.M., 1951; M.M., 1952); Princeton University (M.F.A., 1956); Royal Conservatory of Brussel ...
, Lyle Davidson,
Halim El-Dabh
Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh ( ar, حليم عبد المسيح الضبع, ''Ḥalīm ʻAbd al-Masīḥ al-Ḍab''ʻ; March 4, 1921 – September 2, 2017) was an Egyptian-American composer, musician, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who ha ...
, David Epstein, Ercolino Ferretti, William Hibbard, Billy Jim Layton,
Ruth Lomon
Ruth Lomon (7 November 1930 – 26 September 2017) was a Canadian classical composer.
A native of Montreal, Canada, she was born in Montreal and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She attended le Conservatoire de Quebec and McGill University. Sh ...
,
Kenneth Peacock
Kenneth Howard Peacock (7 April 1922 – 22 November 2000) was a Canadian ethnomusicologist, composer, and pianist. He was a leading authority in Canadian enthnomusicology, and his research and publications in that field had a profound impact on t ...
, Richard Ronsheim,
Ernie Stires, Albert Tepper,
Ivana Marburger Themmen, and Luise Vosgerchian. He retired in 1970.
He also taught at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1959–1960 and at
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
from 1973 to 1979.
A prolific composer, Cooke wrote a great number of choral and orchestral works, as well as chamber works. One CD of his music, entitled ''The Warsaw Recordings''
(which he did not live to hear), performed by the
Warsaw Philharmonic
The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( pl, Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, it is one of Poland's oldest musical institutions.
History
The orchestra was conceived on ...
under Jerzy Swoboda, has been released.
In 1974 he completed a music textbook entitled ''Sixteenth-Century Vocal Polyphony''. In the same year he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory.
Cooke suffered a stroke in 1981, hampering his organ playing and choir directing, and he turned to composing full-time during the last 14 years of his life. On May 18, 1995, at the age of 84, he died in his sleep at his home in
Lexington,
, where he had lived for 51 years. He had completed that morning an arrangement for wind quintet of some music from Hector Berlioz's opera ''Les Troyens'' (titled "Dolce assai" after Berlioz's expressive marking), which was performed at his memorial service the following week at Lexington's First Parish Church (Unitarian), where he had served as organist and choirmaster from 1955 to 1981.
Cooke, who greatly enjoyed poetry, used to sum up his own life with a favorite couplet from the Indian poet
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's ''
Gitanjali
__NOTOC__
''Gitanjali'' ( bn, গীতাঞ্জলি, lit='Song offering') is a collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature, for the English translation, Gitanjali:''Song Offer ...
'':
:"It was my part at the feast to play upon my instrument
:And I have done all I could
Rice-Cooke family tree
Works
*Review of ''Modal Counterpoint in the Style of the Sixteenth Century'' by
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...
. ''Journal of Music Theory'', vol. 4, no. 1 (April 1960), pp. 112–116.
References
External links
*
''The Warsaw Recordings'' CDDescendants of Thomas Hastings websiteDescendants of Thomas Hastings on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Francis Judd
American male classical composers
American classical composers
20th-century classical composers
1910 births
1995 deaths
Yale University alumni
New England Conservatory faculty
Wellesley College faculty
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Yale University faculty
People from Honolulu
People from Lexington, Massachusetts
American textbook writers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
Judd family