James Cutler Dunn Parker (June 2, 1828 – November 27, 1916) was an American organist, educator and
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 ...
.
Biography
James Cutler Dunn Parker was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
on June 2, 1828, the son of
Samuel Hale Parker. He graduated from
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1848.
After graduating from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
, Parker went to the
Leipzig Conservatory
The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...
in 1851, where he studied
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 keyboa ...
with
Ignaz Moscheles
Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the ...
and
Louis Plaidy
Louis Plaidy (28 November 1810 – 3 March 1874) was a celebrated German piano pedagogue and compiler of books of technical music studies.
Life
Born in Hubertusburg, Saxony, Plaidy initially focused on the violin, and toured as a concert violini ...
,
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
with
Julius Rietz
August Wilhelm Julius Rietz (28 December 1812 – 12 September 1877) was a German composer, conductor, cellist, and teacher. His students included Woldemar Bargiel, Salomon Jadassohn, Arthur O'Leary, and (by far the most celebrated) Sir Arthur ...
and
Ernst Richter
Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter (24 October 18089 April 1879), was a German musical theorist and composer, born at Großschönau, Saxony.
He first studied music at Zittau, and afterwards at Leipzig, where he attained so high a reputation that in ...
, and
music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
and
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
with
Moritz Hauptmann
Moritz Hauptmann (13 October 1792, Dresden – 3 January 1868, Leipzig), was a German music theorist, teacher and composer. His principal theoretical work is the 1853 ''Die Natur der Harmonie und der Metrik'' explores numerous topics, particular ...
.
[
He returned to Boston in 1854, and began offering private lessons, as he did throughout his life. In 1862, several of his private students formed the Parker Club, which offered concerts of instrumental and choral music.] He married Maria Derby of Andover
Andover may refer to:
Places Australia
* Andover, Tasmania
Canada
* Andover Parish, New Brunswick
* Perth-Andover, New Brunswick
United Kingdom
* Andover, Hampshire, England
** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station
United States
* Ando ...
in 1859. They had one child.[ From 1864 to 1891, he served as ]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 ...
at the Trinity Church, Boston
Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 4,000 households, was founded in 17 ...
, his career there coinciding almost completely with that of minister Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks (December 13, 1835January 23, 1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. He wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of ...
.[ J.C.D. Parker's grandfather Samuel Parker had been rector at Trinity.
Parker also played the organ for the concerts of the ]Handel and Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest-serving suc ...
. He taught at the New England Conservatory
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...
from 1871 to 1897. After 1897 he worked as an examiner at the Conservatory.[
Parker composed ]hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s, cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s, oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s, church music
Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn.
History
Early Christian music
The onl ...
, and works for piano. In addition, he wrote two sets of pedagogical pieces. He wrote works on harmony in 1855 and 1870, and translated Richter's ''Harmonielehre'' (''Manual of Harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
'') into English in 1873.[
He died in ]Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...
on November 27, 1916.
Notes
References
* (scroll down to entry for "Parker, James Cutler Dunn")
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, James Cutler Dunn
1828 births
1916 deaths
19th-century classical composers
20th-century classical composers
American male classical composers
American Romantic composers
American classical organists
American male organists
American classical pianists
Male classical pianists
American male pianists
American music educators
Musicians from Boston
People from Brookline, Massachusetts
Harvard Law School alumni
19th-century classical pianists
19th-century American pianists
20th-century American composers
19th-century American composers
Classical musicians from Massachusetts
20th-century American male musicians
19th-century American male musicians
Male classical organists