Thomas Adams (5 September 1785 – 15 September 1858) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

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 ...

for organ. He was one of the most remarkable organists, improvisators and extempore performers of his day. Born probably in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Adams studied under Dr. Thomas Busby and served as organist at several prominent London churches, namely Carlisle Chapel, Lambeth; St. Paul's, Deptford; St. George's, Camberwell; St. Dunstan-in-the-East. His published organ works include many

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

s, voluntaries, ninety interludes, and several variations on popular airs. He also wrote

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

for piano and many

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

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, and sacred songs. For many years he was in charge of performances on Flight & Robson's

Apollonicon The Apollonicon was presented to the public the first time in 1817 built by the English Organ builders Flight & Robson in London. It was an automatic playing machine with about 1,900 pipes and 45 organ stops with a technic familiar to the barrel org ...

. Among his students was

Edward Collett May Edward Collett May (October 29, 1806-Jan. 2, 1887) was an English music educator. Life He was born in Greenwich, where his father was a shipbuilder. His first teacher was his brother Henry, an amateur musician and composer of considerable ability ...

. He died in London at the age of 73 on 15 September 1858.

References

Notes

Note

*''This article or an earlier version incorporates text from the 3rd edition (1919) of ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.'' English classical organists British male organists English composers Composers for pipe organ 1785 births 1858 deaths 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians Male classical organists 19th-century organists {{England-musician-stub