William Litton Viner (14 May 1790 – 24 July 1867) was an organist and composer of church music.

Life

Viner was born in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

; he studied under

Charles Wesley junior Charles Wesley junior (11 December 1757 in Bristol – 23 May 1834 in London) was an English organist and composer. He was the son of Sarah and Charles Wesley (the great hymn-writer and one of the founders of Methodism), and the brother of Samu ...

, and in 1820 became organist of St Michael's Church, Bath. In 1835, on the recommendation of

Samuel Sebastian Wesley Samuel Sebastian Wesley (14 August 1810 – 19 April 1876) was an English organist and composer. Wesley married Mary Anne Merewether and had 6 children. He is often referred to as S.S. Wesley to avoid confusion with his father Samuel Wesley. Bio ...

, he was appointed organist of St Mary's Church,

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

. Viner continued to be organist at St Mary's until 1859; in that year he went to America. He died in

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

in 1867. Viner was a prolific composer of church music, organ music, and songs. He was the author of the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

s "Dismissal" and "Helston" (also known as "Kingston").

Works

He edited the following publications: * ''One Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes in Score'' (London, 1838) * ''A Useful Selection from the most approved Psalms'' (London, 1846) * ''The Chanter's Companion'' (1857)

References

Viner, William Letton
Robert Evans, Maggie Humphreys: ''Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland''. Bloomsbury Publishing 1997. Attribution *

External links

William L. Viner Collection

Sibley Music Library Sibley Music Library is the library of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY. It was founded in 1904 by Hiram Watson Sibley in honor of his father Hiram Sibley and is said to be the largest university music library in the US. History The lib ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viner, William Litton 1790 births 1867 deaths English classical organists British male organists 19th-century organists Classical composers of church music British emigrants to the United States Male classical composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians Male classical organists