The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Chadwick, George Whitefield

CHADWICK, George Whitefield, American composer: b. Lowell, Mass., 13 Nov. 1854. He studied under Stephen Emery and Eugene Thayer in America and under Richter, Reinecke, Rheinberger and Jadassohn in Germany, where he went in 1877. On his return to America in 1880 he became organist of Saint John's Church and joined the staff of the New England Conservatory of Music, of which he became director in 1897. From this time his career has been one of ever increasing activity as composer, conductor, organist and teacher, and in the latter capacity he has numbered among his pupils such well-known musicians as Horatio Parker, Arthur Whiting, Wallace Goodrich, Frederick S. Converse and Henry Hadley. As a composer he is regarded by some foreign critics and by many of his countrymen as the leader of the American school. His leaning is toward the highest instrumental forms, which he handles with considerable skill. In 1897 he received the honorary degree of M.A. from Yale University and in 1905 that of LL.D. from Tufts College. His works are: for orchestra — Three symphonies in C minor, B flat and F; six overtures, ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ ‘Thalia,’ ‘The Miller's Daughter,’ ‘Melpomene,’ ‘Adonais’ (1899), ‘Euterpe’ (1904); serenade in F; suite in A; suite sinfonique; for chorus with orchestra — ‘The Viking's Last Voyage’ (1880); ‘The Pilgrims' Hymn’ (1883); ‘Lovely Rosabelle’ (1889); ‘Phœnix Expirans’ (1891): ‘The Lily Nymph’ (1892); ‘Dedication Ode’ (1883); ‘Columbian Ode’ (1892); ‘Aphrodite’; ‘Tam O'Shanter.’ His most ambitious work is a lyric drama, ‘Judith’ (1900). Two other works for the stage are the comic operas ‘Tabasco’ (1893), and ‘The Quiet Lodging,’ (1892). He has also written many compositions for piano and organ.