UC-NRLF 
 
 B 3 757 5^3 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 PUBLISHED ON THE 
 
 KINGSLEY TRUST ASSOCIATION 
 
 PUBLICATION FUND 
 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS 
 
 XXV JULY MCMXX 
 
1863.1920 
 
 HORATIO PARKER 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE W. CHADWICK 
 
 li 
 
 ' • i i • • '» J. ' J » ' ; 
 
 NEW HAVEN 
 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1921 
 

 "Uu^ 
 
 COPYRIGHT. 1921. BY 
 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 HORATIO PARKER, composer, con- 
 ductor, organist and teacher, inherited 
 from both parents an uncommonly retentive 
 and alert mind and an artistic temperament ; 
 from his mother, also musical talent, or at 
 least musical taste. His father was a well- 
 known architect. Several large edifices in 
 Boston and other cities of New England are 
 specimens of his work. He was for some time 
 superintendent of construction of the Boston 
 Post Office and other public buildings in 
 Massachusetts, and was a man of wide and 
 varied knowledge. 
 
 Parker's mother, daughter of a Baptist 
 minister, was a woman of great refinement 
 
 5 
 
 445000 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 and cultivation. An excellent Latin and 
 Greek scholar, she had also considerable fa- 
 cility as a writer of English verse. To the 
 care of four children she added the duties of 
 organist in the village church at Auburndale 
 and gave music lessons besides. 
 
 Undoubtedly Parker owed to her, who 
 was his first teacher, the love of good music 
 which became the passion of his life. As a boy 
 he gave little indication of this. The woods 
 of Auburndale and the Charles River (near 
 which he lived) occupied much more of his 
 attention than his piano practice. At four- 
 teen he could hardly play a simple scale on 
 the piano, but shortly after that his soul 
 awakened to the beauty of music, especially 
 of harmony, for which his latent talent de- 
 veloped with great rapidity. At sixteen he 
 became organist of a small Episcopal church 
 in Dedham, Massachusetts, and at once be- 
 
 6 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 gan to compose hymn tunes, anthems, and 
 services for the choir. For the next two 
 years he had lessons in pianoforte and har- 
 mony with various Boston teachers and made 
 great progress. 
 
 At eighteen his ambition reached out 
 toward orchestral composition. In this he 
 was probably stimulated by the recent suc- 
 cess of John K. Paine's two symphonies and 
 of other American composers. It was at this 
 time that my acquaintance with him began. 
 He had already acquired remarkable facility 
 in harmony and modulation, to which was 
 added a very fertile vein of lyric melody, and 
 both his melodies and harmonies had a dis- 
 tinct and individual character of their own, 
 which may be detected in his later and more 
 mature compositions. It was easy to predict 
 even then that this combination of qualities 
 would carry him far. 
 
 7 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 As my pupil he was far from docile. In 
 fact, he was impatient of the restrictions of 
 musical form and rather rebellious of the dis- 
 cipline of counterpoint and fugues. But he 
 was very industrious and did his work faith- 
 fully and well. His lessons usually ended 
 with his swallowing his medicine, but with 
 many a wry grimace. It was quite natural 
 that before long our relation should develop 
 from that of teacher and pupil into a warm 
 and sincere friendship, as it ever afterward 
 remained. 
 
 It was during this period that he wrote 
 the beautiful "Twenty-third Psalm" for 
 women's voices and organ, revised and pub- 
 lished some years after with harp and violin 
 obbligato. In 1882, he went to Munich and 
 entered the Royal Music School, in Rhein- 
 berger's class both in organ playing and in 
 composition. 
 
 8 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 Rheinberger, although a composer of op- 
 eras, orchestral works and of much romantic 
 and beautiful chamber and choral music, was, 
 as a teacher, conservative, almost to the verge 
 of pedantry. Under his rigorous discipline 
 Parker acquired that mastery of contrapuntal 
 choral writing which so distinguished his 
 later work. 
 
 While in school he wrote several works 
 for orchestra and chamber music which were 
 performed at school concerts. At his gradua- 
 tion in 1885 a cantata for chorus, solos, and 
 orchestra, called '*King Trojan," was per- 
 formed under his own direction. Although 
 this work showed some of the naive qualities 
 of youth and inexperience, its spirit was so 
 fresh and spontaneous, and its construction 
 and instrumentation so sure and authorita- 
 tive, that it must be considered a remarkable 
 effort for a young student of twenty-two. It 
 
 9 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 was afterward performed at the Worcester 
 Festival and in several other places. 
 
 He returned to America in 1885 and for 
 the next seven years lived in New York. He 
 took charge of the music department of the 
 Cathedral School at Garden City and was 
 afterward appointed as instructor at the Na- 
 tional Conservatory, at the same time ful- 
 filling his duties as organist at St. Andrews 
 Church and later at Holy Trinity. Much of 
 his church and organ music dates from this 
 period, although he also wrote some secular 
 choral works and piano music. 
 
 In 1891, during a period of serious ill 
 health and of poignant domestic grief, he 
 began the composition of ' ' Hora Novissima. ' ' 
 He had made a beginning on another medi- 
 aeval Latin hymn, ' 'Vita nostra plena bellis, ' ' 
 but abandoned it on account of the monotony 
 and inflexibility of the rhythm. The great 
 
 10 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 hymn of Bernard, which is the foundation of 
 several of our best-loved modern hymns of 
 the church, was in the same collection of 
 poetry. Probably encouraged by his mother, 
 who made the translation for him, he set to 
 work on the "Hora No\issima. " It was fin- 
 ished in 1892 and sent in for the prize offered 
 by the National Conservatory for a work for 
 chorus and orchestra. It did not receive the 
 prize, which was awarded to him for a much 
 less important though charming work called 
 "The Dream King and His Love." 
 
 "Hora Novissima" was performed for the 
 first time by the Church Choral Society of 
 New York on May 2, 1892, at the Church 
 of Zion and St. Timothy, under his own di- 
 rection. It was immediately recognized as an 
 important work of permanent value. Per- 
 formances in Boston by the Handel and 
 Haydn Society in February, 1894, and at 
 11 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 the Springfield Festival of the same year 
 were succeeded by many others in different 
 cities of the country, and eventually in Eng- 
 land, where it has been performed more than 
 twenty times. The solid musical worth of 
 ' ' Hora Novissima, ' ' its skillful and impressive 
 choral writing, the poetic beauty of the solos, 
 and the varied and colorful instrumentation, 
 endear it to musicians, while its lofty spirit- 
 ual atmosphere, its fervent religious expres- 
 sion, although tinged with a romantic mys- 
 ticism, make a strong appeal to the general 
 musical public. 
 
 In 1893 Parker was called to Boston to 
 assume the position of organist and choir- 
 master at Trinity Church. The close prox- 
 imity of his old home, the congenial com- 
 panionship of his old friends, the active 
 musical life of Boston, his growing reputa- 
 tion, all stimulated him to further effort. In 
 
 18 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 December, 1893, he wrote his ballad for bar- 
 itone and orchestra, ' 'Cahal Mor of the Wine- 
 red Hand." This strange and remarkable 
 poem by James Clarence Mangan made a 
 strong appeal to his imagination and he pro- 
 duced a score that in dramatic power, poetic 
 suggestion and vivid orchestral coloring has 
 seldom been surpassed in this form by any 
 American composer. 
 
 When, in 1894, the department of music 
 at Yale University was reorganized as a com- 
 pletely equipped school of theoretical and 
 applied music, he was appointed as its head, 
 receiving at the same time the honorary de- 
 gree of M. A. He was at first rather reluctant 
 to accept this position, involving as it did the 
 necessity of lecturing on Musical History and 
 ^Esthetics, of which he had never made any 
 special study. But this deficiency was very 
 soon made up, and his general lectures soon 
 
 13 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 became an important as well as popular part 
 of the curriculum. He organized and con- 
 ducted a symphony orchestra, which became 
 an indispensable laboratory of the depart- 
 ment, since it furnished the necessary expe- 
 rience for composers, conductors, singers, and 
 players who were studying in the school. 
 During his administration the great organ in 
 Woolsey Hall was built, to be succeeded 
 after some years by a still mightier instru- 
 ment. He also lived to see his department 
 housed in a beautiful and fully equipped 
 building of its own through the munificence 
 of Mrs. F. S. Coolidge, herself a cultivated 
 musician and the daughter of a Yale graduate. 
 Of Professor Parker as a teacher, others 
 may speak with more authority than I. From 
 his comprehensive knowledge of the classics 
 as well as his sympathy with modern devel- 
 opments, his profound knowledge of, and 
 
 14 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 masterly command of counterpoint and form, 
 his genius for tone-painting with the orches- 
 tra, strikingly demonstrated in his operas, he 
 was eminently fitted to be a guide and leader 
 of young composers. He gave them his un- 
 stinted interest in the classroom and out, 
 and some of them have risen to very honor- 
 able positions. He was succeeded by one of 
 them as Dean of the Music School at Yale, 
 and many there are to call him blessed. 
 
 In 1897 he wrote his oratorio of **St. 
 Christopher." The poem of this work was 
 written by his mother and was a labor of love. 
 Working side by side, the poem and music 
 grew at the same time. He introduced into 
 this work two Latin hymns, one of which, 
 "Jam sol recedit," is an unsurp?issed master- 
 piece of choral writing for unaccompanied 
 voices. * 'St. Christopher" was first performed 
 by the Oratorio Society of New York under 
 
 15 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 Walter Damrosch in 1898, shortly after- 
 ward at the Springfield Festival, and in 1902 
 at both the Norwich and Bristol Festivals in 
 England. It has never achieved the great 
 popularity of "Hora Novissima" but is still 
 in the repertoire of choral societies. 
 
 In 1899 he was invited to England to con- 
 duct **Hora Novissima" at the Three Choir 
 Festival at Worcester. Both he and his work 
 were welcomed with such enthusiasm that he 
 was invited to contribute a new work to the 
 Hereford Festival of the next year. Here the 
 Wanderer's Psalm (the 107th, called the 
 "Cantus Peregrinus") was produced. In the 
 same year **Hora Novissima" was performed 
 at Chester. This was followed by the "Star 
 Song, " a poem by Henry Bernard Carpenter, 
 for the Norwich Festival in 1902 (for this 
 piece he had already received the Paderewski 
 prize), and "St. Christopher" at Bristol. 
 
 16 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 The same year he received the degree of 
 Mus.Doc. from Cambridge University. If 
 we consider the conservatism of EngHsh mu- 
 sical taste, especially in Cathedral towns, we 
 must admit that this is rather a remarkable 
 record for a young American in his thirties. 
 The prophet is not without honor in Eng- 
 land, at any rate. 
 
 For the Bicentennial of Yale University 
 in 1902 he composed a Greek ode for male 
 chorus and orchestra — the "Hymnos An- 
 dron' ' — a piece of singular power and beauty. 
 He returned from England in order to con- 
 duct it at the Bicentennial exercises. 
 
 In 1911 he won the prize offered by the 
 Metropolitan Opera Company for the best 
 grand opera written in English and composed 
 by an American, which was his opera ' ' Mona, ' ' 
 the libretto by Brian Hooker. In 1914 he 
 won a similar prize offered by the Women's 
 
 17 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 Federated Musical Clubs with his opera 
 "Fairyland," the libretto by the same poet. 
 
 This is not the proper time or occasion 
 for a critical estimate of his two operas. He 
 had little sympathy for the conventions and 
 the artificialities of the stage, and perhaps he 
 was lacking in what the Germans call theatre 
 blut. This, combined with inexperience in 
 composing for the stage and plots which made 
 little appeal to the average theatre-goer, mil- 
 itated against the popular success of these 
 works, but they proved his complete mastery 
 of modern harmony and modern orchestra- 
 tion, and both of them were awarded valu- 
 able prizes. In the case of "Mona" it was 
 the unanimous opinion of the judges that no 
 other award was possible. 
 
 In his morality play, "The Dream of 
 Mary, ' ' which he wrote in collaboration with 
 John Jay Chapman, he returned to simple 
 
 18 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 form of expression appropriate to such an art 
 form. The characters narrate the story as 
 well as sing ; the audience takes part as in the 
 Greek chorus, assisted by the choral forces 
 on the stage. The atmosphere of the work is 
 profoundly devout and religious. 
 
 Another work in which he collaborated 
 with Mr. Chapman is a masque or serenata 
 called *' Cupid and Psyche*' — a delightful 
 composition in which, with very simple 
 means, he has reflected the spirit of the Ital- 
 ian Renaissance. It was performed at Yale 
 University in 1915. 
 
 In his last work, the music to the com- 
 memorative poem by Brian Hooker, in mem- 
 ory of the Yale men who gave their lives to 
 their country in the late war, Parker has 
 written his own Requiem. To this noble 
 poem he has given a very impressive setting, 
 elegiac in spirit but with some thrilling dra- 
 
 19 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 matic touches, as for instance at the words 
 "One shall have sweet sleep" — the trumpet 
 is heard in the distance sounding taps. It is 
 an heroic tribute to heroic men, some of 
 whom were his own students. 
 
 After he went to Yale he developed a de- 
 cided literary ability. To a close and discrim- 
 inating observation he added an individuality 
 of expression, illuminated by gleams of pun- 
 gent humor which caused him to be sought 
 after as a speaker and contributor to various 
 periodicals. His essay on contemporary 
 music, delivered before the American Acad- 
 emy of Arts and Letters, is a good example 
 of his ability in this direction. The individu- 
 ality of his style was no less evident in his 
 literary work than in his music. 
 
 He was fond of making paradoxical ob- 
 servation, sometimes rather difficult for less 
 subtle minds to follow. Of a certain piece for 
 
 20 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 organ and orchestra he said, "That has no 
 business to sound so well. ' ' This was really 
 a retroverted compliment to the composer 
 for making a successful mixture of organ 
 and orchestral tone, a problem which requires 
 an expert musical chemist. Berlioz said that 
 the orchestra was king and the organ was 
 pope, and when they came together there 
 was usually a clash. 
 
 As a musician, Parker's instrument was 
 the organ. His master, Rheinberger, admired 
 his playing and delegated him to play the 
 solo part at the first performance of his con- 
 certo in F major. He continued his duties as 
 organist at Trinity Church in Boston for six 
 years after he went to New Haven, making 
 the journey each week for the purpose. 
 While making no pretensions as an organ 
 virtuoso he often gave recitals, and in 1903 
 performed his organ concerto, then new, 
 21 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and 
 shortly afterwards with the Boston Sym- 
 phony Orchestra in Boston. This work, noble 
 and dignified in character, is an important 
 addition to the rather meagre repertory of 
 compositions for organ and orchestra. He 
 held an organ position in New York until a 
 few years before his death, and conducted 
 two singing societies in Philadelphia at the 
 same time. 
 
 With his masterly command of orchestral 
 resources it seems strange that he should have 
 composed so little for the orchestra alone. 
 He was often urged to do so and he would 
 not have lacked a hearing. The symphony 
 orchestras of America and probably of Eng- 
 land were open to him, but he felt that he 
 needed words as a vehicle and poetry for his 
 inspiration, and in writing for voices he was 
 in his element. His most important com- 
 22 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 position for orchestra alone is the "Northern 
 Ballad," first performed by the Boston Sym- 
 phony Orchestra, and afterwards in Chicago 
 and other places. 
 
 He wrote with great facility, and his in- 
 dustry was prodigious. With all his varied 
 activities as teacher, conductor, and organist, 
 he kept steadily at composition, and in the 
 summertime he allowed nothing — even his 
 favorite golf or his bicycle — to interfere 
 with it. 
 
 As a congenial companion, a loyal com- 
 rade, and a steadfast friend, Parker has left 
 a blessed memory. His conversation, punc- 
 tuated with keen wit, was stimulating, and 
 not of the prima donna variety. Devoted as 
 he was to his own art, he found time to be 
 interested in politics, in literature, and in 
 other arts. His mind was stored with a 
 variety of information, and his memory was 
 as remarkable for facts as it was for music. 
 23 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 His judgment was sound, and based on a 
 comprehensive knowledge of the musical art. 
 While his musical creed was founded on 
 beauty of design, melodic breadth, and logi- 
 cal structure, he was interested in all modem 
 developments in harmony and instrumenta- 
 tion. He had a singularly open mind in re- 
 gard to modern compositions, and often 
 expressed himself enthusiastically about 
 some of the most "advanced" of them. 
 Often he would say, "That is not as bad as 
 it sounds." But with pretence or shams of 
 any kind he had no patience, and he was 
 quick to detect them in some of the modern 
 fads of polyharmony and poly cacophony. 
 
 He was fond of outdoor life, and an ar- 
 dent devotee of golf and the bicycle. Many 
 of his summers were spent in the vicinity of 
 Tegernsee in the Tyrol, where he tramped in 
 the mountains and rode his bicycle as a re- 
 
 24 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 laxation from his work. His amiability and 
 cheerfulness never forsook him, even during 
 the painful attacks of rheumatism from which 
 he suffered all his life. 
 
 With the remarkable success of *'Hora 
 Novissima' ' both in America and in England, 
 it was natural that his anthems, services, and 
 hymns for the church should have achieved 
 great popularity. He was easily the most 
 distinguished musician in the American 
 church, and it was perhaps inevitable that he 
 should be classed as an ecclesiastic composer. 
 But he was not a mystic or an ascetic ; he was 
 a simple, devout Christian gentleman who 
 loved his church and all her offices, and he 
 gave the best that was in him to her service. 
 In the very last year of his life he gave valu- 
 able assistance to the commission on the re- 
 vision of the hymnal. 
 
 But many pages of his music, from "Cahal 
 25 
 
HORATIO PARKER 
 
 Mor" throughout his orchestral works and 
 operas, show that his real place is among the 
 romanticists, and it is a high one. He was 
 an honor to the name of American musician, 
 and he commanded respect for it not only in 
 his own country, but abroad. 
 
 26 
 
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