William Wallace Gilchrist

Background

William Wallace Gilchrist was the son of William Wallace and Redelia Ann (Cox) Gilchrist.

He was born on January 8, 1846, in Jersey City, New Jersey, but removed with his parents in 1857 to Philadelphia.

Education

In Philadelphia, Gilchrist began the study of music under H. A. Clarke, at the University of Pennsylvania. Clarke, a Canadian from Toronto, and an able and well-educated musician, was “professor of the science of music” at the University at the time, and gave his eager and apt pupil a thorough training.

Career

When Gilchrist was still young, the Civil War broke out. Before it had ended his father’s business was ruined and he was left dependent upon his own resources.

After trying in succession law and business, and finding neither satisfactory, he decided to devote all his energies to music. There Gilchrist played and sang in local Swedenborgian churches, and taught singing.

Returning to Philadelphia a year later, he became choirmaster of St. Clement’s Church, remaining there until 1877, when he was appointed organist and choirmaster of Christ Church (Swedenborgian), in Germantown.

In 1882, he became a teacher at the Philadelphia Musical Academy.

His orchestral and chamber-music compositions, which were probably his best works, included two symphonies, in C and D; a suite for piano and orchestra; a nonet; a quintet; and a trio, for strings and wind. All were classic in style.

Gilchrist died in Easton, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventy.

Achievements

• Gilchrist was the founder of the Philadelphia Symphony Society and the Philadelphia Mendelssohn Club, both of which he conducted for a number of years. As an organist and composer of outstanding merit, he probably ranked as Philadelphia’s best-known and most prominent musician. This was the more to his credit since, unlike many other American composers of his day, he had never studied abroad, and yet made a notable place for himself as a writer in the larger forms of music. His original compositions, however, like those of some of his contemporaries, while meritorious and often scholarly, may be said to reflect standard contemporary European rather than distinctively American impacts. Gilchrist was a brilliant contrapuntist, and wrote several excellent choral cantatas. One of the most spontaneous of his choral works was “The Legend of the Bended Bow. ”

Works

More photos

• book

  • Twilight - William Wallace Gilchrist - SATB - Sheet Music

    (Twilight - Gilchrist, William Wallace - SATB - English - ...)

Views

Though many of Gilchrist's songs, sacred and popular, are not devoid of lyric charm, they are somewhat trite in character, for most of them bear the impress of his early training in hymn-singing.

In his later songs, the influence of Schumann and Franz is sometimes noticeable.

Quotations: “It ranges from melting tenderness to impassioned rage and a purified nobility. The piano part is highly elaborated, but the other instruments have a scholarly, a vocal, individuality. ”

Interests

• Music & Bands

  Schumann, Franz

Connections

On June 8, 1870, Gilchrist was married to Susan Beaman, the daughter of Rev. E. A. Beaman, and in September 1871, they moved to Cincinnati.

Father:

William Wallace Gilchrist

Mother:

Redelia Ann (Cox) Gilchrist

Wife:

Susan Beaman

References

• William Wallace Gilchrist (1846-1916)
• William Wallace Gilchrist, Jr. 1879-1926