Sixty Years of California SongAlverson, Margaret Blake
History
Sixty Years of California Song
Alverson, Margaret Blake
Music -- California -- History and criticism
Mr. Sabin was born in Northamptonshire, England. His education was
acquired at Chardstock College and Magdalen College, school, Brackley.
He studied piano and organ under Dr. M.J. Monk, organist of Banbury
parish church, and later piano, organ, theory, etc., under Dr. T.W.
Dodds, Queen's College, Oxford. He was graduated as associate and
later as fellow the Royal College of Organists, London. He was
organist of Magdalen College school, Brackley, 1882-1886; St. George's
church, Oxford, 1887-1889; organist and choirmaster, S.S., Mary and
John, Oxford, 1889-1893; assistant organist, Queen's College, Oxford,
1886-1893; organist and choirmaster, All Saints', Warwick, 1893-1894.
He came to California in October, 1894, to take position of organist
and choirmaster of St. Luke's Church, San Francisco, which position he
held until the fire of 1906. Since that time he has played at First
Church of Christ, Scientist, San Francisco. In 1895 he became organist
of Temple Emanuel, San Francisco, which position he still holds. He
has been director since 1894 of Vested Choir Association of San
Francisco and vicinity; director of Saturday Morning (ladies')
orchestra and Twentieth Century Musical club, giving such works as
Bach's "Passion," Handel's "Alexander's Feast," etc. He was
representative as California organist, World's Fair, St. Louis, 1904,
giving two recitals. He has been president of the Musicians' club,
twice a director of the Bohemian club, and composed the music for a
forest play entitled St. Patrick at Tara, given at a midsummer jinks
of the Bohemian club. At present he is dean of the Northern California
Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, conductor of the Loring
club and the choral section of the San Francisco Musical club, and is
engaged in teaching and composition.
JOHN W. METCALF
California has produced her share of composers. They have been
prominent as pianists, violinists, leaders of musical bodies and
teachers of harmony. They are writers of the highest merit and some
can be classed with the song writers of Europe. The state is too young
for many native composers. Our musicians all came to us in the days of
gold, and others who came later educated their sons and daughters in
the East and in Europe in the highest art of music and, returning to
the state, made a place for themselves as writers of music.
John W. Metcalf for the last twenty-one years has been among us as
teacher of piano, harmony and a song writer of the highest order, and
we are glad to claim him, even if he is not a native son. We love his
music and appreciate the writer who is able to give to the singing
world soulful compositions that compare with those of Schubert and
Mendelssohn. They are superlatively correct and scholarly. I am not a
song writer but a song singer, and when I find such compositions I am
proud to interpret them to the best of my ability.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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