Arthur Shepherd
Burr McIntosh Monthly, September, 1908
Born(1880-02-19)February 19, 1880
Paris, Idaho, USA
DiedJanuary 12, 1958(1958-01-12) (aged 77)
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Occupation(s)Composer, Orchestra Conductor and Professor of Music

Arthur Shepherd (February 19, 1880 – January 12, 1958) was an American composer and conductor in the 20th century.

Life and career

Shepherd was born in Paris, Idaho, into a Mormon family. His family loved to sing and his father, William N. B. Shepherd, wrote the hymn “Give Us Room That We May Dwell.”[1] Shepherd performed with both the Paris Brass Band and the Bear Lake Stake Choir.[1]

Shepherd entered the New England Conservatory when he was only twelve years old. After graduating with honors and as president of his class,[1] Shepherd returned to his family who had moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and led a local orchestra for six years.[1] In 1901, he married Hattie Hooper Jennings.[1]

After some encouragement, he returned to the east and took a teaching position at the New England Conservatory where he studied under Charles F. Dennée, Percy Goetschius, Carl Faelten, and George W. Chadwick.[1] He briefly served as a bandmaster during World War I. His marriage fell apart after his return from Europe[1] and he moved with his children to Cleveland, Ohio. He took a job as the Assistant Director of the Cleveland Orchestra.

In 1922 he married Grazella Shepherd.[1]

In 1927 he returned to teaching at the Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He retired in 1950 and died in 1958, after a failed operation at a Cleveland hospital.[2] He composed over 100 works, including symphonies, string quartets and songs.[3]

Shepherd was a Latter-day Saint.[4] Although around the time of World War I, his divorce and remarriage, he distanced himself from the faith, he maintained a faith in God and his connections to the church and his people.[1] His work made reference to the geography and music of the Latter-day Saints.[1]

Awards

  • 1905 Paderewski Prize for Overture Joyeuse (orchestral work performed by the New York Symphony conducted by Walter Damrosch
  • 1909 First prize in the National Federal of Music Clubs for Sonata for the Pianoforte

Works

  • 1904 Capriccio (for piano)
  • 1904 Etude (for piano)
  • 1905 Overture Joyeuse
  • 1907 The Lord Hath Brought Again Zion (choral work with text from Doctrine and Covenants)
  • 1909 Five Songs on Poems by James Russell Lowell
  • 1909 Sonata for the Pianoforte
  • 1913 The City in the Sea (cantata)
  • 1927 Horizons (symphony)

Influences

His influences include Percy Goetschius and George W. Chadwick, Arthur Farwell, French Impressionists and Englishman, Vaughan Williams.

Selected works

  • Ouverture Joyeuse
  • Horizons
  • Triptych
  • Piano Quintet
  • Matin Song
  • He Came All So Still
  • The Lost Child
  • Nocturn
  • Solitude
  • Where Loveliness Keeps House
  • Two-Step
  • Exotic Dance No. 1
  • From a Mountain lake
  • Gigue Fantasque

[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mormon Arts Center Newsletter, May 2017. Accessed May 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ DR. ARTHUR SHEPHERD New York Times; January 14, 1958; pg. 30
  3. ↑ 80327 Archived December 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Musical Compositions by LDS Composers in NYC Collections
  5. ↑ ARTHUR SHEPHERD selected works: Classical CD Reviews-May 2000 Music on the Web(UK)
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