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Clarence Dickinson
Clarence Dickinson (May 7, 1873 in Lafayette, Indiana – August 2, 1969 in New York City) was an American composer and organist.
Dickinson grew up in a religious family. His grandfather was minister Baxter Dickinson. His father, the Rev. William Cowper Dickinson, had grown up at Lane Seminary while Baxter Dickinson was codirector with Lyman Beecher; his father's childhood playmates were Lyman's children Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher. He was sixth cousin to poet Emily Dickinson, who corresponded with his father and sister.
When Dickinson was born, his father was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Lafayette. They later moved to Cincinnati, where Dickinson had his first hands-on experience playing the organ, and began studying piano. When his father retired in 1887, the family briefly moved to Pasadena, California.
In the fall of 1888 Dickinson enrolled for a year at the preparatory school at Miami University, living in the same room that Benjamin Harrison (who that fall had been elected president) had occupied while he was a student. That year, at age 15, he had his first professional appointment as University Organist.
The next year, he joined his family in Evanston, Illinois, and enrolled at Northwestern University, initially studying classics. But at the same time he became organist of First Methodist Church in Evanston for two years, and took lessons with Professor Cutler, organist of Evanston's First Methodist Church (where Dickinson would later briefly become organist). He gave his first organ concert at First Methodist.
In 1892 he became organist for Chicago's Church of the Messiah, which had just installed a new Roosevelt organ. Here he played for 5 years, his stature growing thanks to media attention from Clarence Eddy and Wilhelm Middelschulte about his having given the first American organ concert from memory. This led to him being asked to be the youngest founding member of the American Guild of Organists. He then became organist of St. James Episcopal Church in Chicago for one year.
He gained the attention and patronage of Mrs. Proctor Smith, a soprano trained in the European tradition. She loaned him $3000 for the purposes of advanced study in Europe. In 1898 he traveled to western Europe to pursue graduate studies (at the time there were no musical graduate degrees offered in the United States). His first studies were with Heinrich Reimann in Berlin, who only took one student per year (except for the year that Dickinson was there; concert pianist Olga Samaroff also studied organ with Reimann). He also studied with Otto Singer. While in Berlin he was exposed to the musical luminaries of the day, including Felix Weingartner, Arthur Nikisch, Karl Muck, Richard Strauss, Siegfried Ochs, Busoni, and Josef Hoffman. He was a guest of the American ambassador to Germany Andrew White.
After his studies with Reimann completed, in the summer of 1899 he vacationed in Switzerland. On this trip he met Helen Adell Snyder (1875–1957) who was on her way to Heidelberg to study for her doctorate. Within 3 days they were engaged.
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Clarence Dickinson
Clarence Dickinson (May 7, 1873 in Lafayette, Indiana – August 2, 1969 in New York City) was an American composer and organist.
Dickinson grew up in a religious family. His grandfather was minister Baxter Dickinson. His father, the Rev. William Cowper Dickinson, had grown up at Lane Seminary while Baxter Dickinson was codirector with Lyman Beecher; his father's childhood playmates were Lyman's children Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher. He was sixth cousin to poet Emily Dickinson, who corresponded with his father and sister.
When Dickinson was born, his father was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Lafayette. They later moved to Cincinnati, where Dickinson had his first hands-on experience playing the organ, and began studying piano. When his father retired in 1887, the family briefly moved to Pasadena, California.
In the fall of 1888 Dickinson enrolled for a year at the preparatory school at Miami University, living in the same room that Benjamin Harrison (who that fall had been elected president) had occupied while he was a student. That year, at age 15, he had his first professional appointment as University Organist.
The next year, he joined his family in Evanston, Illinois, and enrolled at Northwestern University, initially studying classics. But at the same time he became organist of First Methodist Church in Evanston for two years, and took lessons with Professor Cutler, organist of Evanston's First Methodist Church (where Dickinson would later briefly become organist). He gave his first organ concert at First Methodist.
In 1892 he became organist for Chicago's Church of the Messiah, which had just installed a new Roosevelt organ. Here he played for 5 years, his stature growing thanks to media attention from Clarence Eddy and Wilhelm Middelschulte about his having given the first American organ concert from memory. This led to him being asked to be the youngest founding member of the American Guild of Organists. He then became organist of St. James Episcopal Church in Chicago for one year.
He gained the attention and patronage of Mrs. Proctor Smith, a soprano trained in the European tradition. She loaned him $3000 for the purposes of advanced study in Europe. In 1898 he traveled to western Europe to pursue graduate studies (at the time there were no musical graduate degrees offered in the United States). His first studies were with Heinrich Reimann in Berlin, who only took one student per year (except for the year that Dickinson was there; concert pianist Olga Samaroff also studied organ with Reimann). He also studied with Otto Singer. While in Berlin he was exposed to the musical luminaries of the day, including Felix Weingartner, Arthur Nikisch, Karl Muck, Richard Strauss, Siegfried Ochs, Busoni, and Josef Hoffman. He was a guest of the American ambassador to Germany Andrew White.
After his studies with Reimann completed, in the summer of 1899 he vacationed in Switzerland. On this trip he met Helen Adell Snyder (1875–1957) who was on her way to Heidelberg to study for her doctorate. Within 3 days they were engaged.