Henry Houseley

Henry Houseley FRCO (20 September 1851– 13 March 1925) was an English organist, composer and teacher,[1] who moved to Denver, Colorado.

Career

Henry Houseley was born on 20 September 1851 in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.[2] He received his musical education in Nottingham and London from James Turpin, and Edmund Hart Turpin.[3] In London Henry Houseley studied at the Royal College of Organists, earning an FRCO.[4] He served as organist at St. Luke's Church, Derby, England; St. Thomas' Church, Nottingham.[5] Furthermore, he was also organist to the Nottingham Harmonic Society and music lecturer at the college in Nottingham.[6] Being in England, he wrote most of his piano and organ music.

He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1888.[7] From 1888 to at least 1901 he lived there.[3] In 1892, he succeeded John Gower as organist of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral.[8] He was also organist of the Temple Emmanuel church in Denver for 30 years.[9][10] Outside of church commitments, he was for 25 years music director at the Rocky Mountain and Colorado Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasons, director of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, and director of the Denver Choral Society, which won a $1,000 prize in a Denver competition in 1896, and first prize at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.[11] Houseley also directed a men's chorus called the Apollo Club, played the organ at the Oakes Home (an old age home run by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado), was on the faculties of the Denver Conservatory of Music and the University of Colorado, and was on the board of the Musical Society of Denver.[12]

He was a Founder of the American Guild of Organists.[13] Living in Colorado, He was a prolific composer: he wrote anthems, pieces for mixed chorus, arrangements for women's voices, men's voices, songs, piano works, organ pieces, and six operas, including Native Silver and Juggler.[14] Houseley started writing operas when he had moved to Colorado. He died on 13 March 1925 in Denver, Colorado and his ashes were interred in the east wall of the choir at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral.[15]

Appointments

Compositions
Cover of Mine always

He wrote anthems, works for mixed chorus, songs, piano and organ pieces, and six operas.[16]

Secular works

Opera's

  • Native Silver (1891)[24]
  • The Juggler (1895)[25]
  • Love and whist. Operetta in one act (1898)[26]
  • Narcissus and Echo (1912)[27]
  • Omar Khayyam: A Dramatic Cantata, for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra (1917)[28]

Sacred works

  • The Last Tryst. Begin: "Beneath the elms" (1880)
  • An Evening Service. Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (1881)
  • Crossing the Bar, partsong for choir (1900)[29]
  • Abide with me (1904)
  • Far from my heavenly Home. Anthem (1904)
  • Thy Will be done. Hymn-Anthem for Soprano or Tenor (1904)
  • Jesu! the Very Thought of Thee. Hymn Anthem for Soprano Solo and Chorus (1904)[30]
  • Until God's day: sacred song, music Henry Houseley, text Frank L. Stanton (1907)[31]

References
  1. British musical biography. James Duff Brown, Stephen Samuel Stratton, 1897
  2. Birth, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  3. Education, cyberhymnal.org, Retrieved 18 December 2014
  4. FRCO, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  5. Local appointments, cyberhymnal.org, Retrieved 18 December 2014
  6. Music lecturer, cyberhymnal.org, Retrieved 18 December 2014
  7. The American and Canadian West: a bibliography. p.179. Dwight La Vern Smith 1979
  8. Colorado magazine - Volumes 49-50 - Page 4. State Historical Society of Colorado, Colorado Historical Society 1972
  9. Temple Church, cyberhymnal.org, Retrieved 18 December 2014
  10. Organist Temple Church, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  11. Other activities, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  12. Apollo Club, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  13. Guild of Organists, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  14. Composer, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  15. Death, hymnary.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  16. Colorado: A Guide to the Highest State. North American Book Dist LLC, 1948
  17. The Best of all good company, umaryland.worldcat.org, retrieved 21 December 2014
  18. Fleur de Lys, umaryland.worldcat.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  19. Pretty Primrose Archived 2014-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, grainger.de, retrieved 18 December 2014
  20. Mine Always Archived 2014-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, grainger.de, retrieved 18 December 2014
  21. Mister Postman! Archived 2014-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, grainger.de, retrieved 18 December 2014
  22. Abysisinian patrol, umaryland.worldcat.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  23. Abyssinian Patrol Archived 2014-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, grainger.de, retrieved 18 December 2014
  24. Native Silver, operadata.stanford.edu, retrieved 18 December 2014
  25. The Juggler, operadata.stanford.edu, retrieved 18 December 2014
  26. Love and whist, umaryland.worldcat.org, retrieved 18 December 2014
  27. Narcissus and Echo, operadata.stanford.edu, retrieved 18 December 2014
  28. Fitzgerald, Edward; Houseley, Henry (1 August 2009). "Omar Khayyam: A Dramatic Cantata, for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra (1917)". Kessinger Publishing – via Google Books.
  29. Crossing the Bar, allmusic.com, retrieved 18 December 2014
  30. Jesu! the Very Thought of Thee, librarything.com, retrieved 21 December 2014
  31. Until God’s day, books.google.nl, retrieved 18 December 2014
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