Frederick Grant Gleason

William Gleason (1848-1903) was born in Middletown, Connecticut and was a composer

Gleason's father was a banker. Like many another well-to-do gentlemen, Gleason senior was an amateur flautist. He considered music a pleasant pastime but not a serious occupation. He wanted his son to enter the ministry - a good old New England tradition. But the son insisted on becoming a composer, and the father yielded. Young Gleason studied with another Connecticut Yankee who had gone musical: Dudley Buck. He then made the inevitable pilgrimage to Europe, studying with a long list of musicians in Germany. After six years in Europe he returned to America, and in 1877 went to Chicago, where he was active as teacher and music critic. In 1897 he became president of an organization called the "American Patriotic Musical League".

Gleason's compositions include a "Processional of the Holy Grail" written for the Chicago World's Fair; a symphonic Poem, "Edris", based on a novel by Marie Corelli; the tone poem "Song of Life"; a Piano Concerto; a cantata with orchestra,"The Culprit Fay"; and two operas: "Otho Visconti" and "Montezuma". The former was produced at Chicago in 1907. He left other scores in manuscript, with instructions that they were not to publicly performed until fifty years after his death.

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