Mortimer Wilson

[kolaboy]

Reading through a book entitled "Epochs In Musical History" (Clarence G. Hamilton) I came across a name I wasn't familiar with... Googled it, and found a Wikipedia blurb:

Mortimer Wilson (August 6, 1876 – January 27, 1932) was an American composer of classical music. He also scored several musical and dramatic films in the 1920s.

Wilson was born in Chariton, Iowa in Lucas County, a rural area in the south-central portion of the state. He studied organ, violin and composition with Frederick Grant Gleason at the Chicago Music College. He then studied in Leipzig, Germany with Max Reger. Upon return to this country in 1911, he taught at the Atlanta Conservatory and conducted the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1916, he moved to Brenau College in Gainesville, Georgia.

In 1918, Wilson took a job as consulting editor for the National Academy of Music in New York City, where he remained until his death at the age of 55. Today, his works are mostly in manuscript and includes five symphonies and a great deal of chamber music. The suite From My Youth, Op. 5 was published in 1911 and premiered by the Sitting Trio.

Films he scored:
1920 The Mark of Zorro - music composer
1924 The Thief of Bagdad - music composer
1925 Don Q, Son of Zorro - music composer
1926 The Black Pirate - music composer
1928 The Good-Bye Kiss - music composer
1928 Night Watch - music composer

But what jumped out at me was the mention of FIVE SYMPHONIES.
Any folks here familiar with this gent, or his work (apart from the film scores)?

[eschiss1]

Here's 4 of the miniatures for piano trio (score and parts) from From My Youth, by the way- http://imslp.org/wiki/From_My_Youth,_Op.5_%28Wilson,_Mortimer%29.

[Alan Howe]

There's some more info here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WR8jAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA498&lpg=PA498&dq=mortimer+wilson+symphony&source=bl&ots=uOdMpHI6QT&sig=4j_1aDsTSShBIhzTPEaj-Ln5l0k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JAUnVejPCILpaOb-gJAF&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=mortimer%20wilson%20symphony&f=false

[Gareth Vaughan]

Fleisher has parts for the overture "New Orleans - Mardi Gras", Op. 64 and "A Scenic Fantasy - My Country", Op. 70.  No symphonies, though.

[sdtom]

I've never heard of him and I consider myself to be pretty sharp with film music including silent which I have at least 10 CD's of, mostly Carl Davis.
Tom

[kolaboy]

Thanks to all for the additional information - though it only serves to whet my curiosity

Danny

[Balapoel]

lots more detail here...
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft158002gp/entire_text/

[sdtom]

all of those films should be available on DVD which would include the music of course.
Tom

[jerfilm]

He must have been a Douglas Fairbanks fan - four of the six films listed were Fairbanks swashbucklers.......  I have all four but I don't believe a Wilson score is part of any of them.

I have never seen the latter two films in the list available in any format - and I collect silent films.

Jerry

[sdtom]

Who did the Fairbanks films?
Tom

[jerfilm]

Not sure what your question is, theTom?  According to the information above, the scores were written by Wilson.

J

[sdtom]

 I have all four but I don't believe a Wilson score is part of any of them

I asked the question because this was part of one of your responses.
Tom

[Alan Howe]

There seems to be an impasse here. Does anyone have any firm evidence either way?

[kolaboy]

I'm no expert on silent film scores, but I do have a few film versions that have the same score ("Metropolis/The Gold Rush" being an example). I imagine it's more economical to slap on a generic - no matter how inappropriate to the subject matter - than re-record the original.  Or perhaps these scores were performed live...
But again, I'm no expert in this field...

[jerfilm]

I'd say the situation is confusing at best.   Let's take 1924 The Thief of Bagdad for example.  Wikipedia sez the original score was written by Wilson.   IMDb, while perhaps not the ultimate database, shows  the modern score written by Carl Davis. (and a very good one, at that).   An earlier video release from the old Blackhawk Films vault was an organ score by the late Gaylord Carter, who was a rather famous silent film organist.   But IMDb also lists an alternative 1924 score by someone named James Bradford.  If that's not enough, they also show a 1984 score by David Cullen.  And numerous other video versions have been marketed (after all, the original is PD) and generally contain a hodge podge of cobbled together bits and pieces of classical music= generally fairly familiar stuff.

It would be great fun to hear that original Wilson score, but I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting.  Although full orchestral scores were written for many of the silent films (especially the epic type films like The Thief and Ben Hur),  I'm only aware of a couple that have been committed to video.  Sad......

Jerry