Many of us know the somewhat apocryphal story of Silas G Pratt's greeting to Wagner when they met in in America: " I understand , Sir, that you are known as the Silas G Pratt of Germany!", but what do we know of this modest, shrinking violet's music?
Apocryphal? What a shame. It deserves to be true... :)
I know nothing of Pratt beyond the fact that he write a symphony on the sinking of the Titanic.
His opera Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, which I know only from the vocal score, struck me as awkwardly (as opposed to adventurously) harmonized and short on melodic gift. I tried to learn a scene for the bass when I was a young voice student, but it really seemed not worth the trouble. So back to Paine, Bristow, Fry et al...
David
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_G._Pratt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_G._Pratt) (another one of my early works ;D), he also wrote a book about Abraham Lincoln.
I'm quite proud of that article, incidentally - it's a collation of every scrap of information I could find about him. Which wasn't much, believe me. :D
Silas G Pratt was to music what William McGonegall was to Poetry!
Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians gives a fuller picture of this eccentric composer.
Here are some highlights:
Silas Gamaliel Pratt ( 1846 - 1916)
He studied with Kullak, Kiel & Dorn and had piano lessons with Liszt.
He dedicated his Centennial Overture to General Grant and performed it to the General at Crystal Palace.
His opera Zenobia " was received in a hostile manner by the press, partly owing to the poor quality of the music, but mainly as a reaction to the exuberant and immodest proclamation of its merit in advance of the production.
His works include:
Homage to Chicago March
America - A Scenic Cantata subtitled Four Centuries of Music , Picture & Song ( with stereopticon projections) - 1894
A Lincoln Symphony
The Tragic of the Deep ( a symphonic poem inspired by the Titanic disaster ) - 1912
The Last Inca - a Cantata
The Triumph of Columbus - Opera ( 1892)
The Prodigal Son - Symphonic Work (1885)
He established the Pratt Institute of Music and Art in Pittsburgh
" Pratt was a colorful personality; despite continuous and severe setbacks, he was convinced of his own significance "
The Library of Congress has a few of his piano works scanned, which some of us IMSLP editors have transferred over (sometimes after neatening up a bit). I liked them myself. (The link is at the bottom of the Wikipedia article.)
Quote from: eschiss1 on Monday 30 January 2012, 23:34
The Library of Congress has a few of his piano works scanned, which some of us IMSLP editors have transferred over (sometimes after neatening up a bit). I liked them myself. (The link is at the bottom of the Wikipedia article.)
See also Google Books, which has a choice handful of vocal scores:
https://www.google.com/search?q=silas+g.+pratt&tbm=bks&tbo=1#hl=en&tbo=1&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Silas+Gamaliel+Pratt%22&sa=X&ei=IBAoT-msHOHq2AXE7Ki8Ag&ved=0CDcQ9Ag&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=d617e59f721fad84&biw=1280&bih=822 (https://www.google.com/search?q=silas+g.+pratt&tbm=bks&tbo=1#hl=en&tbo=1&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Silas+Gamaliel+Pratt%22&sa=X&ei=IBAoT-msHOHq2AXE7Ki8Ag&ved=0CDcQ9Ag&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=d617e59f721fad84&biw=1280&bih=822)
I quite like* some of what I see in
The Triumph of Columbus:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NNkIAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Silas+Gamaliel+Pratt%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IxAoT9nXMYq42wXIlpnWAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=inauthor%3A%22Silas%20Gamaliel%20Pratt%22&f=false (http://books.google.com/books?id=NNkIAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Silas+Gamaliel+Pratt%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IxAoT9nXMYq42wXIlpnWAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=inauthor%3A%22Silas%20Gamaliel%20Pratt%22&f=false)
*C'mon. "Chorus of Evil Spirits"?
Really?