An influential composer, conductor, and music teacher, Dudley Buck
(1839-1909) helped establish the organ in American musical life. N. Lee
Orr's study of Buck's life and career details his stint as teacher to
Charles Ives, organ recital tours around the Midwest, and work composing
music for church organs. Buck's Grand Sonata in E Flat became a great
hit wherever he played it, and his Variations and Fugue on the
"Star-Spangled Banner" remains a standard in organ repertoire. Intended
for practical use, his music was challenging, sometimes full of romantic
flourishes, counterpoint, and part singing, but still accessible to
amateur musicians and choirs.
During the 1870s, Buck composed extensively for choir, orchestra, and
organ, while also helping organize and conduct the first Central Park
Garden Concerts. His reputation was such that he was asked to
collaborate with the poet Sidney Lanier to commemorate the nation's
centennial, and his Forty-Sixth Psalm was the first American
composition performed by Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. Placing
Buck's life and career within the Victorian mindset that sought to draw
citizens into higher circles of art and beauty, Orr stresses how Buck's
music touched players and listeners of all classes.
