Frederick Grant Gleason (born 17 December 1848 inMiddletown, Connecticut - diedChicago, 6 December 1903) was an Americancomposer, and director of theChicago Conservatory from 1900 to 1903.

Gleason's father was abanker. Like many other well-to-do gentlemen, Gleason senior was an amateurflautist. 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. Gleason spent much of his early life in the neighboring city of Hartford, as a pupil ofDudley Buck, going in 1869 toLeipzig to study withIgnaz Moscheles andHans Richter.^[1] After six years in Europe he returned to America, and in 1877 went to Chicago as a member of the faculty of the Hershey School of Music, of whichClarence Eddy (also a pupil of Buck) was the general director.^[1] Gleason was also active as a music critic. In 1897 he became president of an organization called the 'American Patriotic Musical League'. He was general director of theChicago Conservatory from 1900 to 1903.^[2] His students included composerElsa Swartz.^[3] According to Philo A. Otis, Gleason "was an idealist, a dreamer, though too much of a follower to be a leader."^[1]

Gleason's compositions include: theFestival Ode (words byHarriet Monroe) sung by 500 voices with orchestra at the opening of theAuditorium Theatre, Chicago on 9 December 1889;^[4][5]Processional of the Holy Grail written for theChicago World's Fair; asymphonic poem,Edris, based on a novel byMarie Corelli; thetone poemSong of Life (after a poem by Swinburne); a PianoConcerto; acantata with orchestra,The Culprit Fay; and twooperas:Otho Visconti andMontezuma. The former was produced at Chicago in 1907. He left other scores in manuscript, with instructions that they were not to be publicly performed until fifty years after his death.

Citations

Sources

• Buck, Dudley (2005). N. Lee Orr (ed.).American Victorian Choral Music. Recent researches in American music, Volume 53. A-R Editions, Inc.ISBN 9780895795731.
• Flinn, John J. (1893).Chicago the Marvelous City of the West: a History an Enyclopedia and a Guide (2nd ed.). Chicago: National Book and Picture Co. pp. 117–8.
• Otis, Philo Adams (1924).The Chicago Symphony Orchestra : Its Organization Growth and Development 1891-1924. Chicago: Clayton F. Summy.

• Free scores by Frederick Grant Gleason at theInternational Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Frederic Grant Gleason Papers atNewberry Library

• 1848 births
• 1903 deaths
• American male composers
• 19th-century American composers
• 19th-century American male musicians
• 20th-century American composers
• 20th-century American male musicians
• American Conservatory of Music faculty
• People from Middletown, Connecticut
• Classical musicians from Connecticut

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Composers with IMSLP links
• Articles with International Music Score Library Project links