Mortimer Wilson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mortimer Wilson (August 6, 1876 – January 27, 1932) was an American
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
of
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
. He also scored several musical and dramatic films in the 1920s. Wilson was born in
Chariton, Iowa Chariton ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,193 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Chariton is the primary distribution center for and the former corporate headquarters ...
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 Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
with
Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...
. Upon return to the USA in 1911 he taught composition at the Atlanta Conservatory and conducted the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1916, he moved to Brenau College in
Gainesville, Georgia Gainesville is a city and the county seat of Hall County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 42,296. Because of its large number of poultry processing plants, it has been calle ...
. In 1918, Wilson took a job as consulting editor for the National Academy of Music in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where he remained until his death at the age of 55. As a composer, Mortimer's European influenced late romantic style was similar to his contemporaries Henry Kimball Hadley and Frederick Shepherd Converse. Today his works are mostly in manuscript. They include five symphonies and a great deal of chamber music, including three violin sonatas, two piano trios, two piano sonatas and an organ sonata.Butterworth, Neil
''Dictionary of American Classical Composers''
(2013), p.498
The suite for piano trio ''From My Youth'' Op. 5 was published in 1911 (in two books of four pieces each) and premiered by the Sitting Trio. It has been recorded by the Rawlins Piano Trio. The short piano suite ''Silhouettes from the Screen'', Op. 55 (1919) includes miniature musical portraits of
William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integ ...
,
Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered ...
,
Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...
,
Theda Bara Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...
(who is portrayed in an atonal, expressionistic style) and
Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...
). For the 1924 film ''The Thief of Bagdad''. Douglas Fairbanks encouraged Wilson to provide a fully-fledged classical score, unusual at the time. Wilson composed leit-motifs for each character and developed them symphonically. He also spent many hours in the editing room working on combining his music with the film. The score has been re-constructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald and recorded.Mortimer Wilson
''The Thief of Bagdad, Op. 74''
First Hand Records FHR126 (2022) reviewed at ''MusicWeb International''
A 1924 Literary Digest article details Wilson's work on the film (and includes a photo of the composer). Wilson also wrote the music for Fairbanks’s next two films, '' Don Q, Son of Zorro'' (1925) and ''
The Black Pirate ''The Black Pirate'' is a 1926 American silent action adventure film shot entirely in two-color Technicolor about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. Directed by Albert Parker, it stars Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, ...
'' (1926). Mortimer was also the author of three books: ''The Rhetoric of Music'' (1907), ''Harmonic and Melodic Technical Studies'' (1908) and ''Orchestral Training'' (1921). His students included
Robert Emmett Dolan Robert Emmett Dolan (August 3, 1908 - September 26, 1972) was a Broadway conductor, composer, and arranger beginning in the 1920s. He moved on to radio in the 1930s and then went to Hollywood in the early 1940s as a musical director for Paramo ...
, Joseph Littau and John Tasker Howard. He died aged 56 after a bout of influenza.Obituary, ''The New York Times'', 28 January 1932, p.21
/ref>


Filmography

*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 ''The Black Pirate'' is a 1926 American silent action adventure film shot entirely in two-color Technicolor about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. Directed by Albert Parker, it stars Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, ...
'' - music composer *1928 ''The Good-Bye Kiss'' - music composer *1928 '' Night Watch'' - music composer


References


External links


Mortimer Wilson Collection. UCLA. Performing Arts Special Collections
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Mortimer 1876 births 1932 deaths American male classical composers American film score composers American male film score composers 20th-century American classical composers People from Chariton, Iowa Musicians from Iowa Brenau University faculty 20th-century American male musicians