Ernest Trow Carter (September 3, 1866 – June 22, 1953) was an organist and

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 Defi ...

who won the

Bispham Award The Bispham Memorial Medal Award was an award for operas written in English which was named for baritone David Bispham, who was a great proponent of performing opera in English in the United States. It was traditionally awarded to American compose ...

Biography

He was born on September 3, 1866, in Orange, New Jersey to Aaron Carter and Sarah Swift Trow. At age seven, in 1873 he started what would become eight years of study of piano with Mary Bradshaw as his teacher. At age thirteen, in 1879, he organized an amateur orchestra, studied the cornet, was assistant conductor of the school orchestra; and at sixteen he was playing cornet in a professional orchestra. He graduated from Princeton University,

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, in 1888. He composed Princeton's Steps Song and arranged music for the Princeton Glee Club. He studied piano with

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

and singing with Francis Fisher Powers. He studied the French Horn with Hermann Hand of the

New York Symphony Orchestra The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie, ...

. He then received a Master's Degree from Columbia University. He went to California in 1892 as musical director for the Thacher School. In 1894, he went to Berlin to study composition with

Wilhelm Freudenberg Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

and organ with Arthur Egidi. He returned to New York around 1898. There he studied organ with Homer N. Bartlett. From 1899 to 1901 he was lecturer on music and was the choirmaster at Princeton University. For one year, around 1903, he sang in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He died on June 22, 1953, after a long illness at Wallick Point in

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. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Operas

*''The White Bird'' *''The Blonde Donna''

Family

Carter was a maternal grandson of the New York City publisher, John Fowler Trow (1810–1886). Ernest famously double eloped on September 30, 1891, in New York City with Laura Hoe, daughter of the printing press inventor Robert Hoe III. The other couple was Laura's older sister, Olivia Phelps Hoe who married Ernest's Princeton classmate, Robert Slake. The scandal hit the front page of the New York newspapers and strained relations with his in-laws for years. Ernest and Laura had three children: Laura Hoe Carter (1899 - 1987), Roger Carter (1901 - 1992) and Elizabeth Carter Richards (1906 - abt 1982).

References

External links

* 1866 births 1953 deaths American male composers American composers Princeton University alumni People from Orange, New Jersey Musicians from New Jersey Columbia University alumni American male organists Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) American organists {{composer-stub