Frederic Archer (16 June 1838 – 22 October 1901) was a British composer, conductor and organist, born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. He moved to the US in 1880, where he established the

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra is resident at Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District. Since 2008, the orchestra's music director is Manfred Ho ...

Education and UK career

From the age of eleven he was a chorister at All Saints, Margaret Street, and afterwards studied at

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. He held various musical positions in England and Scotland, including organist at the

Panopticon The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...

in Leicester Square (succeeding Edmund Chipp),

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Oxford and (from 1878) the first organist at the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...

in London, where his many public recitals on the original and then on the restored organ (post fire) drew large crowds. He conducted the Glasgow Select Choir between 1878 and 1880, arranging part songs based on Scotch airs for the choir.James Duff Brown, Stephen Samuel Stratton: ''British Musical Biography'' (1987), p. 12 During this period he was also an Examiner at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

.Obituary, ''The Daily News'', 8 November 1901, p. 3

New York and Pittsburgh

In 1880 he moved to the United States, becoming organist of Plymouth Church in

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, and a year later at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in

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. Archer was later appointed conductor of the

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Oratorio Society, director of Carnegie Music Hall in

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, and in 1899 organist of the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh. He gave many organ recitals across America, including over 220 at

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. In 1896, he established the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted for two years before passing the baton on to

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and co ...

Author and composer

In 1883 Archer founded a music journal, ''The Keynote'', which for a time he edited, and also published several books and numerous organ compositions. These include the ''Grand Fantasia'' in F, the ''Concert Variations'', ''March Triomphale'' and many other pieces for the organ. He published a cantata, ''King Witlaf's Drinking Horn'', setting Longfellow, in 1857. There is also the ''Duo Concertante'' for flute and piano, solo piano works such as the ''Three Impromptus'' and ''Two Gavottes'', and various songs and part songs. For Novello he wrote ''The Organ: a theoretical and practical treatise'' (1875).Archer, Frederic: ''The Organ'', IMSLP
/ref> ''A Complete Method for the American Reed Organ'' followed in 1889, published by Schirmer.

Death

Archer died of cancer at his home in Pittsburgh on 22 October 1901, aged 63. He, his wife, and daughter rest in apparently unmarked graves at Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Frederic 1838 births 1901 deaths English Romantic composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English organists British male organists Musicians from Pittsburgh Burials at Homewood Cemetery 19th-century English musicians Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania 19th-century British organists Music directors of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra