Frederic Woodman Root (13 June 1846,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

– 8 November 1916,

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) was an American composer, choir conductor, organist, adjudicator and music teacher.

Early life and education

Root was the son of

George Frederick Root George Frederick Root (August 30, 1820August 6, 1895) was an American songwriter, who found particular fame during the American Civil War, with songs such as "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" and " The Battle Cry of Freedom". He is regarded as the first A ...

, who was known for composing Civil War songs. He studied music under BC Blodgett,

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 ...

, James Flint and Robert Goldbeck, and studied singing in New York City with Carlo Bassini and

Luigi Vannuccini Luigi Vannuccini (4 December 1828 – 14 August 1911) was an Italian conductor, composer and teacher of bel canto Life Born in Foiano della Chiana, Vannuccini began his musical studies with his father Ernesto, who had been singing teacher in Flo ...

from

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. From 1869 to 1870 he undertook a study tour of Europe.

Career

Root composed songs, cantatas, an operetta, and other works, including many for use in singing and piano lessons. He wrote articles and essays for a number of music related publications. Root was the editor of the periodical ''Song Messenger'' for several years. Root became a singing teacher, and published several textbooks for singing lessons, including ''The Pacific Glee Book'' with James R. Murray, ''The School of Singing'', and ''Root's New Course in Voice Culture and Singing''. Root gave lectures to promote his teaching methods and opinions about music in general.“A Rainmaker to be Depended Upon”
Southwest Sentinel Silver City, New Mexico Tuesday, February 7, 1893 - Page 1 (a humorous piece about his lecture tour, which seemed to attract bad weather) (via Newspapers.com) In one of his speeches he characterized African American gospel songs as "developed from the formless and untutored sounds of savage people... being hardly developed to the point at which they might be called music".

References

External links

(Short biography, works and writings)
Virtual American Biographies - George Frederick Root

Frederic Woodman Root at WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, Frederic Woodman American male composers American composers American music educators 1846 births 1926 deaths