William Alexander Houston Collisson (20 May 1865 – 31 January 1920) was an Anglo-Irish priest, writer, organist, pianist,

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. H ...

, and composer, mainly remembered for his long collaboration with Percy French.

Life

Collisson was born in Dublin and graduated from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

with degrees as Bachelor of Arts (BA, 1887) and Doctor of Music (MusD, 1891). He also received a Licentiate in Music (LMus) from Trinity College London. In 1899, he was ordained a priest at

Truro Cathedral The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It i ...

in Cornwall and subsequently served in different parishes in England. He was appointed organist in a number of Anglican parishes in Ireland including St Patrick's Cathedral,

Trim, County Meath Trim () is a town in County Meath, Ireland. It is situated on the River Boyne and has a population of 9,194. The town is noted for Trim Castle – the largest Norman castle in Ireland. One of the two cathedrals of the United Dioceses of M ...

(1882); St Paul's Church,

Bray, County Wicklow Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 32,600 making it the ninth largest urban area within Ireland (at the 2016 census). Bray is ...

(1884); in

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Counc ...

, Dublin (1885–95); at the Church of the Holy Trinity,

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to ...

, Dublin (1886); St Maelrune's,

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, Dublin (1893); and

St George's Church, Dublin St. George's Church is a former parish church in Dublin, Ireland, designed by Francis Johnston, it is considered to be one of his finest works. The structure is located at Hardwicke Place, just north of the city centre, though when it was ope ...

(1885–98). He also sang in the choir of

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(1893–96). As a concert impresario, Collisson made a name for himself for organising, from 1887, increasingly popular "Saturday Concerts" in Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, and London. In these, he often appeared himself variously as conductor, accompanist, and soloist. In Dublin in 1889, these also involved a choir of 100 voices and an orchestra. An attempt to invite

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

in 1891 failed. In 1906–7, he also toured Ireland as a singer and performer on piano and organ in his own compositions. The experiences of these various travels were documented in anecdotal form in his book ''Dr. Collisson in and on Ireland'' (1908). Collisson was involved, too, in establishing the Feis Ceoil with

Annie Patterson Annie Wilson Patterson (27 October 1868 – 16 January 1934) was an Irish organist, music educator, writer, composer, and arranger. Life Annie Patterson was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland, and was related through her mother's family to ...

, and he won competitions at the Feis Ceoil a number of times in several composers categories.

Music

As a composer, Collisson is remembered for his collaboration with the poet, writer, painter and composer Percy French (1854–1920), for whose poems he contributed numerous songs, the best-known one being '' The Mountains o' Mourne''. They often appeared together on stage, including regular performances in London and touring North America in 1910. Collisson also wrote operas to which French contributed the libretto, including ''The Knight of the Road'' (1891) and ''Strongbow'' (1892).

Selected works

Stage works

* ''The Knight of the Road'' (libretto: Percy French), comic opera, 1891 * ''Strongbow, or The Bride of the Battlefield'' (P. French), comic opera, 1892 * ''Midsummer Madness'' (P. French), "musical comedietta", 1892 * ''The Irish Girl'' (P. French, B. Stewart), "comedy opera", 1918

Choral

* Mass in C major, c. 1890 * ''St Patrick'', cantata (text: Annie W. Patterson), 1898 * ''Penzance'', cantata, 1899 * ''The Game of Chess'', cantata (text: A. W. Patterson), 1899 * ''Samhain'', cantata (text: A. W. Patterson), 1901

Instrumental

* ''Three Light Pianoforte Pieces'' (not dated) * ''Rosaleen'', orchestral suite ( Feis Ceoil Prize, 1903)

Songs

All to words by Percy French. * ''When Erin Wakes'', 1900 * ''Are ye right there, Michael?'', 1902 * ''King Edward in Erin'', 1903 * ''Maguire's Motor Bike'', 1906 * ''Rafferty's Racin' Mare'', 1906 * ''Wait for a while now, Mary'', 1906 * ''Donnegan's Daughter, or The Beauty of Ballyporeen'', 1908 * ''A Kerry Courting'' (song cycle), 1909 * ''Bad Ballads for Badish Babes'' (song cycle), 1910 * ''Tullinahaw'', 1911 * ''The Mountains o' Mourne'', 1920 * ''Eileen Oge, or The Pride of Petravore'', published 1939

Writings

* ''Dr. Collisson in and on Ireland. A Diary of a Tour, with Personal Anecdotes, Notes Auto-Biographical and Impressions'' (London: Robert Sutton, 1908).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collisson, Houston 1865 births 1920 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Irish composers 20th-century male musicians Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College of Music Christian clergy from County Dublin Irish Anglicans Irish classical composers Irish opera composers Irish organists Male opera composers Musicians from County Dublin