Stephen Codman (c. 1796 – 6 October 1852) was a Canadian

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 English descent. His known compositions all date from before 1835, and mainly consist of works for solo voice or vocal ensembles.

Early life and education

Codman was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, England. He was a pupil of John Christmas Beckwith and

William Crotch William Crotch (5 July 177529 December 1847) was an English composer and organist. According to the British musicologist Nicholas Temperley, Crotch was "a child prodigy without parallel in the history of music", and was certainly the most dist ...

.Elaine Keillor.
Music in Canada: Capturing Landscape and Diversity
'. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP; 18 March 2008. . p. 116.

Career

In 1816 Codman came to Canada to assume the post of organist at Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

,Daniel Mendoza de Arce.
Music in North America and the West Indies from the Discovery to 1850: A Historical Survey
'. Scarecrow Press; 2006. . p. 251. most likely succeeding John Bentley. He remained in that post up until his death in Quebec City 36 years later. Two of his songs, ''The Fairy Song'' and ''They Are Not All Sweet Nightingales'', were published by Goulding, D'Almaine, and Co in 1827, placing them among the oldest published Canadian compositions.Stephen Codman
canadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 18 January 2018.Bibliographical Society of Canada.
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada: Cahiers de la Société Bibliographique Du Canada
'. Vol. 12-16. Bibliographical Society of Canada; 1974. p. 41. He also wrote an instrumental piece for the organ, titled "Invocation".
Schirmer history of music
'. Schirmer Books; 1 February 1982. . p. 913. Codman died in Quebec City on 6 October 1852.
compiled from the ''Norfolk Chronicle'' by Charles Mackie. Volume II. Norwich, Ontario. via Project Gutenberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Codman, Stephen 1790s births 1852 deaths 19th-century Canadian composers Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian organists Canadian male organists Musicians from Norwich 19th-century British male musicians 19th-century organists