Dudley Buck
Dudley Buck (March 10, 1839October 6, 1909) was an American composer, organist, and writer on music. He published several books, most notably the Dictionary of Musical Terms and Influence of the Organ in History, which was published in New York City in 1882. He is best known today for his organ composition, Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner, Op.
Dudley Buck
- Born
- 10 March 1839
- Birthplace
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Died
- 6 October 1909
- Place of death
- West Orange, New Jersey
- Occupation
- Publisher
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- opera
- Education
- Trinity College · University of Music and Theatre Leipzig
- Languages
- English
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Dudley Buck (March 10, 1839October 6, 1909) was an American composer, organist, and writer on music. He published several books, most notably the Dictionary of Musical Terms and Influence of the Organ in History, which was published in New York City in 1882. He is best known today for his organ composition, Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner, Op.
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Dudley Buck (1839–1909) was a composer, music journalist and organist, of American nationality. The composer was born in Hartford and died in West Orange.
Dudley Buck was educated at Trinity College and University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. The composer was a member of American Academy of Arts and Letters and worked in Leipzig.
The work spans opera. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q5311819 · wikipedia · Dudley Buck
In this article
Biography
Biography
23, which was later arranged into an orchestral version.
Dudley Buck studied at Trinity College and University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. Frederick Grant Gleason is recorded as having studied under Dudley Buck. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Places of work recorded in the authority are Leipzig.
Key facts
Key facts
• Born — 10 March 1839 • Birthplace — Hartford, Connecticut • Died — 6 October 1909 • Place of death — West Orange, New Jersey • Resting Place — Rosedale Cemetery, Montclair, New Jersey • Occupation — Publisher • Era — Romantic
Life and career
Life and career
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Buck was the son of a merchant who gave him every opportunity to cultivate his musical talents. After attending Trinity College (Connecticut) from 1855–1858, he studied in Leipzig at the Leipzig Conservatory where his teachers included: Ernst Richter and Moritz Hauptmann, composition and harmony; Ignaz Moscheles and Louis Plaidy, piano; Julius Rietz, orchestration; and Johann Gottlob Schneider, organ. He then pursued further studies in Dresden (again with Schneider) and Paris. On returning to America he held positions of organist in Hartford's North Congregational Church and Chicago's St. James' Episcopal Church (1869). In Albany for a recital in 1871, he got news the Great Chicago Fire destroyed his church, home, and all his possessions, so returned to Chicago and quickly moved his family to Boston. There, Buck accepted the position of organist for the Music Hall Association, organist and choir director at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (now Cathedral), and joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory. In 1875 Buck went to New York City for a prolonged and professionally fruitful period. He assisted Theodore Thomas as conductor of orchestral concerts, including the Central Park Garden Concerts. In 1877 he began a 25-year post as organist at Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn. He founded the Apollo Club, an organization dedicated to promoting choral music in Brooklyn, likely molded after the Apollo Club founded in Boston in 1871. The U.S. Centennial commissioned a cantata from Buck and Sidney Lanier; it was performed at the exposition's opening day on May 10, 1876. In 1898 Buck was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Towards the end of his tenure at Holy Trinity, new church leadership publicly expressed criticism with the church's music program. In 1901 it led to Buck announcing his resignation from Holy Trinity effective May 1902, whereupon he took the job of organist and choirmaster at Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn. This position lasted only a year, before Buck retired and spent the next few years with his wife in Germany. He returned to the United States in 1909, and died a few months later at his son's house in West Orange, New Jersey. His funeral was held at Grace Episcopal Church in Manhattan; his own compositions In Memoriam and Over the Treetops There Is Rest were sung by the Apollo Club. He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Montclair, New Jersey (the same burial site as other notable hymn composers Lowell Mason, Mary Artemisia Lathbury, and George Webb). Several memorials were held after his death, including one led by E. H. Joyce in October 1910 at Bridgeport's First Presbyterian Church, and one led by John Hyatt Brewer (who had replaced Buck as conductor of the Apollo Club in 1903) in January 1911 in Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. Buck also taught private music lessons throughout his career. Among his notable pupils were Charles Ives, Paul Ambrose, C. B. Hawley, William Howland, Daniel Protheroe, Harry Rowe Shelley, James Francis Cooke, Charles Sanford Skilton, and W. H. Neidlinger.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Hartford.
Birth place
West Orange.
Death place
Compositions
Buck was a prolific composer, in spite of having lost most of his manuscripts in St. James Episcopal Church's 1871 fire. His works include operas, cantatas, anthems, sacred songs, and organ works. Among them are: Choral works: • Motette Collection (1869) • The Legend of Don Munio, op. 64 (1874), setting of Washington Irving text (a chapter from Tales of the Alhambra) for small chorus and orchestra • The Centennial Meditation of Columbia (1876), a cantata, text by Sidney Lanier, commissioned for the U.S. Centennial and performed at its opening ceremony • The Nun of Nidaros, op. 83 (1879), setting of Longfellow text for chorus, soloists, piano obbligato, reed organ, and string quartet ad libitum • Golden Legend (1880) • King Olaf's Christmas (1881), setting of Longfellow text for chorus, soloists, piano obbligato, reed organ, and string quartet ad libitum • Voyage of Columbus (1885) • The Light of Asia (1886) • The Triumph of God • In Memoriam • Over the Treetops There Is Rest Songs: • Three Songs for Mezzo-Soprano (Where are the Swallows Fled?, Down by the Mill, The Sunset's Smile has Left the Sky) • Five Songs for alto or baritone (Morning Land, Spring Song, Expectancy, Sunset (based on Sidney Lanier poem), "Storm and Sunshine") • Five Songs for tenor or soprano (Thou art Mine!, Shadow Land, I Love Thee, The Silent World is Sleeping, Creole Lover's Song) • Five Songs for Baritone (Where the Lindens Bloom, Bedouin Love Song, The Capture of Bacchus, The Gypsies, When Life Hath Sorrow Found) • Five Songs for mezzo-soprano or baritone (In June, Love's Remorse, Alone!, Spring's Awakening, Crossing the Bar) • "Evening Song", Op. 76 • "Twilight" • "Boots and Saddles (A Soldier's Farewell)" • "Falstaff's Song" • "There's a Merry Brown Thrush" • "The Tempest" (dramatic poem) • "Where Did You Come From, Baby Dear?" • "Why Love Is King" Operas: • Deseret, or A Saint's Affliction comic opera (1880); survives only in fragments, selections published • Serâpis, opera (1889); manuscript Orchestral: • Marmion, symphonic overture (1878) • Festival Overture on the American National Air, "The Star-Spangled Banner," (1879) Organ: • Grand Sonata in E-flat, Op. 22 (1866) • Concert Variations on "The Star-Spangled Banner," Op. 23 (1868) • Triumphal March, Op. 26 (1868) • Impromptu Pastorale, Op. 27 (1868) • Eighteen Studies in Pedal Phrasing, Op. 28 (1868) • Variations for Organ on "Home, Sweet Home," Op. 30 (1868) • Rondo-Caprice, Op. 35 (1868) • Wedding March, Op. 44 (1871) • 6 Short Choral Preludes, Op. 49 (1871) • Variations on a Scotch Air (Annie Laurie), Op. 51 (1871) • At Evening, Op. 52 (1871) • "The Last Rose of Summer" varied for the Organ, Op. 59 (1877) • Organ Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 77 (1877) • Variations on "Old Folks at Home" (1888) • 4 Tone Pictures (1891) • Festival Prelude (c. 1896)
Writings
Buck's published books include: • Buck's New and Complete Dictionary of Musical Terms (1873) • Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment with Hints on Registration (1877) • The Influence of the Organ in History (1882) • Musical Pronouncing Dictionary (in at least 8 editions) • Some Thoughts for the Singer (1908)
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Dudley Buck”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5311819: Dudley Buck
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gallo, William K. Dudley Buck. Grove Music Online. 26 November 2013.
- 2.Orr, N. Lee. Dudley Buck: Leader of a Forgotten Tradition. The Tracker. 38. 3. 10-21. 1994.
- 3.Buck, Dudley. 720.
- 4.Library of Congress. Dudley Buck (1839–1909).
- 5.Smith, Rollin. American Organ Composers: Dudley Buck. Music: The AGO and RCCO Magazine. 10. 3. 38-39. March 1976.
- 6."For Dudley Buck Memorial". The Diapason. 2 (3): 2. February 1, 1911.
- 7.Orr, N. Lee. Dudley Buck. University of Illinois Press. 2008. 978-0-252-03279-0.
- 8.Rosedale Cemetery Walking Guide of Notable Interments. rosedalecemetery.org.
- 9.Dudley Buck Memorial. The Diapason. 1. 12. 2. November 1, 1910.
- 10.Buck, Dudley. Sunset / poem by Sidney Lanier; [music by] Dudley Buck, op. 76, no. 4. University of Rochester. 1905.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
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reference work
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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