William Dayas
Illustration — William Dayas during his phase in Helsinki, 1893. William Humphreys Dayas (12 September 1863, New York – 3 May 1903, Manchester) was an American pianist, pedagogue and composer, one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt. He took church organist appointments and piano pupils as a teen to earn a living, while also studying piano with S. Mills and Rafael Joseffy and organ with Samuel P. In 1881 he moved to Berlin to pursue musical education, studying with Franz Kullak, Ehrlich, and Haupt.
Also recorded as William Humphreys Dayas
William Dayas

Alexander Konstantin Saxelin · http: index=0 size=original format=tif Image record page in Finna: museovirasto.5852C163F21282DB01CA23FE72B17F29 · CC BY 4.0
- Died
- 1903 · Manchester.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- composer · pianist · pedagogue · music teacher · organist
- Teachers
- Franz Liszt
Encyclopédie VALÉORINE
Le dossier documentaire
Chaque énoncé est lu dans les notices d’autorité des institutions nommées. Choisissez « Preuve » à côté d’un énoncé pour voir la notice d’où il est tiré, l’endroit précis et la date de lecture.
William Dayas (décès : 3 mai 1903) figure comme compositeur, organiste, professeur de musique et pianiste dans les notices d'autorité de la Bibliothèque nationale de France et de la Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Vie
Le décès de William Dayas est enregistré le 3 mai 1903. Pour le lieu de naissance de William Dayas, New York (État de New York, États-Unis) est enregistré par la Bibliothèque nationale de France et New York par la Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Pour le lieu de décès de William Dayas, Manchester (Grande-Bretagne) est enregistré par la Bibliothèque nationale de France et Manchester, England par la Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Institutions citées
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Chaîne de lecture complète (JSON)Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for William Dayas. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q16169825 · wikipedia · William Dayas
In this article
Personal life
Personal life
He then travelled to Weimar, where he was among many in Liszt's circle in the 1880s. From 1890 to 1893 he succeeded Busoni as professor of piano at the Helsinki conservatory. He subsequently taught in Wiesbaden and, at Franz Wüllner's invitation, to the Cologne Conservatorium (where he was succeeded by Rudolph Niemann). From 1896 until his death he taught at Royal Manchester College of Music, succeeding Charles Hallé, and succeeded by Arthur Friedheim. Dayas concertized frequently, including with Adolph Brodsky, Wilma Neruda, and piano four-hands with Busoni. Busoni's arrangement of Bach's prelude and fugue for organ BWV 552 is dedicated to Dayas. The Royal Northern College of Music awards a Dayas Prize for Composition.
William Dayas was married to Margaret (Margarethe) Vocke, a fellow pupil of Liszt, in 1891. Their daughter Karin Dayas, a noted pianist and pedagogue, was born in Helsinki in 1892.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New York City.
Birth place
Manchester.
Death place
Selected compositions
• two early organ sonatas, written in America • a string quartet, premiered by the Halir Quartet in Wiesbaden • sonata for violin and piano • sonata for cello and piano, dedicated to Carl Fuchs • waltzes for piano four-hands • a suite for strings • some songs • miscellaneous other minor works for piano and organ
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article William Dayas, revision 1360746763 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
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 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
44,023 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- William CusinsPerson
- William DamagedPerson
- William DamonPerson
- William DanielsPerson
- William DongoisPerson
- William Edward HaeschePerson
- William Edward MartinPerson
- William FinnPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by William Dayas?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.