Gerrit Smith (composer)

The son of Gerrit H. Smith,^[1] Gerrit Smith was born in Hagerstown, Maryland on December 11, 1859.^[2] He grew up in Geneva, New York where he received his first musical instruction as a choir boy.^[3] He studied organ with Adolph Baumbach in his youth.^[3] He was educated at Hobart College in New York;^[4] graduating in 1876.^[5] While a student there he spent two years as the school's chapel organist.^[6] He then went to Germany to study at the Stuttgart Conservatory where he was a pupil of Christian Fink.^[1] Upon returning to the United States in 1877, he pursued further music studies in New York City with Samuel Prowse Warren, William Hall Sherwood, and Whitney Eugene Thayer.^[4][6]

In January 1879, Smith was appointed organist at St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, New York.^[1] He remained there until May 1880.^[7] In December 1880 he was appointed organist of Lafayette Street Church in Buffalo.^[8] He remained there until early May 1881 when he left Buffalo to travel back to Europe to pursue further music studies.^[9] He went to Berlin where was a pupil of Carl August Haupt,^[4][6] Eduard Rohde,^[4][6] August Gottfried Ritter, and Gustav Merkel.^[3] He returned to New York in January 1882.^[10] He later went to London in 1901 to pursue further studies in music composition with Hamish MacCunn and Edward German; after which he spent a month staying in the home of Edvard Grieg in Norway.^[3]

In 1882 Smith became organist at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany, New York.^[3] From 1885 until his death in 1912 Smith was organist at South Reformed Dutch Church at Park Avenue and 85th St in New York City.^[6] He co-founded the Manuscript Society of New York (MSNY);^[4][6] an organization which had its first meeting on October 17, 1889.^[11] He was the MSNY's first president.^[11] In 1896 he was a founding member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and served as its first warden.^[4] He also served a term as president of the AGO.^[3]

Smith taught music theory at the Master School of Music in Brooklyn.^[4] At the time of his death he was director of the music program at Union Theological Seminary.^[12] His compositional output included both sacred and secular music. He wrote the cantata King David,^[13] a setting of the Te Deum,^[13] anthems,^[14] carols,^[14] part-songs,^[14] choral music, and more than 50 art songs.^[13] He wrote the music to the hymn "When Christ Was Born of Mary Free".^[15]

Smith died in New York City on July 21, 1912.^[12]

• Elson, Louis Charles (1904). The History of American Music. Macmillan.
• Benjamin, William Howard (1908). "Gerrit Smith". Biographies of Celebrated Organists of America. Benjamin Publishing Company.
• Pratt, Waldo Selden, ed. (1920). "Smith, Gerrit". Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 6. Macmillan.
• Thompson, Oscar, ed. (1975). "Smith, Gerrit". The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Dodd, Mead & Co.