Josiah Pittman
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Josiah Pittman (3 September 1816 – 23 April 1886) was a British organist, composer of church music, music editor, and accompanist at opera rehearsals.
Pittman was born on 2 September 1816, the son of a musician. He studied the organ under Goodman and S. S. Wesley. He later took lessons in the piano from Ignaz Moscheles, and in 1836 and 1837 at Frankfurt am Main he studied composition with Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee. He was organist successively at the parish church of Sydenham from 1831, at Tooting from 1833, and at Spitalfields from 1835 to 1847. From 1852 to 1864 he was organist at Lincoln's Inn.[1][2]
In 1865, he became accompanist at Her Majesty's Opera, and from 1868 until his death, he filled the same office at Covent Garden. The value of his musical work at the opera was best understood by those behind the scenes, while his literary abilities fitted him to assist in the translation of libretti.[1]
For several years, he delivered the annual course of lectures on music at the London Institution.[2]
Pittman died suddenly, in his seventieth year, on 23 April 1886.[1]
