Lemare, Edwin (Henry)
Lemare, Edwin (Henry)
Lemare, Edwin (Henry), English-American organist and composer; b. Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Sept. 9, 1865; d. Los Angeles, Sept. 24, 1934. He received his early training from his father, an organist; then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the age of 17, he played at the Inventions Exhibition in London; in 1892 he began a series of weekly organ recitals at Holy Trinity Church in London, and also became a prof, at the Royal Academy of Music; from 1897 to 1902 he was organist at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. In 1900-1901 he made a concert tour through the U.S. and Canada; from 1902 to 1905 he was organist at the Carnegie Inst. in Pittsburgh; continued to tour extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, and also in the Far East; then held the post of municipal organist in San Francisco (1917–21), Portland, Maine (1921–23), and Chattanooga, Tenn. (1924–29). He wrote about 200 organ works, an Easter cantata, anthems, settings of sacred texts, and songs; his Andantino acquired wide popularity when it was used for the American ballad Moonlight and Roses; he also prepared innumerable transcriptions for the organ. His reminiscences appeared as Organs I Have Met: The Autobiography of Edwin H. Lemare, 1866-1934, Together With Reminiscences by His Wife and Friends (Los Angeles, 1956).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire