Whitmer T(homas) Carl
Whitmer T(homas) Carl
Whitmer, T(homas) Carl, American organist, teacher, and composer; b. Altoona, Pa., June 24,1873; d. Poughkeepsie, N.Y., May 30, 1959. He studied piano with C. Jarvis, organ with S.P. Warren, and composition with W.W. Gilchrist. He was director of the School of Music, Stephens Coll., Columbia, Mo. (1899-1909); director of music at the Pa. Coll. for Women in Pittsburgh (1909-16); organist and choirmaster of the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh (1916-32); then taught privately at Dramamount, his farm near Newburgh, N.Y. He publ. The Way of My Heart and Mind (Pittsburgh, 1920) and The Art of Improvisation: A Handbook of Principles and Methods (N.Y., 1934; rev. ed., 1941).
Works
dramatic: Oh, Isabel, opera (1951); sacred music dramas. ORCH.: Poem of Life for Piano and Orch. (1914); A Syrian Night, ballet suite (Pittsburgh, Feb. 17, 1919); Radiations over a 13th Century Theme for Strings (1935). CHAMBER: Several works, including piano pieces and organ music. VOCAL: Supper at Emmaus, choral suite (Pittsbirgh, Feb. 21, 1939); Chant Me the Poem That Comes from the Soul, cantata, after Walt Whitman (Pittsburgh, Feb. 19, 1942); anthems; songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire