Mark Andrews, FAGO, ARCO (31 March 1875 − 10 December 1939), was a British organist, composer and conductor who spent most of his working life in the United States of America.[1][2]
Career
editOrganist
editBorn in Erith, Kent, Andrews studied the organ in England, having turned down a scholarship to the University of Cambridge following his father's death,[2] before moving to Montclair, New Jersey, in 1902. He spent the rest of his life as organist of three churches in the town: St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1902−1912), the First Baptist Church (1912−1917) and the Congregational Church (1917−1939).[1]
A fellow of the American Guild of Organists (for which he was also an examiner) and Associate of the Royal College of Organists,[3] Andrews was also a member of St. Wilfrid Club in New York City.[1] As a teacher, his pupils included Carl Weinrich, Clarence Watters, Julius Zingg, Edwin Stanley Seder and Winifred Young Cornish.[2][3]
Composer and conductor
editAndrews composed over 300 works for organ and voice, including sacred and secular music.[2] He wrote the music for the glee club song John Peel, as well as for hymns such as To Whom Then Shall I Liken God. He conducted the Montclair Glee Club, the Mountain Lakes Glee Club, the Public Service Glee Club of Newark and the glee club of the University Club of New Haven, and in 1929 led 4,000 singers in a series of mass concerts of the Associated Glee Clubs of America held at Madison Square Gardens in New York City, at which several of his own compositions were performed.[1][4]
Family
editAndrews was married to Minnie Foreman, with whom he had a son, Mark, and daughter, Audrey.[1] Audrey was killed in a road accident in 1912, aged 9.[5]
Legacy
editAndrews's papers were given to Montclair State Teachers College in 1945.[6] Some of his recordings are available online.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e New York Times, "Mark Andrews, Organist, Was 64", 11 December 1939. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d The Diapason, "Mark Andrews Dead; Famed as Composer", vol. 31, No. 2, 1 January 1940. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ a b The Diapason, "Mark Andrews' Work Anniversary Subject", vol. 28, No. 7, 1 June 1937. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ New York Times, "4,000 Singers Thrill Throng in Garden", 25 May 1929. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ New York Times, "Tiny Cyclist Slain by Car", 29 February 1912. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ The Monclair Times, "Music Collection Given to College", 21 Jnue 1945. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ University of California Santa Barbara, Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 19 August 2024