Death of a musical composer.
The death of
William H. Fry, the musical composer, has been noticed.
It took place in
Santa Cruz,
West Indies, a few weeks since.
He was about the only composer, of any note, which the
United States ever produced.
A Philadelphia paper, in an obituary notice of the deceased, says:
‘
"
Mr. Fry was a son of the late
William Fry, formerly editor of the
National Gazette, of this city, where he was born in August, 1815, so that he was in the fiftieth year of his age. He was educated here and at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg,
Maryland.
His musical talent showed itself at an early age, and he studied under
Mr. Leopold Meignen.
Some overtures of his composition were performed by the Philharmonic Society as early as 1835.
He also wrote, about that period, two operas, "The Bridal of Dunure" and "
Aurelia," which were never represented.
He employed his pen also in literature, and was one of the editors of the
National Gazette from 1839 until the paper was discontinued.
When the
Wood Opera Troupe came here,
Mr. Fry, in conjunction with his brother,
J. Reese Fry, had the opera of "Norma" brought out in
English, and its success is among the traditional glories of the opera in
Philadelphia.
An original English opera, "Leonora," was performed at the
Chestnut Street Theatre in 1845 by the
Seguin Troupe with great success.
It was also produced in Italian in New York in 1858.
From 1846 to 1852
Mr. Fry was in
Europe, corresponding with the New York
Tribune and Philadelphia
Ledger.
On his return, he delivered a series of lectures on the history of music, introducing as illustrations two symphonies of his own composition, which were afterwards played with great success by Jullien's Orchestra in various parts of the country.
Mr. Fry has also written an elaborate
Stabat Maler, several string quartets, and other musical works.
The latest and finest is the opera of "
Notre Dame of
Paris," produced with great spender in the
Philadelphia Academy of Music last May.
As a writer for the New York
Tribune, of which he was one of the proprietors, as a public lecturer and a political orator,
Mr. Fry has been very widely known.
His mind was most original, and his style was at times eccentric.
But everything he wrote showed genius, and under certain circumstances, he would have made his mark as one of the great men of the nation.
But his pursuits and his ambition were not such as to bring him before the masses of the people, and he was contented with the intellectual and æsthethic studies towards which his mind had been directed in his youth.
In the spring of 1861 he was appointed
Secretary of the
American Legation at
Turin, but his health was too delicate to make the ocean voyage, and he resigned the office before entering upon its duties.
Mr. Fry was never married, but he enjoyed society and mingled freely in it while his health permitted.
He excelled as a conversationalist.
Rarely descending to the lighter range of small talk, he was yet always entertaining, frequently brilliant, and invariably original and instructive.
The country lost much by the failure of his health, and his death will be mourned by many thousands besides his relatives and numerous personal friends."
’
