Arthur Bergh

Arthur Bergh

Arthur Oscar Bergh (March 24, 1882 – February 11, 1962^[1]) was an American composer, conductor and accompanist.^[2][3] He performed on the piano, violin and organ.^[2][3][4]

Bergh was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.^[1] From 1903 to 1908 he was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera.^[1] In 1914, he was the conductor of the orchestra in New York City's Central Park.^[5] Bergh became the recording manager at Emerson Records in 1916; he had previously been employed by Columbia Records, and was convinced to move to 's new company after Emerson himself left Columbia.^[4] Other sources state that Bergh worked with Emerson first (1915 to 1922), following which he worked at Columbia (1922 to 1930).^[6]

In his later life, Bergh worked as a librarian with Hollywood film companies.^[7] He died in Los Angeles on February 11, 1962.^[1]

Bergh's wife, Geraldyne Brewer (1901–1998), was an heiress in social and charitable circles in 1950s Los Angeles. In 1956, they lived at 9823 Kincardine Avenue in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles.^[8] After Bergh's death, Geraldyne married Los Angeles Superior Court judge on December 3, 1965.^[9][10] Geraldyne died in 1998 and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale.^[11]

Works[]

He composed a number of operas and operettas, including adaptations of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.^[12] His Lieder include music to Walt Whitman's The Imprisoned Soul (1939), Percy Bysshe Shelley's Music, When Soft Voices Die (1947), Emily Dickinson's The Grass (1954), and John Greenleaf Whittier's Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (1955).^[12]

Bergh's other works include a symphonic chorale entitled The Unnamed City; a romantic opera, Niorada; a march for orchestra, Honor and Glory (1939); two operettas, In Arcady and The Goblin Fair; a chorus entitled O Captain, My Captain; a cycle named The Congo; as well as 80 other pieces for violin and piano.^[13]

• 1908 – The Raven, Op. 20 (Edgar Allan Poe)^[14]
• 1910 – December, Op. 9 No. 1 (Thomas Bailey Aldrich)
• 1913 – , Op. 15, No. 1^[15]
• 1913 – , Op. 15, No. 2^[16]
• 1913 – , Op. 15, No. 3^[17]
• 1913 ��� Here They Come^[18]
• 1914 – The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Op. 23 (Robert Browning)^[19]
• 1915 – , Op. 17^[20]
• 1919 – ()^[21]
• 1919 – ()^[22]
• 1924 – ^[23]
• 1926 – ^[24]
• 1941 – (Paul Laurence Dunbar)^[25]
• 1938 – , Op. 30^[26]
• 1938 – ^[27]
• 1938 – O Captain! My Captain!^[28]
• 1939 – (Walt Whitman)^[12]
• 1941 – Kissing Her Hair I Sat Against Her Feet (Algernon Charles Swinburne)^[29]
• 1941 – (Sara Teasdale)^[30]
• 1947 – Music, When Soft Voices Die, Op. 37 (Percy Bysshe Shelley)^[12]
• 1950 – (William Makepeace Thackeray)^[31]
• 1950 – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)^[32]
• 1954 – (Emily Dickinson)^[12]
• 1955 – Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (John Greenleaf Whittier)^[12]

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Arthur Bergh at Wikimedia Commons