John Rogers Thomas
John Rogers Thomas (March 26, 1829 – April 5, 1896) was an American composer, pianist, and singer of Welsh descent.
Biography[]
Thomas was born in Newport, South Wales on March 26, 1829.[1][2] A baritone and composer, he first came to America with the Sequin English Opera Company and became interested in the music of America that was developing. He sang and toured with Bryant's Minstrels and settled in New York City.
He wrote more than one hundred popular American songs during the nineteenth century of which his most popular were The Cottage by the Sea (1856), Old Friends and Old Times (1856), Bonny Eloise—The Belle of Mohawk Vale (1858), 'Tis But a Little Faded Flower (1860), When the War Is Over, Mary (1864), Beautiful Isle of the Sea (1865), Croquet (1867), Eilleen Allanna (1873), and Rose of Killarney (1876). Thomas occasionally published material under the pseudonyms Charles Osborne, Arthur Percy and Harry Diamond. In addition to song writing, Thomas composed three larger works; The Picnic (1869), a children's operetta with a libretto by George Cooper; The Lady in the Mask (1870), an operetta with a libretto by George Cooper; and Diamond Cut Diamond (1876), a in one act.[3]
In addition to his popular songs, Thomas also composed sacred music, and was also known as a teacher in Brooklyn and in New York City, where he died on April 5, 1896.[2]
References[]
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of American Composers, Claghorn, Charles Eugene, Parker Publishing Co., West Nyack, N.Y., 1973, ISBN 0-13-076331-4
- ^ a b The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. VIII. James T. White & Company. 1924. p. 445. Retrieved January 27, 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ pdmusic.org
External links[]
- Sheet music for "Cottage by the Sea", Augusta, GA: Blackmar & Bro, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection
- List of his music
- Sheet Music
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- 1830 births
- 1896 deaths
- 19th-century American composers
- 19th-century classical composers
- American classical composers
- American male classical composers
- American opera composers
- American Romantic composers
- Male opera composers
- 19th-century American male musicians
- American composer stubs