Richard Willis (composer)

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Richard Storrs Willis (1819 - 1900) was an Amerian composer, notably of hymn music. He at­tend­ed Chaun­cey Hall, the Bos­ton La­tin School, and Yale College where he was a member of Skull & Bones in 1841.

He then went to Ger­ma­ny, where he stu­died six years un­der Xavier Schny­der and Mo­ritz Haupt­mann. While there, he be­came a per­son­al friend of Fe­lix Men­dels­sohn. Af­ter re­turn­ing to Amer­i­ca, Wil­lis served as mu­sic cri­tic for the New York Trib­une, The Al­bi­on, and The Mu­sic­al Times, and edited The Mu­sic­al Times (1852-64). Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he traveled to Germany and studied music composition there for six years.

Additionaly, he was a newspaper critic and a music journal editor.

His works and music compilations include:

• Church Chorals and Choir Studies (1850)
• Our Church Music (1856)
• Waif of Song (1876)
• Pen and Lute (1883)

One of his better known hymns is It Came upon the Midnight Clear (1850), lyrics by Edmund Sears.

References

The Book of World Famous Music, Popular, Classical and Folk (1966), by James Fuld

The Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church (1911), by Charles Nutter and Wilbur Tillett

External links

• [Richard Storrs Willis]

 

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