Rockstro (real name, Rackstraw), William (Smith)

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Rockstro (real name, Rackstraw), William (Smith)

Rockstro (real name, Rackstraw), William (Smith) , English pianist, organist, teacher, writer on music, and composer; b. North Cheam, Surrey, Jan. 5, 1823; d. London, July 2, 1895. He studied at the Leipzig Cons. under Mendelssohn, Plaidy, and Hauptmann. Returning to London, he taught piano and singing. Rockstro wrote a popular ballad, Queen and Huntress, and also publ. piano arrangements of numerous operas. He devoted himself to a close study of ecclesiastical music, and became an acknowledged authority on plainchant. In 1876 he became a Roman Catholic.

Writings

(all publ. in London): A History of Music for Young Students (1879); A Key to Practical Harmony (1881); The Rules of Counterpoint (1882); The Life of G.F. Handel (1883); Mendelssohn (1884); A General History of Music (1886; 3rd ed., 1897); with H. Holland, Jenny Lind the Artist (1891); Jenny Lind: A Record and Analysis of Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt (1891).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Rockstro (real name, Rackstraw), William (Smith)

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