Horsley, Charles Edward

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Horsley, Charles Edward

Horsley, Charles Edward, English organist and composer, son of William Horsley; b. London, Dec. 16, 1822; d. N.Y, Feb. 28, 1876. He studied with his father and with Moscheles, and then in Kassel with Hauptmann (1839); later he was in Leipzig (1841–43), where he profited from the counsel of Mendelssohn. From 1853 to 1857 he was organist at St. John’s in London. About 1866 he went to Melbourne as an organist. In 1872 he settled in N.Y. as organist at St. John’s Chapel. His Text Book of Harmony (1876) was a rewritten version of his father’s manual of 1847. He composed the oratorios David (1850), Joseph (1853), and Gideon (1860), a Sym. (1842–44), a Piano Concerto (1848), overtures, chamber music, piano pieces, and Euterpe, ode for the opening of N.Y’s Town Hall (1870).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire