Wintter Watts

Wintter Haynes Watts (March 14, 1884 – November 1, 1962) was an American composer of art songs.

Life and musical career Watts was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his early studies were in painting, architecture, voice, and organ. facsimile He later studied at the Academy of Musical Art in New York City and in Florence, Italy. He won the Morris Loeb Prize in 1919 for his symphony Young Blood and the Prix de Rome in 1923. He returned to Italy a few years later and stayed until 1931, when he returned to the United States. After 1931 he fell into obscurity. Watts died aged 78 in Brooklyn, New York.

Musical works Watts composed around 70 songs for voice and piano in the years between 1906 and 1924. Most were published individually by Oliver Ditson or G. Schirmer. The songs were highly esteemed in their day, and Upton praised them for their distinctly 'American' sound. His most important song cycle is his Vignettes of Italy, nine songs from 1919, settings of poems by Sara Teasdale reflecting on various Italian locations and their associated emotional recollections. Many important singers performed his songs in concert, most notably Kirsten Flagstad and John McCormack, to whom Watts dedicated several songs. None of his other music was ever published.

Published songs Three Songs, John Church Co., 1906 Love's Life (R. B. Butler) A Drop o' Dew (H. Canfield) The Joy of Man (Wanting) (unknown author)

Three Songs, John Church Co., 1906 Clover (W. Bynner) Admonition—Roses and Thorns (R. W. Gilder) The Song of the Wind (N. E. Barnhart)

The Joy of Man, Op. 2, no. 1 (Marshall Pancoast), John Church Co., 1908 Four Songs, Op. 3. G. Schirmer, 1908 A Hope (W. Watts) My World (Richard Watson Gilder) The Stairway (Richard Watson Gilder) The Difficulty (after Heine)

Two Poems by A. Symons, Op. 4. G. Schirmer, 1908 Dreams (Arthur Symons) During Music (Arthur Symons)

Another Day, (unknown author), John Church Co., 1909 Dinna Ask Me (Dunlop), G. Schirmer, 1909 Locations (Tom Hall), John Church Co., 1909 The Ocean Tramp (L. Hope), G. Schirmer, 1909 Five Songs, G. Schirmer, 1910 Alone (words from the Spanish) Home (D. Greenwell) It isn't the Thing You Do, Dear (unknown author) Oh, Call it by some Better Name (Thomas Moore) Surf Song (L. Hope)

Blue are Her Eyes (Mary MacMillan), Oliver Ditson, 1913 The Boat of My Lover (D. M. M. Craik), Oliver Ditson, 1913 Green Branches (Fiona MacLeod), Oliver Ditson, 1913 Hushing Song (Fiona MacLeod), Oliver Ditson, 1913 Only Once, Love (R. W. Gilder), Oliver Ditson, 1913 Wood Song (Eugene Lee-Hamilton), Oliver Ditson, 1913, T.I.S. Reprint, 1998 When I Wake (Anonymous), Oliver Ditson, 1916, T.I.S. Reprint, 1998 Two Songs, G. Schirmer, 1918 Like Music on the Waters (Lord Byron) Barcarole (Pai Ta-shun)

Love Me (Sara Teasdale), unknown publisher, 1919 Pierrot (Sara Teasdale), unknown publisher, 1919 The Poet Sings (Richard LeGallienne), Oliver Ditson, 1919 (dedicated to John McCormack) When Beauty Grows (unknown author), unknown publisher, c. 1919 Vignettes of Italy (Sara Teasdale), Oliver Ditson, 1919 Addio Naples Capri (Isle of Beauty) Night song at Amalfi Ruins of Paestum From a Roman Hill Ponte Vecchio, Florence Villa Serbelloni, Bellaggio Stresa

Five Songs, G. Schirmer, 1919 Beloved, it is Morn (E. H. Hickey) The Mother's Song (C. R. Robertson) Golden Rose (Grace Hazard Conkling) Utopia (Frances Turner Palgrave) Magic (Harriet Morgan)

Falmouth Town (Dramatic Ballad for Baritone) (William Ernest Henley), G. Schirmer, 1921 Tryste Noël (Louise Imogen Guiney), unknown publisher, 1921 Wings of Night (Sara Teasdale), G. Schirmer, 1921 Joy (Sara Teasdale), G. Schirmer, 1922 (dedicated to John McCormack) Three Lyric Poems, G. Schirmer, 1922 With the tide (Edward J. O'Brien) Transformation (Jessie B. Rittenhouse) The nightingale and the rose (William Ernest Henley)

A Little Page's Song (13th century, William Alexander Percy's Reliques), Ricordi, 1922 The Little Shepherd's Song (13th century, William Alexander Percy's Reliques), Franco Colombo, Ricordi, 1922 Bring Her Again to Me (Williams Ernest Henley), G. Schirmer, 1923 Intreat Me not to Leave Thee (Sacred, Book of Ruth), G. Schirmer, 1923 Two Songs by Sara Teasdale, G. Schirmer, 1923 Only A Cry (Sara Teasdale) Let it be Forgotten (Sara Teasdale)

Only and Forever (William Ernest Henley), G. Schirmer, 1923 A White Rose (John Boyle O'Reilly), G. Schimer, 1923 Wild Tears (Louise Imogen Guiney), G. Schirmer, 1923 Three Songs for low voice, G. Schirmer, 1924 Song is so old (H. Hagedorn) Miniver Cheevy (Edwin Arlington Robinson) Dark Hills (Edwin Arlington Robinson)

Circles, song cycle (texts by Watts?), 1932, arr. string quartet, 1936 Exile (unknown author), Galaxy Music, 1936 That Little Word No (unknown author), Galaxy Music, 1938 Birdeen (Fiona MacLeod), unpublished, 1948The manuscript is located in the New York Public Library. Dedication: "To Éva Gauthier with all the love the law allows from Wintter Watts" In Silhouette (words and music by Watts), unknown publisher and date

Larger musical works Incidental music for The Double Life (M. R. Rinehart), 1906 Young Blood, symphony/tone-pageant, 1919 Alice in Wonderland, opera (R. B. Butler, after Lewis Carroll), 1920 Two Etchings for Orchestra, 1922 Bridal Overture Pied Piper, opera The Piper, symphonic poem, 1927

Footnotes

Wintter Watts

Bron en licentie