George Frederick Root

Even more prolific than and a significant rival to Stephen Foster, George F. Main is appreciated today simply as the author of “Fight Cry of Independence” and some other Civil Battle songs rallying visitors to the North trigger. He owed his achievement to self-imposed limitations, keeping his melodies inside the slim runs of amateurs, and favoring solid rhythms. Main, who was raised on a plantation, got no music lessons until he was 18 and shifted to Boston. From that time, though, he pursued a specific interest in performing, shortly assisting Lowell Mason in his vocal classes. Main became an unbiased vocal instructor in his early twenties, relocating 1844 to NY, where he also aimed a cathedral choir, shaped a vocal quartet, and released the to begin several choral choices. After a year-long trip to Paris in 1850 for even more vocal study, Main returned house and in 1853 helped Mason organize the 1st Regular Musical Institute in NY for teacher teaching. In preparation because of this, Main composed The Blossom Queen, which is usually regarded as the 1st secular cantata by an American. This is the to begin several such functions; among its successors, The Haymakers, is usually sometimes revived during rounds of American musical patriotism. It had been during this time period that Main also began posting parlor songs beneath the pseudonym G. Friedrich Wurzel, the German translation of his name. His first strikes included “There’s Music in the Atmosphere” and “Rosalie, the Prairie Bloom.” The starting point from the Civil Battle turned Main toward patriotic topics. Only three times after Fort Sumter was attacked, he presented “The First Weapon Is Terminated! May God Protect the proper!” Another 30 roughly war songs implemented, notably “The Fight Cry of Independence” and “Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!” Still well-liked by his hymns is certainly “The Moving Shore.” Main became mixed up in Chicago publishing company Main and Cady along with his sibling and somebody in 1858, but bailed out following the Chicago fireplace of 1871. During this time period, he wrote content and tracks for the business’s periodical, and through the rest of his profession he continued to create music journalism and organize music choices for practical make use of in home, cathedral, and school.