USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 76
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played with Madame Camille Urso, and was engaged by her to tour Europe and America and the South countries around the world. Madame Urso died, thus preventing the fulfill- ment of his contract. Since that time he has abstained from much public work. He has a tremendous repertoire. Mr. Sprague is the composer of two string quartettes, many piano pieces and numerous songs. His best-known works are for piano: Songs without words Tarantellas, Fantasies, Impromptus, and Little Lyrics. In songs, the following will be remembered : "Allah," "Love, Love, What Wilt Thou?" "Quo Vadis," "I Know a Rose." On the 30th of July, 1903, Mr. Sprague was united in marriage to Helen Marie Burkitt, daughter of the late John L. Burkitt, a prominent basso and Mason of Dayton, Ohio. A son was born to the parents on the 12th of June, 1904. The family attends Christ Church at Davton. His residence and private studios are located at No. 520 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio, and he is the musical director of the Springfield Seminary, Springfield, Ohio and director of the Piano and Science Departments in the Dayton Conservatory of Music corner of First and Perry Streets, Dayton, Ohio.
W. S. Sterling,
Director of the Metropolitan College of Music, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a musician of recognized ability, who stands in the front rank of the musical artists of the Queen City. He is a native son of Cincinnati and was born on the 28th of November, 1859. His father, S. G. Sterling, was Village Clerk of Clifton. Mr. W. S. Sterling received his general educa- tion in the public schools and Woodward High School, Cincinnati, while his first musical training was obtained under Werner Stein- brecher. He entered the Cincinnati College of Music when it was organized, where he studied organ and composition under Professor George D. Whiting, graduating from that college in 1883, receiving as a mark of his ability the gold medal for having made the best record. After leaving college, desiring to further his musical education, Mr. Sterling went abroad, and for three and a half years studied in the city of Leipsic. Dr. Zwintscher W. S. STERLING was his teacher on the piano; Dr. Reinecke and Jadassohn instructed him in orchestration and composition, while the celebrated composer, Hoffman, gave him special instructions in orchestration. Voice culture was studied by him under Mrs. Unger-Haupt and husband. From Leipsic he went to London, where for a period of two years he studied organ under Sir John Hainer and Dr. E. H. Turlin, and voice under the world-renowned William Shakespeare and Emil Behuke. During his stay in London, Mr. Sterling for some time was organist of the West London Tabernacle, one of the most famous edifices of Eng- land's metropolis. He has been a soloist in many concerts in Europe and has received many flattering criticisms. Returning to America in 1888, he became a member of the Faculty of the Cincinnati College of Music, where for many years the organ depart-
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ment was under his special care. After the resignation of Mr. Van der Stucken as Dean of that college, Mr. Sterling was selected to fill that place. He remained in this position until 1903, when he took the Deanship of the newly organized Metropolitan College of Music, located on Auburn Avenue, Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati. This institution, under his directorship, is acquiring a National reputation, and in the short time of its existence has already made itself famous, and is acknowledged to be one of the leading music institutions in Cincinnati. In 1893 Mr. Sterling was highly honored by being made organist of the World's Fair at Chicago, and later, in 1901, received the same distinction at the Buffalo Exposition.
William August Becker,
A musician who stands alone among the American exponents of his art, a brilliant pianist and composer, located at Cleveland, Ohio, was born on the 21st of February, 1873 in the Forest City. He is of German descent ; his father, Oscar Becker, a contractor, was a native of Berlin, and his mother of Hessen Cassel. Mr. William A. Becker received a very careful education in the schools of Cleve- land and New York, and in early youth dis- played most unusual ability and talent for the art in which he has been so successful. At the age of eight years he began the study of the piano under competent teachers, and later, in 1892, had some training under the great pianist, Dr. William Mason, of New York City. The rapid progress he made in his art is shown by the fact that at the age of sixteen Mr. Becker made his debut as piano soloist at the old Case Hall, at Cleveland, playing a WILLIAM AUGUST BECKER concerto and various other numbers. Con- tinuing his studies, year by year he advanced in perfection, and soon he became recognized as a thorough master of the piano, after having appeared as soloist in many concerts, receiving the most flattering criticisms by eminent authorities. Confident in his own ability and resources, Mr. Becker, in 1903, engaged in an undertaking never duplicated by any other American pianist. Without European prestige and European training, Mr. Becker started upon a concert tour through the great metropolises of the Old World, including London, Berlin, Dresden and Leipsic, and succeeded. His ability was conceded by the most eminent critics of Europe, and such an authority as Arthur M. Abell, of Berlin, says "Becker is the greatest American pianist." Bruno Schrader, of Leipsic, says, "His playing shows the grand mastery." L. Wambold, of Leipsic, says, "He knows how to appeal to the heart." A. Ingman, of Dresden, says, "A piano poet." E. P. Frissell, of Dresden, says, "He ranks with the first." Professor B. Roth, of Dresden, says, "A true artist." Professor Herman Scholtz, of Dresden, says, "He has everything: touch, tone, technique and interpretation," and Johann H. Beck, of Cleveland, Ohio, says, "Becker combines the grandeur of D'Albert with the finesse of Sauer." Encouraged by the success of his first European tour, Mr.
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Becker, in the fall of 1904, made his second appearance in the centers of the musical world and this time he had the honor and distinction to play his own piano concerto with the world- renowned Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The criticisms appearing in the Berlin press on the 14th of October, the day after Mr. Becker's appearance, were most laudatory, not only giving him unstinted praise for his ability as a pianist, but also for the piano concerto itself. Mr. Becker later played the same composition in Leipsic with the same results. These successful European tours establish forever his reputation as the foremost American pianist of the present time. He is a composer of many other piano pieces and songs. There is no doubt but that Mr. Becker has a brilliant future as piano virtuoso, as well as a com- poser, before him. He resides at Cleveland, Ohio.
Eugene Baker Ackley,
Of Sandusky, Ohio, ranks among the best- known musicians of Northern Ohio. He was born on the Ist of November, 1871, at Sullivan, ACKLEY Illinois, the son of Hawson R. Ackley and Eliza Robinson Ackley. He received his early education in the public schools of Bloomfield, while his musical 'training was mostly in charge of the celebrated Carl Kaltenborn, of New York City, and of his brother, Charles B. Ackley. Mr. Ackley started into public life at the age of seventeen years, traveling with various traveling organizations. After six years he located in Sandusky, Ohio, and organized his present band, which is favorably and well-known all over the northern portion of the State. Mr. Ackley, who also is a com- poser of note, is at present director of Ackley's B Band and Director of Music for the Cedar Point P. R. Co. Socially, he is connected with the Sandusky Lodge, No. 669, I. O. O. F. Mr. Ackley was married to Miss Ida Frohman, an EUGENE BAKER ACKLEY accomplished young lady, on the 25th of March, 1902. He lives at No. 132 East Park Street, while his office is located at the West House, Sandusky.
Ernest Frederick Appy,
Professor of Music at Newark, Ohio, was born in East Brooklyn, New York, on the 13th of September, 1856. He came from a family rarely gifted in music. Henri Appy, the father, was crowned Musical Laureate of Holland, when only a lad. Jean Appy, the grandfather, was leader of the orchestra in the Chapel of King William of Orange. Mr. Ernest Frederick Appy was named for two uncles-Ernest, a fine 'cello player, and Freder- ick, a violinist. His mother, Ann Maria Paine, was an English lady and a concert singer of superior ability. Young Ernest inherited the ability to produce the same wonderful tone upon the violin with which his father had charmed the world, but decided to become a teacher of violin, piano and harmony. When twenty-two years of age he was married
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ERNEST FREDERICK APPY
to Miss Instanella May Andrews, a pianiste, who has taught successfully with him. In 1880 Mr. Appy went to Granville, Ohio, and was at the head of the music department of Granville Female College for fourteen years- its most brilliant period. Professor and Mrs. Appy are now located at Newark, Ohio. Their recitals, which are open to the public once a year, show their artistic work, and their pupils are successful artists and teachers all over the country. Mr. Appy has a fine collection of violins. A Carlo Bergonzi, which came by inheritance from his father, and a Vuilluame are probably the most valuable. Mr. Appy was leader of orchestra at the Wieting Opera House, Syracuse, New York, in 1878-1879, and of the Auditorium Orchestra, Newark, Ohio from 1898 to 1901. He is a member of Center Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Granville, Ohio, of which he is a Past Master; also member of Warren Chapter, No. 6, R. A. M., and of St. Luke's Commandery, No. 34, Knights Templar.
Alfred Arthur,
Composer, Conductor and Teacher of Music at Cleveland, Ohio, was born on the 8th of October, 1844, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He received his musical education in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating from the Boston Music School in 1869. He had studied piano- forte with George Howard, singing with B. F. Baker, brass instruments with Mathew Arbuckle and Henry Brown, and harmony and composition with Julius Eichberg, of the Boston Conservatory of Music. While in Boston, Mr. Arthur sang tenor in the choir of the Church of the Advent for a period of two years. He located in Cleveland in 1871, and since that time he has been prominently and closely identified with the musical growth of that city. Mr. Arthur has been eminently successful in his profession, as well as teacher conductor and composer, and among his pupils are many who to-day take a high rank as successful public singers and teachers. The Cleveland School of Music, located at 781 Prospect Street, Cleveland, Ohio, which he established in 1886, has for nearly twenty years shown his ability as a teacher and director. The school has maintained a high
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standard for scholarship, and its equipment is most modern and complete, located in a building of its own, with every facility for a thorough musical education. During the thirty years in which Mr. Arthur has been engaged in conducting Choral Societies, Choruses, Quartette Choirs and Orchestral Organizations, he has given the Cleveland public an oppor- tunity to hear all the best standard oratorios of Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and all the modern choral work of note, including Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust" and the "Requiem Mass" of the same composer ; Mozart's "Requiem ;" Verdis "Requiem Mass;" Saint-Saens' "Samson and Delilah ;" Rubinstein's "Tower of Babel ;" Max Bruch's "Armenius" and "The Lady of the Bell," and numerous short works of Brahms, Gade, Dvorak, Barnby, Beetho- ven, Cowen, Raff, David, Smart, Hoffmann, Gounod, Schumann, Goetz, Glinka and others all given with full orchestra. The Cleveland Vocal Society, of which Mr. Arthur has been conductor since its organization in 1873, has carned a National reputation for the splendid singing of Madrigals, Glees, Part Songs and Choral Works, which require delicate shading, rich tone, coloring and good phrasing. The Bach Society of the Woodland Avenue Presby- terian Church and the Sacred Music Society of Pilgrim Church were both organized by Mr. Arthur and directed by him, one for twelve years and the other for ten years. They have been considered model choirs. Mr. Arthur has composed the "Water Carrier (1876), "Roundheads and Cavaliers" (1878), and "Adaline" (1879), three notable operas; the songs, "Memory's Dream" (1868), "Tell It, Silver Throat" (1880), "The Song of the Opal" (1881), "Progressive Vocal Studies" (1887), "Seventy-nine Short Studies for Alto or Bass" (1889), "Seventy Lessons in Voice Training" (1892), "Voice Technique" (1896), "Studies in Artic- tilation" (1896) and "Exercises in Vocal Technique" (1901). On the 12th of December, 1871, Mr. Arthur was married to Kate, daughter of J. A. Burnham, of Delaware, Ohio, and has three sons, the eldest of whom, Alfred Franklin, is associated with him as a teacher of piano- forte and organ at the Cleveland School of Music. Mr. Arthur resides at Kirtland Cove, Lake Avenue, Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.
H. W. B. Barnes,
Supervisor of Music in the public schools of Piqua, Ohio, and director of the Piqua Con- servatory of Music, ranks among the best- known musicians in the western part of the State. Mr. Barnes was born on a farm in Holmes County on the 20th of December, 1870, the son of Rev. W. S. Barnes, a Baptist minister, and Mrs. Jane Loder Barnes. His parents were natives of Ohio. Mr. Barnes received a very careful education. After attending the public schools of his home county, he entered Danville Normal School and later Denison University at Granville, Ohio. His musical training was obtained under private teachers, at the well-known Dana's Institute, at Warren, Ohio, and finally at the Cincinnati College of Music. When he had reached the age of twenty-four years he started in public life as a teacher of music and Dean of the music department of the Westfield
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College, Illinois, where he remained for two years. He then accepted the position of Super- visor of Music in the public schools of Piqua, which position he occupies at the present writing, he filling that office for the past eight years. He also is director of the Piqua Con- servatory of Music, in which institution he teaches voice and theory. Mr. Barnes is the director of the Piqua Choral Society, a splendid mixed chorus of one hundred and twenty- five voices. He also occupies the position of organist and choirmaster of St. James Epis- copal Church of his home city. Mr. Barnes is the composer of numerous songs and church music, published by the John Church Company and Hatch & Co. On the 13th of December, 1894, he was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Winslow, and is the father of two boys. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, an Elk, I. O. O. F., and a K. of P. His studios are located at the Scott Slansen Building, Piqua, Ohio.
Alfred Rogerson Barrington,
One of the leading artists and choir direc- tors of Columbus, Ohio, is soloist and choir director of the Third Avenue M. E. Church in the Capital City. He is a native of England, and was born on the 13th of May, 1860, at Newton Heath, Manchester, England. He is a son of John Barrington, a silk manufacturer. Mr. Barrington obtained his education in the public schools of Manchester, and when a boy he was a member of the parish choir in his native city and attracted attention on account of his beautiful voice and talent for music. Mr. Barrington's success was so pronounced in England that he decided to come to America, and in 1880 he commenced the study of voice under such masters as Reuben Merrill, of Boston; Frederick E. Bristol, of New York; William Courtney, of London, and Reinhold Hermann, of the Royal Conservatory of Berlin. He also studied interpretation under ALFRED ROGERSON BARRINGTON Francis Fisher Powers. After finishing his musical education, Mr. Barrington began song recital and oratorio work, also the teaching of voice culture. He appeared with great success in New York, Boston; Worcester, Massachu- setts; Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Denver, Cleveland and other cities. His reper- toire includes "Elijah," "Messiah," "Creation," "St. Paul" and the popular cantatas, German Lieder, French and English songs. Mr. Barrington has achieved a high standing in his profession, and is known as a painstaking, conscientious teacher and a brilliant soloist, pos- sessing a magnificent baritone voice of wide range. He is recognized as a leader in vocal work, his services being in demand for musical and social affairs. His position as a vocalist is second to none. Mr. Barrington has his studio in the Y. M. C. A. Building, Columbus, Ohio.
Otto E. Bartel,
President of Bartel's Musical College at Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, a well-known teacher of music in the northeastern part of the State, was born on the 18th of December,
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1873, at Lore P. O., Center Township, Dubuque County, Iowa, and is the son of Frederick Bartel, a shoemaker and farmer, and Dorothea Reinike-Bartel, both natives of Germany, who in the early '40's emigrated to America. The father died when Mr. Bartel was but four years old, leaving a family of thirteen children and a stepbrother and sister, the youngest child being only eight months old. Upon his death he left to the family one hundred and fifty acres of land. The mother proved to be a good manager, and earnestly and devotedly took up the battle of life to raise her large family by her own efforts, unaided by any one outside of her own children. Every child was put at work according to its ability, and thereby the mother succeeded in not only preserving intact the land left by the father, but she acquired more property, until she accumulated nearly a section of land and reared every child, the youngest of which to-day is over twenty-five years of age. The mother is now wealthy and retired from active life. Mr. Otto E. Bartel received his early education in the district schools and attended Baylees Business College of Dubuque, Iowa. Early in life showing an aptitude for music, he was instructed on the piano by his uncle, E. A. Frenzel, a man who was a graduate from the Leipsic Conservatory of Music; Dana's Musical Institute at Warren, Ohio; Chicago. Musical College and the Lif- fingwell Violin School. After preparatory study, Mr. Bartel entered Dana's Musical Institute, in which he received a thorough course, graduating in 1899 with the degree of M.A. As an example of the precociousness OTTO E. BARTEL of Mr. Bartel, it should be mentioned that at the age of eleven years he was organist in the church at Lore, Iowa. While attending Dana's Institute, Mr. Bartel was leader of choir at the First Baptist Church at Warren, Ohio, from 1896 to 1899. After leaving college, Mr. Bartel was engaged in the teaching of his profession at Warren, Ohio, from where, in June, 1904, he came to Mantua and established in that city Bartel's Musical College. This school has been eminently successful and is conceded to be an institution where a thorough training in music can be obtained. Mr. Bartel is recognized as an artist on the violin and piano, of most rare ability and skill. He has kept in close touch with all that adds to his accomplishments as a musician and teacher. He is a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities. On the 4th of January, 1898, he was married to Miss Harriette May Boehm, and is the father of one boy, Donald F. Bartel.
S. Leonard Bell,
Director of the Conservatory of Music of Scio College, Scio, Ohio, was born near Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, on the 11th of March, 1864. His parents, Jared C. and Martha Jane Bell, are highly esteemed and influential citizens in their community. They had a family of six sons, one of whom died in infancy. S. Leonard is the oldest of
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the family, and manifested great talent for music at an early age, and at six years of age was started in music. His teachers were the best to be had in the community, and from the start his progress was rapid, and he was looked upon as a prodigy by his friends and all who heard him perform on the piano or organ. After completing a course of study in Muskingum College he took advanced work at Wooster University and the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bell received a good liter- ary training along with his music study. His teachers in music have been some of the best in the world. Mr. Bell is an excellent musician, fine pianist and organist, and possesses a beautiful baritone voice. He is also master of the theory and science of music. Mr. Bell has held the chair as Director of Music in Scio College for seventeen years, and has been S. LEONARD BELL very successful as a teacher and manager of this conservatory. He has educated many fine artists, and as a musical educator stands as one of the foremost in the State. He is also a composer of note. Politically, Mr. Bell is of the Democratic faith. On the 5th of September, 1889, he was married to Miss Clara Gertrude Keepers. Four children have been the issue of their union. Mr. Bell lives with family in the beautiful village of Scio, Ohio.
Karl Bernthaler,
Teacher of Music and well-known musician of Cleveland, Ohio, is a native of Huettlingen, Judicial District of Aalen, Wuertemberg, Ger- many, and was born on the 17th of December, 1856. He is the descendant on his father's side of a long line of musicians, and when quite young the hereditary instinct, which has dom- inated the career of his ancestors, became apparent in him. When but nine years old he began to receive a careful musical training by his father, who taught him the playing of the flute, on which instrument he subsequently became a master. At the age of fourteen, Mr. Bernthaler joined the band of the Wasseral- fingen Royal Huettenwerk as "Bergmusiker." Outside of studying the flute, he also took violin lessons under Bandmaster Kittner. When nineteen years of age he joined as a volunteer the Royal Pioneer Music Band at Ulm, and served for a period of five years,
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during which time he studied under Schwarz and Metzger, both famous musicians. After leaving the army, at the age of twenty-five, he emigrated to the United States and came to Cleveland, where he soon became identified with the musical events of that city, playing in different musical organizations, the Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra and pop- ular concerts. He has been a teacher of music for many years, and it can be truthfully said that he has been very successful. Mr. Bernthaler was married to Katherina Setzer, and bv this marriage is the father of six children, of whom three sons and one daughter survive. All the children have an undoubted talent for music, and are carefully trained in that art. One of Mr. Bernthaler's sons, Karl, is a prominent member of the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra.
Charles Ovid Blakeslee,
A prominent musician of Mansfield, Ohio, was born on the 21st of June, 1867, in Geneva, Ohio, of a musical family, his father being specially gifted; his grandfather also holding the then notable position as chorister and organist of the first church and pipe organ of the village. But, although Charles was born under favorable circumstances, his path to success was early destined to be rough. Hap- pily, the divinity that shapes the ends of genius makes its possession an abiding and calm joy that raises the fortunate artist above the possibility of becoming the slave and sub- ject of the encounter with mere difficulties. He was left without a father when only one year old, and his mother, without finances, was obliged to leave her boy with relatives and seek employment. But Charles, however, managed to climb over the seeming unsur- mountables and at twelve years applied for the position and was elected organist of the CHARLES OVID BLAKESLEE little village church. He also began his career as teacher at this age. His education up to this time had been acquired by doing errands, his mother's needle and his grandmother's wash-tub. But from the age of twelve, Charles made himself independent. At fourteen he traveled as a boy singer. This brought him before the best people and into homes of culture, which is the only school he ever had the privilege of attending. At eighteen he began a more extended study of music, studying pipe organ and piano. At twenty he entered the Cleveland School of Music, where he took a three years' course in piano, pipe organ and voice. At twenty-four he finished his education by studying voice with the renowned Mme. Clara Brinkerhoff, of New York. He also studied action with Mme. Van Sangleter ,and composition with the famous Johann Beck. Professor Blakeslee has held some very enviable positions, being noted as having special ability as a trainer of boys' voices. His choir work has been very successful. At present the above subject is engaged in lec- ture song recitals, for which he has a particular liking and ability. Professor Blakeslee's qualifications are certainly versatile. As an improviser and composer he has few equals.
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