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In Memory of

Edwin Henry Lemare

(1865-1934)

Concert Organist, Composer and Transcriber

 

Edwin H. Lemare was born on September 9, 1865 in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England. He studied with Macfarren and Steggall at the Royal Academy of Music. He was a renowned organist and church musician serving numerous churches including Holy Trinity, Sloan Square, London and St. Margaret's, Westminster, London. He immigrated to the United States in 1902 and served as organist of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh from 1902-05. He toured worldwide playing recitals in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the USA, England, and Europe. In 1915 he was appointed the Official Organist of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco where he played 121 recitals in a ten month period. He was City Organist of San Francisco from 1917 to 1921, Portland, Maine from 1923-25, and Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1925-29. Lemare retired to Los Angeles where he died on September 24, 1934. During Lemare's lifetime he was considered by many to be the world's greatest organist and he was immensely popular.

 

His Music:

In addition to being a world renowned concert organist, Lemare was known in his day for his abilities as a composer and transcriber. While his transcriptions of orchestral music for the organ have experienced a revival, most of the music he wrote for the organ has not. Except for a few recent recordings most of Lemare's organ music remains unknown. I am pleased to be able to present to you a selection of some of Lemare's best original pieces. Some have been previously recorded but most have not and are presented here for the first time. Please enjoy the music as we travel back to a bygone era.

Click here for more info about these recordings

Concert Fantasia on "Hanover", Op. 2 (1892)	To Mons. Alex. Guilmant
Romance In D-flat
Caprice Orientale, Op. 46 (1903)	To my Father
From the West, In Missouri, Op. 60 No.1 (1909)
From the West, In North Dakota, Op. 60 No.2 (1909)
The Search, Op. 92 (1915)	To my friend, Mrs. B.B. Ellison
Toccata & Fugue in d minor, Op. 98 (1915)	To my friend, William Faulkes
Morning Serenade "In California", Op. 105 (1917)	To my friend, Mrs. Harriet H. Hubbard
Victory March, Op. 109 (1919)	Dedicated to my little daughter Betty age (4) by whom it was inspired
Swanee River (1920)
The Minstrel Boy (1920)	Transcription dedicated to my friend Andrew J. Gallagher

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