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FEBRUARY 13–AUGUST 29, 2010





 

George William Warren:
The Sacred and the Secular

Recent discoveries in the collections of the Albany Institute of History & Art yielded several pieces of sheet music authored by George William Warren (1828–1902), a little-known Albany composer who enjoyed success in the composition of both popular and sacred music. Following the purchase of several additional pieces of Warren’s sheet music, historians at the Albany Institute discovered scrapbooks containing broadsides, announcements, and reviews of concerts related to Warren’s music. Further research identified the only known photo of Warren, in the New York Public Library’s Gottschalk Collection, as well as more material on both sacred and secular music, reviews, obituaries, family genealogy, and family business. New material donated by the Trudeau family includes letters of testimonial for Boardman and Gray Albany Pianos. A selection of these items were exhibited in a bookcase display at the Albany Institute beginning February 2010.

Above right: A Requiem, in Memory of (Col. Elmer) Ellsworth, 1861, composed by George William Warren; Firth, Pond & Co., New York, Library of Congress; Above left: Photograph of Louis Moreau Gottschalk with George William Warren (seated), taken at Saratoga, summer 1864, courtesy New York Public Library, Gottschalk papers.
 

A newly published book, George William Warren: Bridging the Sacred and Secular in Nineteenth-Century American Music, is now available for purchase in the Museum Shop. Researched and written by Thomas Nelson, Exhibitions and Graphics Designer at the Albany Institute of History & Art, the lavishly illustrated 60-page paperback relies on primary source material, some of which has never been reviewed before by scholars, as it chronicles Warren’s remarkable life and career.

The book includes recent discoveries of his material from the Albany Institute’s collection, as well as three years of additional collecting and research, and incorporates more than 75 images—most never published before—of Warren's sheet music, photographs, broadsides, and maps, documenting the life and career of the composer, renowned in his time yet little known today. Call the Museum Shop at (518) 463-4478, ext. 459, for more information.

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