Fry, William Henry

(b Philadelphia, 19 Aug 1813; d Santa Cruz, Virgil Islands, 21 Dec 1864). American composer. One of five sons in a wealthy and well-established Philadelphia family, he demonstrated musical talent at an early age: an overture composed when he was 18 earned him a medal and was given a public performance. Another overture was performed in 1833, while he was studying with Leopold Meignen, at which time Fry heard operas by Auber, Boieldieu, Herold, Rossini, Mercadante, Halévy and Bellini and began an opera (now lost), The Bridal of Dunure. By 1838 he was at work on a three-act opera, Aurelia the Vestal, to a libretto by his brother Joseph; it was completed in 1841 but is not thought to have been performed. Fry’s next opera, Leonora, was performed in Philadelphia in 1845 and again, in a revised version, in December 1846. In 1858 it was again revived, in a substantially revised four-act version in Italian as Giulio e Leonora. Fry’s last opera, Notre Dame of Paris, was given a gala production at Philadelphia in 1864 as a benefit performance for war wounded. He remained unsuccessful in his attempts to interest European impresarios in his operas, despite having them translated into Italian in order to facilitate performances abroad.

Fry’s operas trace his development from a composer primarily influenced by the melodic style of Bellini and the Italian school to one increasingly influenced by Meyerbeer and French grand opera. While Aurelia and Notre Dame remain Italian in spirit, they approach the French style by including an optional large-scale ballet. The operas use an orchestration similar to that of Bellini’s Norma, and each also calls for an onstage military band.

Fry also wrote numerous orchestral works, many of which bear descriptive titles. One such work, Santa Claus (Christmas Symphony), which was given its première on Christmas eve 1853 by Jullien’s orchestra, carried with it an extensive synopsis, printed in the programme. From 1846 to 1852 Fry served as a European correspondent for the New York Tribune, then returned to New York, and as music critic for the Tribune became the leading champion of a native American musical art, filling his columns with words whose ardour often distorted his perspective. In 1852–3 he gave a widely publicized lecture series in New York in which he encouraged American composers to break free of European domination and seek inspiration from their own, New World environment.

Fry was perhaps the first native American to attempt the larger forms of composition, and his importance in the history of American opera rests primarily on Leonora, the first grand opera by an American composer to be staged in the USA. His music, however, despite an emphasis on American elements, remains rooted in the French and Italian operatic and German symphonic traditions of the early 19th century. His greatest influence on American musical life was as a journalist and music critic; his admonitions encouraged such composers as Bristow to turn to native sources for ideas and inspiration, and provided a climate that fostered the work of Farwell, Cadman, MacDowell and others.

WORKS

autograph MSS in US-PHhs and US-PHlc, unless otherwise stated

vocal

instrumental

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DAB (F.L. Gwinner Cole)

GroveA

GroveO

W.H. Fry: ‘Prefatory Remarks’, Leonora (Philadelphia, 1846); repr. in Upton (1954) and in The American Composer Speaks, ed. G. Chase (Baton Rouge, LA, 1966), 46–52

J.S. Dwight: ‘Mr Fry and his Critics’, Dwight’s Journal of Music, iv (1853–4), 140–42

W.T. Upton: William Henry Fry, American Journalist and Composer-Critic (New York, 1954/R) [with list of MSS]

I. Lowens: ‘William Henry Fry: American Nationalist’, Music and Musicians in Early America (New York, 1964), 212–22

B.F. Kauffman: The Choral Works of William Henry Fry (diss., U. of Illinois, 1975)

B.F. Chmaj: ‘Fry versus Dwight: American Music’s Debate over Nationality’, American Music, iii/1 (1985), 63–84

DAVID E. CAMPBELL/JOHN GRAZIANO