Indian-Summer Sketch (A Dream)

John Hyatt Brewer was born on January 18, 1856, Brooklyn, New York, and died there on November 30, 1931. He is remembered as a composer, teacher and organist, who lived in Brooklyn all his life.

Beginning at age 15, he played the organ at a num­ber of Brooklyn churches, including the Lafayette Avenue Church (1881-1931). He conducted many orchestras and glee clubs, and helped found the Brooklyn Apollo Club in 1878, becoming its conductor in 1903. He also helped found the American Guild of Organists, and belonged to the New York State Music Teachers’ Association. In 1899, he became a professor of music at Adelphi College.

"Indian-Summer Sketch (A Dream)" was published by G. Schirmer Inc. in 1906. It is VERY much what the subject matter and time that it was composed imply.

The music is warm and dreamy, with a gentle feeling of the haze of early autumn. The colors and harmonies are rich and chromatic, but the tones, while sometimes intense, are always gentle. You'll find yourself being rocked, perhaps to a long-forgotten world, as in a dream...

An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in spring and autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Indian summers are common in North America and Asia. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring May 1 to Mid-June & late-September to mid-November.

Late-19th century Boston lexicographer Albert Matthews made an exhaustive search of early American literature in an attempt to discover who coined the expression. The earliest reference he found dated from 1851.
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, it was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans ("Indians"), or because it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted.

The score & photos of Brewer, his church & organ, and an Indian summer are attached.