| Description: | The Rev. Frederick Scotson Clark (1840-1883) was the founder of the London Organ School and was also Organist of Exeter College, Oxford.
His mother had been a student of Frederic Chopin.
He composed over 100 piano works, as well as a large number of organ pieces, most of them being small "service" pieces.
His marches achieved quite a bit of success and were often available in both organ and piano solo versions.
"Pilgrims' March" is the eleventh in the collection of "Fifteen Marches," copyrighted by G. Schirmer in 1897.
I'm not certain if Clark was thinking about the "American Pilgrims," but for sake of argument, let's just say that he definitely was. :-)
If you like these marches, you'll love this, if you don't, you'll probably find it trite. However, it gives the organ a chance to sound good, and works in quite a bit of humor as well!
It's not hard to see why Frederick Scotson Clark was often called the "English Lefébure-Wély", although I suppose the Frenchman was more daring and more extroverted.
The score is attached below, as well as two photos of Exeter College, Oxford, where Clark was organist and director of music.
Whether you're celebrating the American holiday of Thanksgiving or not, I wish you all a safe, happy and thankful day! |
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