George Atwater

{{Short description|American composer and arranger (1866–1931)}} {{Infobox person | name = George Atwater | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = 1866  | birth_place = | death_date = 1931  | death_place = | nationality =  | other_names = George Levi Atwater | occupation = Composer and arranger | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = Yale Boola!, African Dreamland: Intermezzo }} '''George Levi Atwater''' (1866–1931) was a late 19th-early 20th century American composer and arranger from New Haven, Connecticut, and was a contemporary of ragtime songwriter, C.W. O'Connor. He is best known for his arrangements of Yale fight songs.

==Activity in New Haven== George Atwater is a name in the early American songbook from the Northeast, that makes itself situated in the ragtime subgenre and within popular music in the small city of New Haven. This college town is where Atwater composed and published some of his better-known works. He was active as a composer of marches in the 1890s, and dedicated one of his compositions from this period, "Pagter's Two Step", to Ralph S. Pagter, one of the most notable advertisers of the late 19th century in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weissman |first1=Michael |title=Who is Pagter? Ask Your Neighbor.: The Memoirs of an Advertising Wizard |date=December 25, 2021 |publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC - KDP Print US |isbn=979-8790040320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKnmzgEACAAJ}}</ref> In 1900, Atwater's piece, "I Cannot Live Dear Without You", was debuted by opera singer Gemma Jewell-Robbia, protégé of Enrico Caruso.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Makes Successful Debut in Italy |journal=Musical Courier |date=June 10, 1914 |volume=68 |issue=23 |page=32 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_music-magazine-and-musical-courier_1914-06-10_68_23/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22gemma+robbia%22}}</ref> George Atwater was noticed as a composer of popular music from about the year 1903, when he co-wrote "African Dreamland: Intermezzo"<ref>{{cite book |title=Jass Guide to P.D. Music |date=1966 |publisher=Jass Enterprises |location=New York City |page=2}}</ref> with Yale student, C.W. O'Connor. This was first published by the Loomis Temple of Music, that of Chas. H. Loomis, formerly one of the largest music publishers in the state of Connecticut.<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Meara |first1=Eva |title=Music Published by the Loomis Temple of Music, 1877–1919 |url=https://snaccooperative.org/view/53328997#biography |website=Social Networks and Archival Context |publisher=Irving S. Gilmore Music Library}}</ref> It was later republished by Leo Feist of New York. African Dreamland was published for solo piano, voice and piano (arr. O'Connor), banjo, guitar as well as mandolin. Just two years earlier, Atwater had arranged the famous Yale Boola! song for publisher Chas. H. Loomis.<ref>{{cite book |title=Favorite Songs of the Nineties: Complete Original Sheet Music for 89 Songs" Edited by Robert A. Fremont With an Introduction by Max Morath |date=1973 |pages=372–377 |url=https://dirkncl.github.io/pdmusic_org/1900s/01yb.txt}}</ref> Atwater's arrangement is still performed by the Yale Precision Marching Band of Yale University.

Atwater was active in New Haven as an arranger as well as bandleader<ref>{{cite journal |title=List of Orchestras |journal=The Billboard |date=October 1910 |volume=22 |page=58 |url=https://archive.org/details/billboard22-1910-10/page/n57/mode/2up?q=atwater}}</ref> until at least 1913, as listed in the ''Musical Directory of Connecticut'' for that year.<ref>{{cite book |title=Musical Directory of Connecticut (for 1913) |date=1913 |page=5}}</ref>

==''African Dreamland'' and later works== ''African Dreamland'' became a popular piece of ragtime music, featuring a unique theme, compared to most early rags by that of Scott Joplin and others. One of the first public performances of the piece was by the Yale Mandolin Club at Boston Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1903.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Program of the fourth concert by the Glee, Banjo and Mandolin Clubs of the Harvard and Yale Universities |journal=The Cadenza |date=December 1903 |volume=10 |issue=4 |page=39 |url=https://www.digitalguitararchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Cadenza-10-04.pdf}}</ref> A music reviewer from New Haven, where the music was originally published in 1903, described the piece as "an intermezzo full of beauty" and a "pure negro melody".<ref>{{cite news |title=African Dreamland. A Splendid Composition by George L. Atwater |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020358/1903-10-26/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1900&index=2&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=African+AFRICAN+Dreamland+DREAMLAND&proxdistance=5&date2=1963&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=african+dreamland&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |work=The daily morning journal and courier |publisher=Carrington Pub. Co. |date=October 26, 1903}}</ref> It was widely performed by concert bands and orchestras<ref>{{cite journal |title=Program of Concert |journal=Fall River Line Journal |date=1906 |volume=28 |pages=364, 470, 472, 494 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hb54yd&view=1up&seq=470&q1=dreamland}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Program of Concert |journal=Fall River Line Journal |date=1919 |volume=41 |page=236 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hb2b1c&view=1up&seq=236&q1=dreamland}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Sixth Sunday Concert |journal=The Unicorn |date=1913 |volume=15 |page=122 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4aad&view=1up&seq=122&q1=dreamland}}</ref> and at school graduations and events<ref>{{cite book |last1=New Bedford |first1=Mass |title=Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of New Bedford |work=Cover title 1918- :Annual report of the School Department(varies slightly) |series=City document / New Bedford |date=1905 |publisher=A.E. Coffin Press |location=New Bedford |page=420 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.097943477&view=1up&seq=420&q1=dreamland}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Old Penn Weekly Review |date=1904 |volume=3 |pages=138, 155 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?a=srchls;q1=african%20dreamland;field1=ocr;anyall1=phrase;yop=after;pn=3 | title=African Dreamland search }}{{Title needed|date=November 2023}}{{dead link|date=November 2023}}</ref> in the early 1900s. The composer, George Atwater, had an association with Victor records as early as 1903 when African Dreamland was first recorded by Sousa's band. By 1907, it had also gained notoriety in Mexico<ref>{{cite journal |title=Propiedades Artisticas y Literarias Registradas |journal=Boletín de Instrucción Pública |date=1907 |volume=7 |pages=369, 371 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081635892&view=1up&seq=422&q1=dreamland}}</ref> and Germany,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lotz |first1=Rainer |title=German Ragtime & Prehistory of Jazz |date=1985 |publisher=Storyville Publications |pages=133, 212}}</ref> where it was re-published and orchestrated.<ref>{{cite book |title=Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht |date=1907 |publisher=Friedrich Hofmeister |location=Leipzig |page=186 |url=https://archive.org/details/Musikalisch-literarischerMonatsbericht1907/mode/2up?q=%22african+dreamland%22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht |date=1912 |publisher=Friedrich Hofmeister |pages=2, 3, 10 |url=https://archive.org/details/Musikalisch-literarischerMonatsbericht1912/page/n1/mode/2up?q=%22african+dreamland%22}}</ref> Music publisher Leo Feist marketed African Dreamland as "A beautiful Darky number that sets the soul a singing".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Feist |first1=Leo. |title=Popular Pieces for Piano (1910) |url=https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/24046/JAC003358.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y |publisher=York University}}</ref> The piece is covered in Edwin Berlin's ''Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History'' (2002), where it is described as a "genteel" addition to the ragtime repertoire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berlin |first1=Edwin |title=Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |page=111 |isbn=9780520052192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GwmVWcTQiDgC}}</ref> Norman C. Weinstein, author of ''A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa In Jazz'' (1992), described "African Dreamland" as a piece that set the tone for African exoticism and curiosity in early 20th century American life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weinstein |first1=Norman |title=A night in Tunisia : imaginings of Africa in jazz |date=1992 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Metuchen, N.J |pages=29, 30 |isbn=978-0-8108-2525-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/nightintunisiaim00wein/page/28/mode/2up?q=%22african+dreamland%22}}</ref> Music theorist John Muniz analyzed the piece and its historical connotations at Yale in 2012, recording a fragment of the piano sheet music for the first time in nearly 100 years.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muniz |first1=John |title=Yale Public Humanities |url=https://soundcloud.com/yale-public-humanities/ph-class-african-dreamland |website=soundcloud.com}}</ref> thumb|Recording of Sousa's band playing African Dreamland: Intermezzo, a rag by George Atwater Atwater's composition was sold on wax cylinders, early shellac discs,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sutton |first1=Allan |title=Ragtime on Records 1894–1950 |date=2023 |publisher=Mainspring Press |location=Highlands Ranch, Colorado |pages=15, 16 |edition=4th}}</ref> piano rolls<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of music for the pianola, pianola piano and aeriola |date=1905 |publisher=Aeolian Company |location=New York |page=145 |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofmusicfo01aeol/page/144/mode/2up?q=%22african+dreamland%22}}</ref> and on special discs for music boxes made by the Regina Company.<ref>{{cite web |title=Regina tune list |url=http://antiquemusicbox.us/regina15.pdf |website=antiquemusicbox.us}}</ref> It was being sold into 1912 on labels such as Zonophone.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Talking Machine World | volume=8 | issue=2 |date=February 15, 1912 |publisher=Edward Lyman Bill |location=New York |page=54}}</ref> A rare recording was also made for Edison records by the New York Military Band in 1910.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Advance List of Twenty-four Special Amberol Records for Promotion Purposes Only|journal=The Edison Phonograph Monthly |date=1910 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=178 |url=https://archive.org/details/edisonphonograph08moor/page/n177/mode/2up?q=%22african+dreamland%22}}</ref>

It was henceforth that Atwater had many recording deals with Victor for use of his band arrangements by Arthur Pryor and his band. One of the first was the Yale fight song, "Men of Yale" march, recorded by Pryor's band in 1911.

Atwater would continue arranging and composing throughout the 1910s, during which time he published the march and two-step, "Troop A". He arranged music for various stage productions and composers until 1924, ceasing any new arrangements following this year. His last known composition was "'Tis Spring", with words written by Frances Marian La Roza, in 1925.

== Compositions and arrangements== George Atwater composed or where noted arranged the following:

* The Evening Leader March (1895) * Second Company Governor's Foot Guard March (1896)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loomis |first1=Charles |title=New music from Brooks & Denton |journal=Loomis' Musical and Masonic Journal |date=1896 |volume=30 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuUqAAAAYAAJ&q=atwater&pg=RA2-PA163}}</ref> * Press Club March and Two-Step (1898) * I Cannot Live Dear Without You (1900) * Yale Boola! (1901), arrangement for Charles H. Loomis * African Dreamland: Intermezzo (1903) * Adelina, The Boola Girl (1903), first recorded by Edison Male Quartet * Pro Yalensi March (1903),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehrig |first1=William |title=The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume 1 |date=1991 |publisher=Integrity Press |pages=47, 164}}</ref> arrangement for Walter R. Cowles * Pagter's Two Step<ref>{{cite web |title=New Haven Music Collection, 1798–1976 |url=https://www.newhavenmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/MSS-99-1.pdf |website=NewHavenMuseum.org |publisher=New Haven Museum }}</ref> * Colors and Cheers (1909), arrangement for Seneca G. Lewis<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of copyright entries. 1910 |series=Musical compositions |date=1910 |publisher=Copyright Office |page=561 |edition=3 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2989506&view=1up&seq=561&q1=atwater}}</ref> * Men of Yale march (1909),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehrig |first1=William |title=The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume 1 |date=1991 |publisher=Integrity Press |pages=47, 164}}</ref> arrangement recorded by Pryor's band * Milena (1910), arrangement for James A. Miles * Troop A: A calvary march and two step (1910)<ref>{{cite web |title=Troop A: A calvary march and two step / by Geo. L. Atwater Jr. – New Haven, Connecticut: C. F. Smith, c. 1910 |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/2536841 |website=Archives at Yale |publisher=Yale Library}}</ref> * Blondie Mine (1912), arrangement for Thomas R. McCluskey<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3 | volume=7 |date=1912 |publisher=Library of Congress. Copyright Office |page=1436 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf03AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22george+l+atwater%22+music&pg=PA1436}}</ref> * Eli Yale: Dear old Yale (1911), arrangement recorded by Pryor's band, Haydn Quartet * Whoop it Up! (1914),<ref>{{cite web |title=Friedman, Stanleigh Pohly, (1884–1960): portfolio of mounted clippings, programs, royalty statement for 1906 and "original pencil notes" of the Yale song, "Whoop it up," composed by S.P. Friedman, with words by Caleb Henry O'Connor |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/archival_objects/1482393 |website=Archives at Yale |publisher=Yale Library}}</ref> arrangement recorded by Pryor's band * Good night Harvard (1914), arrangement for Loomis Temple of Music<ref>{{cite book |title=The National union catalog, pre-1956 imprints |date=1968 |publisher=American Library Association |page=164 |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalunioncat393libr/page/164/mode/2up?q=%22g.l.+atwater%22}}</ref> * Stand by the flag that has stood by you (1917), arrangement for Clarence E. Billings<ref>{{cite web |last1=Billings |first1=Clarence |title=Stand by the flag that has stood by you |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2013564963/ |website=Library of Congress}}</ref> * Madana, song from ''The Glad Heart'' (1919), arrangement for T.R. McCluskey<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of copyright entries. 1919 |date=1919 |publisher=Copyright Office |page=201 |edition=3}}</ref> * The Glad Heart (1920), arrangement for Thomas R. McCluskey<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, Musical compositions, Part 3 |date=1920 |publisher=Library of Congress. Copyright Office |page=1514 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf03AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22george+l+atwater%22+music&pg=PA1436}}</ref> * Sweet Shetuckett Valley (1924), arrangement for Thomas F. McMahon<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalogue of Title Entries of Books and Other Articles ..., Part 3 |date=1925 |publisher=Library of Congress. Copyright Office |page=571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf03AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22george+l+atwater%22+music&pg=PA1436}}</ref> *'Tis Spring (1925), F.M. La Roza and George L. Atwater<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of copyright entries. 1925 |series=Musical compositions |date=1925 |publisher=Copyright Office |page=201 |edition=3 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2989552&view=1up&seq=201&q1=atwater}}</ref>

==See also== * George Atwater House, Hamden, Connecticut

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atwater, George}} Category:1866 births Category:1931 deaths Category:19th-century American male composers Category:19th-century American composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American composers Category:Ragtime composers Category:Composers from Connecticut

George Atwater

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