biography
| name: |
Root, George Frederick
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1820–95)
|
| biography:
| Composer, born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. He received musical training in Boston before teaching singing at several colleges in New York in the 1840s. In 1853 he co-founded the New York Normal Institute to train music teachers, and in 1859 moved to Chicago where, in addition to teaching music, he was a music publisher until 1871. He composed a number of cantatas popular in their day, and under the name G Frederick Wurzel he began to write popular songs. ‘The Battle Cry of Freedom’ (1863) was the first of several celebrated Civil War songs, including ‘Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching’ and ‘The Vacant Chair’. |
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