Pratt, Silas Gamaliel

Pratt, Silas Gamaliel , American composer; b. Addison, Vt., Aug. 4, 1846; d. Pittsburgh, Oct. 30, 1916. Both his parents were church singers. The family moved to Chicago when he was a child, where he received his primary music education. At 22 he went to Berlin, where he studied piano with Kullak and theory with Kiel (1868–71). He then returned to Chicago, where he served as organist of the Church of the Messiah; in 1872, established the Apollo Club. In 1875 he went to Germany once more and studied orchestration with Heinrich Dorn and also took some piano lessons with Liszt. On July 4, 1876, he conducted in Berlin his Centennial Overture, dedicated to President Grant. He also conducted at the Crystal Palace in London, when President Grant was visiting there; another work that he presented in London was Homage to Chicago March. Returning to Chicago, he conducted his opera Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (to his own libretto) in concert form, on June 15, 1882 (stage perf., Chicago, March 26, 1883; N.Y., Aug. 21, 1883). The opera was received in a hostile manner by the press, partly owing to the poor quality of the music, but mainly as a reaction to Pratt’s exuberant and immodest proclamations of its merit in advance of the production. Undaunted, Pratt unleashed a vigorous campaign for native American opera; he organized the Grand Opera Festival of 1884, which had some support. The following year he visited London again, and conducted there his symphonic work The Prodigal Son (Oct. 5, 1885). Returning to Chicago, he revised his early lyric opera Antonio, renamed it Lucille, and produced it on March 14, 1887. In 1888 he moved to N.Y.; there he presented, during the quadricentennial of the discovery of America, his opera The Triumph of Columbus (in concert form, Oct. 12, 1892); also produced a scenic cantata, America, subtitled 4 Centuries of Music, Picture, and Song (Nov. 24, 1894; with stereopticon projections). Other works include Lincoln Symphony, a symphonic poem, The Tragedy of the Deep (1912; inspired by the Titanic disaster), and a cantata, The Last Inca. He also publ. a manual, Pianist’s Mental Velocity (N.Y., 1903). In 1906 he settled in Pittsburgh, where he established there the Pratt Inst. of Music and Art and remained its director until his death. Pratt was a colorful personality; despite continuous and severe setbacks, he was convinced of his own significance. The story of his salutation to Wagner at their meeting—”Herr Wagner, you are the Silas G. Pratt of Germany”—may be apocryphal, but is very much in character.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire