William Russell (organist)

William Russell ( * October 6, 1777 London, † November 21, 1813 ) was an English organist and composer, son of the organ builder William Russell.

Life

From eight years old he was taught by the organist William Scope, William Shrubsole and John Groombridge. Between 1789 and 1793, he was temporary help of his father, organist at St. Mary Aldermanbury, London. 1793 Russell was appointed organist at the Great Queen Street Chapel; Cathedral church services were held there until 1798, in 1798 the chapel was a Methodist ( Wesleyan ) Devotion house. In September 1798, the election was followed by an organist at St Anne's, Limehouse, London. In 1801 he was elected to a similar position at the Foundling Hospital ( Bloomsbury, London).

At this time, Russell took his musical studies at Samuel Arnold again. Through his influence he came to occupations in various London theaters: Between 1800 and 1804 he composed music for nearly twenty pantomimes at Sadler 's Wells ( Islington, London) and a number of pieces for the Royal Circus. He also wrote for the opera in London's Covent Garden, where he served as a companion. His sentence of Christopher Smart's Ode on St Cecilia 's Day (1800) and The Redemption of Israel, both of which were probably performed by the Cecilian Society, of which he was a member. A band with psalms, hymns and other songs of praise has been compiled for the Foundling Hospital Chapel 1809. In 1808 he received his Bachelor of Music at Magdalen College, Oxford, and began his career as an organ expert; occasionally he inspected it instruments from the workshop of his father. In addition, he published Twelve voluntaries for the organ or pianoforte, and a Second Book of voluntaries (1812 ), while job, an oratorio by Russell and arranged for organ / piano by Samuel Sabastian Wesley, 1826 came out.

Russell died on November 21, 1813 in Cobham Row, Cold Bathfields, London.

Works

Work - Year of first publication

• Ode on St Cecilia 's Day - 1800
• The Redemption of Israel -? ?
• Twelve voluntaries for the organ or pianoforte - 1812
• Second Book of voluntaries - 1812

( the two volumes collectively known as Russell's voluntaries )

• Job ( Oratorio ) - 1826