Henry S. Thompson
Life
Born: 1824
Died: 1901?
Biography
Henry S. Thompson was born in Massachusetts. He moved to Newburyport and became a music teacher, performer, and impresario. He conducted the Quartet Club and entertainments of songs, duets, glees, choruses. He moved to East Boston and was active as a music teacher. He was also a performer in a number of minstrel troupes appearing from Boston to St. Louis. He wrote many songs and choruses for the shows, mostly the popular maudlin or syrupy ballads. His song “Down by the River Liv’d a Maiden,” which was published in 1863, is believed to be the basis for Percy Montrose’s song “Oh My Darling, Clementine,” published in 1884. His song “Annie Lisle,” a ballad about the death of a young lass, was adapted in 1870 as “High Above Cayuga's Waters,” the college song of Cornell University. The tune has been used for spirit songs of schools across the country. A version of his song “Lilly Dale,” a song about a young maiden struck by disease, appears in the James Joyce novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and was recorded by country singer Bob Wills and covered by Dolly Parton as “Billy Dale.” He appears to have died at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
View the Wikipedia article on Henry S. Thompson.
List of choral works
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Publications
External websites:
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