George Alfred Grant-Schaefer

Grant-Schaefer, George Alfred

George Alfred Grant-Schaefer. Composer, organist, teacher, b Williamstown, near Cornwall, Ont, 4 Jul 1872, d Chicago 11 May 1939. He studied with Dominique Ducharme (piano) and Guillaume Couture (voice) in Montreal and with Victor Garwood (piano) and Adolf Weidig (theory) in Chicago. C.A.E. Harriss was his organ teacher in London. Grant-Schaefer was organist-choirmaster 1896-1908 at Centenary Church, Chicago, and served 1908-20 as head of the vocal department at Northwestern School of Music, Evanston, Ill. His compositions included over 100 piano pieces for pedagogical use and some 90 songs, as well as anthems and the operettas Derry Down Derry (Schmidt 1928) and Rip Van Winkle (R.A. Hoffman 1925). His piano pieces enjoyed a high reputation among teachers. He maintained a summer home in Quebec, and his music was affected by his sojourns there. Among his earlier publications were Scènes canadiennes, seven pieces for piano (Schmidt 1907). He re-harmonized and adapted the music of 'O Canada' for the first edition (1908) of Weir's English text. His arrangements of French-Canadian folk songs, published by Schmidt in 1921 and 1925, achieved popularity. Other publishers included Birchard (Thirty-six Songs for Children 1909), Ditson, and Summy International.