William Henry Fry was born on August 10, 1813, in
Philadelphia. His father, William Fry, was a prominent printer and, along with
Roberts Vaux and
Robert Walsh, ran the
National Gazette and Literary Register, a major American newspaper at the time—edited by
Robert Walsh from 1821 to 1836. William Henry had four brothers—Joseph Reese, Edward Plunket, Charles, and Horace Fry. He was educated at what is now
Mount Saint Mary's University in
Emmitsburg, Maryland. After returning to Philadelphia to work for his father, he studied composition with Leopold Meignen, a former band leader in
Napoleon Bonaparte's army and the music director of
the Musical Fund Society orchestra. He eventually became secretary of the Musical Fund Society. Fry's operatic compositions include
Aurelia the Vestal,
Leonora (based on the 1838 play
The Lady of Lyons), and
Notre-Dame of Paris (based on the 1831 novel by
Victor Hugo).
Leonora was a very successful production at its premiere in 1845 and second run the following year.
Leonora is also significant as it was the first grand opera written by an American composer. The opera was written for
Ann Childe Seguin who took the title role when it opened. After a six-year sojourn in Europe (1846–52), where he served as foreign correspondent to the
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
Horace Greeley's
New York Tribune, and
The Message Bird (later known as the
New York Musical World and Times), Fry gave a series of eleven widely publicized lectures in New York's Metropolitan Hall. These dealt with subjects such as the history and theory of music as well as the state of American classical music. In addition to his operas, Fry wrote seven symphonies that have extra-musical themes. His
Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony of 1853, which was very well received by audiences but derided by many of Fry's rival critics, may be the first orchestral use of the saxophone, invented barely a decade before. His 1854
Niagara Symphony, written for
Louis Jullien's orchestra, uses eleven
timpani to create the roar of the waters,
snare drums to reproduce the hiss of the spray, and a remarkable series of
discordant,
chromatic descending scales to reproduce the chaos of the falling waters as they crash onto the rocks. Fry's other works, including
Leonora (New York debut in 1858) and
Notre-Dame of Paris (1864, Philadelphia), received mixed reviews along partisan lines:
conservatives tended to dislike Fry's music, whereas political
progressives highly enjoyed it. His other musical works included the
Overture to Macbeth, the
Breaking Heart, string quartets and sacred
choral music. From 1852 until his death in 1864, Fry served as music critic and political editor for the
New York Tribune. ==Death==