word-wringers

Updated: May 25, 2025

To the stencil-plate chivalry of the lyrics of the ubiquitous F.E. Weatherby and John Oxenford, the song-status of England can blame a deal of its stagnation. It is not often that these word-wringers have enticed American composers. One of the few victims is John Hyatt Brewer, who was born in Brooklyn, in 1856, and has lived there ever since.

Rupert Hughes - Contemporary American Composers: Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present: Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and: Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an: Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and: Compositions