When You And I Were Young, Maggie
James A. Butterfield
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Browse piano sheets by James A. Butterfield on Zen Virtual Piano. Born on May 18, 1837, in Hertfordshire, England, Butterfield got a violin from his father, a cellist, who built it just eight inches long and showed him how to play. By the age of four he could play plain psalmody by sight, and at six he was playing in the chapel orchestra with his father, soon joining the local Harmonic Society. He dreamed of a life in music, but at fifteen his parents put him to work in a trade. Being put to work in a trade at fifteen after such an early start suggests a gap between his gifts and his family's plans. He kept studying violin and voice and became the Harmonic Society's deputy leader. His parents, though, opposed a career in music, which is why he emigrated alone to the United States in 1856. In Chicago, he taught violin and singing schools around the region before going to Florida until the Civil War began. In Florida he founded the Tampa Musical Academy, and in Indianapolis he started a monthly music journal, The Musical Visitor. His emigration alone in 1856, set beside a monthly journal started in Indianapolis, may point to a musical career that took shape in more than one American city. Back in Chicago he taught voice and harmony, held musical conventions, conducted the Chicago Mendelssohn Society and, from 1868, directed the choir at the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1880 he moved to Norwich, Connecticut, as director of the Norwich School of Vocal Art, and in 1878 he had been the second president of the Music Teachers National Association. He died in Chicago on July 6, 1891, and is buried in Graceland Cemetery. Serving as deputy leader of the Harmonic Society, set beside conducting the Chicago Mendelssohn Society, may suggest that he took leading roles in musical societies on both sides of the Atlantic. Anthems and piano pieces, comic operas, some unpublished orchestral works, song books for conventions and singing schools, and a large number of songs were among his compositions. When You and I Were Young, Maggie, with words by George W. Johnson, first appeared in 1866 and is his best-known composition; he set the poem to music and the song became popular all over the world. Secular music is what he is usually remembered for, yet he also wrote religious tunes, for instance Victory Over Sin, set to words by Henry S. Perkins. Religious tunes such as Victory Over Sin, set beside a childhood spent playing in a chapel orchestra, may point to church settings appearing in both his early years and his compositions.
Browse piano sheets by James A. Butterfield on Zen Virtual Piano.
Born on May 18, 1837, in Hertfordshire, England, Butterfield got a violin from his father, a cellist, who built it just eight inches long and showed him how to play. By the age of four he could play plain psalmody by sight, and at six he was playing in the chapel orchestra with his father, soon joining the local Harmonic Society. He dreamed of a life in music, but at fifteen his parents put him to work in a trade. Being put to work in a trade at fifteen after such an early start suggests a gap between his gifts and his family's plans.
He kept studying violin and voice and became the Harmonic Society's deputy leader. His parents, though, opposed a career in music, which is why he emigrated alone to the United States in 1856. In Chicago, he taught violin and singing schools around the region before going to Florida until the Civil War began. In Florida he founded the Tampa Musical Academy, and in Indianapolis he started a monthly music journal, The Musical Visitor. His emigration alone in 1856, set beside a monthly journal started in Indianapolis, may point to a musical career that took shape in more than one American city.
Back in Chicago he taught voice and harmony, held musical conventions, conducted the Chicago Mendelssohn Society and, from 1868, directed the choir at the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1880 he moved to Norwich, Connecticut, as director of the Norwich School of Vocal Art, and in 1878 he had been the second president of the Music Teachers National Association. He died in Chicago on July 6, 1891, and is buried in Graceland Cemetery. Serving as deputy leader of the Harmonic Society, set beside conducting the Chicago Mendelssohn Society, may suggest that he took leading roles in musical societies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Anthems and piano pieces, comic operas, some unpublished orchestral works, song books for conventions and singing schools, and a large number of songs were among his compositions. When You and I Were Young, Maggie, with words by George W. Johnson, first appeared in 1866 and is his best-known composition; he set the poem to music and the song became popular all over the world. Secular music is what he is usually remembered for, yet he also wrote religious tunes, for instance Victory Over Sin, set to words by Henry S. Perkins. Religious tunes such as Victory Over Sin, set beside a childhood spent playing in a chapel orchestra, may point to church settings appearing in both his early years and his compositions.
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Common questions
James Austin Butterfield was an English-born American composer and music teacher, born in Hertfordshire in 1837 and buried in Graceland Cemetery.
That would be When You and I Were Young, Maggie, which came out in 1866 to words by George W. Johnson.
He emigrated alone in 1856, because his parents did not want him to pursue music as a profession.
In Indianapolis he started the monthly music journal The Musical Visitor.