Carlos Troyer, (January 12, 1837 – July 26, 1920) born Charles Troyer, was an American composer known for his musical arrangements of traditional Native American melodies.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Troyer settled in San Francisco sometime before 1871, where he became known as a violinist, pianist and teacher of music and began using the name Carlos.
In 1880 he performed the wedding march at Michael Henry de Young's wedding. [1] In the late 1880s he composed the music for a number of charity revues produced and written by Ella Sterling Cummins. [2] He taught Cummins' daughter Viva D. Cummins, who eventually launched a series of concerts on the east coast presenting various Indian music in costume. [3]
Troyer held an interest in the natural sciences. In 1874, Troyer was elected a life member of the California Academy of Sciences. [4] For most of the 1880s and 1890s he was its librarian. [5] [6] During a naturalist expedition to Baja for the Academy, Gustav Eisen attempted to name a peak in the Sierra de la Laguna after Troyer and fellow Academy trustee E. J. Molera. [7] [8] He was a member of the San Francisco Microscopical Society. [9]
In 1886, his publication of a transcription/adaptation of Apache Chief Geronimo's Own Medicine Song marked the beginning of a long professional interest in Native American music. Throughout the 1880s he published several transcriptions and arrangements of Native American songs, including those recounted by Frank Hamilton Cushing. [10] Eventually, his works became further romanticized and amerindian, culminating in his final published piece, Midnight Visit to the Sacred Shrines, a Zuñian Ritual.
He is frequently included in the list of the Indianist composers; Farwell's Wa-Wan Press published many of his transcriptions/harmonizations. [11] Many of his earlier compositions were published by A. Waldteufel in San Francisco; later in his life Theodore Presser Co published many of his Native American transcriptions and songs.
A brief autobiography, provided with his 1913 published lecture notes on Native American music, indicates he spent time "in the field" with the Zunis and Apaches recording and transcribing their music, possibly while employed for the government, and mentioned similar travels to Brazil. [12] [13] Contemporaries including Charles Lummis and Frederick W. Hodge noted these claims as lies or exaggerations, intended to boost credibility for his lecture tours later in life. With the possible exception of Barbara Tedlock in her Songs of the Zuni, modern critical analysis of the ethnographic value of Troyer's transcriptions are negative. [14]
Several of Troyer's transcriptions have been identified as likely sources of musical borrowing by Puccini for themes in La Fanciulla del West. [15]
He taught at Mills College. He died in Berkeley, California at the age of 83. His wife Virginia died shortly after. [13]
Carlos Troyer, (January 12, 1837 – July 26, 1920) born Charles Troyer, was an American composer known for his musical arrangements of traditional Native American melodies.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Troyer settled in San Francisco sometime before 1871, where he became known as a violinist, pianist and teacher of music and began using the name Carlos.
In 1880 he performed the wedding march at Michael Henry de Young's wedding. [1] In the late 1880s he composed the music for a number of charity revues produced and written by Ella Sterling Cummins. [2] He taught Cummins' daughter Viva D. Cummins, who eventually launched a series of concerts on the east coast presenting various Indian music in costume. [3]
Troyer held an interest in the natural sciences. In 1874, Troyer was elected a life member of the California Academy of Sciences. [4] For most of the 1880s and 1890s he was its librarian. [5] [6] During a naturalist expedition to Baja for the Academy, Gustav Eisen attempted to name a peak in the Sierra de la Laguna after Troyer and fellow Academy trustee E. J. Molera. [7] [8] He was a member of the San Francisco Microscopical Society. [9]
In 1886, his publication of a transcription/adaptation of Apache Chief Geronimo's Own Medicine Song marked the beginning of a long professional interest in Native American music. Throughout the 1880s he published several transcriptions and arrangements of Native American songs, including those recounted by Frank Hamilton Cushing. [10] Eventually, his works became further romanticized and amerindian, culminating in his final published piece, Midnight Visit to the Sacred Shrines, a Zuñian Ritual.
He is frequently included in the list of the Indianist composers; Farwell's Wa-Wan Press published many of his transcriptions/harmonizations. [11] Many of his earlier compositions were published by A. Waldteufel in San Francisco; later in his life Theodore Presser Co published many of his Native American transcriptions and songs.
A brief autobiography, provided with his 1913 published lecture notes on Native American music, indicates he spent time "in the field" with the Zunis and Apaches recording and transcribing their music, possibly while employed for the government, and mentioned similar travels to Brazil. [12] [13] Contemporaries including Charles Lummis and Frederick W. Hodge noted these claims as lies or exaggerations, intended to boost credibility for his lecture tours later in life. With the possible exception of Barbara Tedlock in her Songs of the Zuni, modern critical analysis of the ethnographic value of Troyer's transcriptions are negative. [14]
Several of Troyer's transcriptions have been identified as likely sources of musical borrowing by Puccini for themes in La Fanciulla del West. [15]
He taught at Mills College. He died in Berkeley, California at the age of 83. His wife Virginia died shortly after. [13]