A. Cyril Graham was born August 24, 1878, in Brooklyn, New York. Graham relocated to Chicago with his mother where he was reared and educated. His interest in music started at a young age: by the time he was 12, Graham was organist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Riverside, Illinois. He graduated from Northwestern University School of Music where he studied organ and theoretical subjects under the tutelage of Dean Peter C. Lutkin. He then spent three years in post-graduate work at the American Conservatory of Music studying piano under Gertrude H. Murdough and composition with Adolf Weidig. While at the American Conservatory of Music, Graham met his wife, Helen M. Jordan, also an accomplished pianist. The couple was married in 1908 and had two sons--Richard C. and John Douglas Graham.
A. Cyril Graham worked for 12 years as head of the theory department and teacher of organ and piano at the Columbia School of Music and in 1921, Graham assumed the position of Head of the Organ and Theoretical Departments at the Conservatory of Music at Augustana College. Graham stayed at the Conservatory until 1932, when he retired. He had a variety of responsibilities at the conservatory including serving as dean from 1924-1927 and directing the Handel Oratorio Society from 1922-1930.
Graham was also an accomplished composer. Most notable of his works is a cantata, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, which was written for the Chicago North Shore Festival; and The Poet and The Dryad, written for the MacDowell festival at Peterborough, New Hampshire.
Graham died in 1953 at the age of 74 in Rock Island, Illinois.
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This collection has been organized into two series: Scores and Musical Program Honoring Mr. and Mrs. A. Cyril Graham.
The Scores (1901-1939 and undated) series contains both manuscripts and published versions of compositions and orchestrations of musical pieces written by A. Cyril Graham.
The Musical Program Honoring Mr. and Mrs. A. Cyril Graham (1976) series contains information about a recital at Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts on the campus of Augustana College on October 31, 1976. The program consisted of a performance of A. Cyril Graham's Sonata for Violin and Piano as well as The Lark Ascending by R. Vaughan Williams and Concerto composed by Edward Elgar. All of the pieces were performed by A. Cyril Graham's granddaughter and violinist Virginia Louise Graham who was accompanied by her mother Floryn Payton Graham (Mrs. J. D. Graham), pianist. The series contains a program, a newspaper clipping announcing the recital, and and audio cassette recording of the recital.
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Box 1
Scores
Ave Verum Corpus, 1901
Concerto for Organ and String Orchestra, 1902
Love Has Come, 1911
The Robin's Song, 1911
The Leprechaun, 1911
A Gaelic Lullaby, 1911
The Piper of Hamelin (published), 1916
The Piper of Hamelin (manuscript), circa 1916
Manuscripts of songs, circa 1939 and undated
Sonata for Violin and Piano, undated
Sonata for Violin and Piano, photostat copies of pp. 15-21, undated
Air and Waltz, undated
Land Sighting, undated
Musette, undated
The Poet and the Dryad, undated
Musical Program Honoring Mr. and Mrs. A. Cyril Graham
Program and newspaper clipping, 1976
Audio cassette, 1976
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