Harry Rowe Shelley


Harry Rowe Shelley was an American composer, organist, and professor of music. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Shelley studied with Gustave J. Stoeckel at Yale College, Dudley Buck, Max Vogrich, and Antonín Dvořák in New York, and completed his musical education in London and Paris. According to his New York Times obituary, Shelley "penned church music that won him wide popularity. For sixty years a host of English-speaking peoples throughout the world sang his hymns."
Shelley attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, Connecticut and at fourteen played the organ at Center Church on the Green in New Haven. Although he entered Yale, he did not complete his freshman year. Shelley was organist at the Church of the Pilgrims during the ministry of Henry Ward Beecher and played at his funeral. Shelley died at age 89 in Short Beach, Connecticut.
Positions held
Selected compositions
Among his works are two symphonies; a symphonic poem: The Crusaders; a suite for orchestra: Souvenir de Baden-Baden; sacred cantatas: Vexilla Regis ;The Inheritance Divine ; Death and Life ; a violin concerto; an opera: Leila ; anthems: The King of Love My Shepherd Is ; Hark!, Hark, My Soul ; an arrangement for Harriet Beecher Stowe's poem Still, Still with Thee ; and other songs and organ pieces. He also composed the Santa Claus Overture; and Lochinvar's Ride.
Honors
Shelley, Harry Rowe. "Santa Claus Overture, a lyrical intermezzo." On Those Fabulous Americans. The Symphony Orchestra of America; Matthew B. Phillips, conductor. Albany Records, 1993. Compact disc.