Name Herrman Saroni | Role Composer | |
Died August 29, 1900, Marietta, Ohio, United States | ||
Herrman S. Saroni (February 1824 in Bernburg, Germany – August 29, 1900 in Marietta, Ohio) was an American composer, author, and publisher.
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Biography
Saroni was born and educated in Germany, and referred to himself as a student of Mendelssohn.
In 1844 he applied for naturalization in New York city, where he later edited Saroni's Musical Times between 1849 and 1851. He organized a successful series of chamber music recitals during those years, featuring performers such as Theodore Eisfeld, Julia Northall, and Otto Dresel. Through critical writing and translating, he helped to spread German pedagogical approaches to American music education and appreciation. Despite the resulting "vogue of Mendelssohn in America", Saroni's influence remained obscure and only vaguely identifiable in its development for many years.
After 1851 he moved to Georgia, where he founded the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (1855). He later lived in Alabama, but eventually settled in Marietta, Ohio, where he taught piano at Marietta College. He died there in 1900. His wife died the following year, on September 16, 1901. Her obituary mentions four granddaughters: three in Marietta (Mrs. W. B. Gaitree, Miss Small, and Miss Kittie Small) and a fourth in Knoxville, Tennessee.
A “Brief Account of His Life and Work” in the August 30, 1900, Marietta Daily Leader, mentioned that he “made and lost several large fortunes” in America, “but in his later years he was in comfortable circumstances.” “Those who knew him best, knew him as a kind-hearted, well-educated and refined man.”
Music
Saroni composed parlor songs in English. These songs "demonstrate a shift away from bel canto traditions towards a lied-influenced style in this genre."
He also composed light piano pieces, two operettas, The Twin Sisters (1860) and Lily-Bell, the Culprit Fay (1868), and a Centennial Ode (1888).
Writings
Music
Larger works
Piano music
Vocal music