Family:Whitney, Myron William (1836-1910)
Myron William8 Whitney (William7, Josiah6, Josiah5, David4, Benjamin3, John2, John1), born Ashby, Massachusetts, 6 Sep 1836; married 4 May 1859, Eleanor Breasha, of Boston.
As an oratorio singer he stands for many years in the foremost ranks, and his reputation is spread all over the musical world. He was born in Ashby, Massachusetts, 6 Sep 1836. The meager musical resources of his native place furnished but a circumscribed field for the growth and improvement of his powers, and he sought a new and more extended sphere in Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1854, and placed himself under the training of E.H. Frost, a teacher of considerable ability. He remained with this gentleman for some years, studying and making rapid progress. While pursuing his studies he filled the position of leading basso in the then celebrated choir of Tremont Temple, which enjoyed an excellent reputation, and attracted a large congregation to the temple. During the three of four years of his connection with Mr. Frost, the choir, which also included several of the leading vocalists of the day, gave concerts in Boston and vicinity. The debut of Mr. Whitney in oratorio was made in the "Messiah" on Christmas day, 1858. Mr. Whitney sang, "Why do the nations," so effectively as to win for himself the commendations of the press of the city, although at the same time the Handel and Haydn Society were presenting the same work. His position was immediately established, and his name and fame spread rapidly. His first appearance before the Handel and Haydn Society was at the Christmas oratorio of the "Messiah" in 1861, when he secured the favor of the public so firmly, that he has ever since been retained for the annual Christmas concert. In 1868 Mr. Whitney went to Florence for the purpose of completing his musical education, under Vannucini, the celebrated master of the Royal Opera. This eminent musician, it will be remembered, was the pupil of Romani, whose name is become a synonymn for all that is great and honorable in the world of song. In the summer of 1871, partly for the sake of travel and recreation, and partly for professional purposes, Mr. Whitney went to London, and was absent about one year, returning in season for the Christmas oratorio of 1872. During a greater portion of this time he was under an engagement to Mr. Mapleson, of Covent Garden Theater, under whose auspices he appeared in London and the provinces. The engagement opened with a season of seven weeks at Covent Garden, during which he appeared every evening. At the close of this engagement Mr. Whitney had the honor of singing in "Elijah" at the great Birmingham Festival. The peculiar interest of this occasion was that he sang from the same stage as that occupied by Mendelssohn, when he directed the first production of his immortal work in 1848. Several of the eldest of the choristers, who had assisted in the first performance under Mendelssohn, came forward at the close of the oratorio and congratulated Mr. Whitney upon his eminent success in the role of "Elijah." He appeared at Oxford university in Handel'S Acis and Galatea," in which he created a furor in the arduous role of "Polyphemus," the music of which is seldom sung as originally written, as Handel composed it for an exceptional bass voice. But our basso required no favors in the score, and treated our English cousins to a hearing of this music in the original key, and with All the elaborate fiorituri with which Handel embellished it. At the Cincinnati Musical Festival of 1873, Mr. Whitney'S already glorious reputation may be said to have culminated, and at its close he stood before our entire people hailed and acknowledged as the greatest living basso speaking and singing in English. This popular verdict has since been affirmed and reaffirmed, and is entirely just and well deserved. Mr. Whitney'S reappearance in the west during the early summer of 1874, in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, secured for him still warmer regard. In 1876 he was the principal solo singer at the opening exercises of the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia. Since that year he has sung in his native country, and has appeared in nearly all the May festivals held in different cities of the Union. For several years he was a member of the Boston Ideal Opera Company. He possesses a fine bass voice of nearly three octaves compass, and is especially noted as an oratorio singer. No man has more friends, both in and out of his profession, and few are more deserving; resided Watertown, Massachusetts, "Hillside ", Palfrey street.
Children of Myron William8 Whitney:
i. William Lincoln9 Whitney, born 11 Jan 1861; married Florence J. Roberts. ii. Lizzie Gertrude Whitney, born 18 Jul 1862; married Waldo D. Hadsell. - Ch.: Duane Whitney, born 30 Sep 1890; Eleanor Gertrude, born May 2, 1891; Irving Whitney, born 14 May 1892.
iii. Myron W. Whitney, Jr., born 15 Jan 1873. He was given an excellent common school education and prepared for college. He graduated at Chauncey Hall school, Boston, with the highest honors as best boy, taking the gold medal for scholarship and conduct. He is at present (1894) in the senior class at Harvard university, and has already begun his musical career. He has a magnificent bass voice, and is destined to make a name and fame for himself. At present he sings in Dr. Miner'S church on Columbus Ave., and at the close of his college course will make music his profession.
References
1. All data imported from Frederick Clifton Pierce, The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, (Chicago: 1895), pp. 477-478.
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