Boise, Otis Bardwell

1845-

American organist and composer. Born at Oberlin, Ohio, where his father was a physician. He showed musical talent very early, becoming organist of St. Paul's Church, Cleveland, Ohio, at the age of fourteen. He went to Leipsic in 1861, where he stayed three years, studying with Hauptmann, Richter, Moscheles, and others, and then went to Berlin and worked under Kullak. In 1864, after a serious illness, brought on by overwork, he returned to America and was an organist in Cleveland until 1870, when he went to New York, where he was organist of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and taught composition in the New York Conservatory. On account of ill health he went again to Europe in 1876, visited Leipsic, where he had a motet performed, spent a year at Weisbaden, where he met Raff and, in 1878, returned to New York, where he taught until 1881. From 1881 to 1888 he was in business in New York and since that time has been teaching in Berlin. His works consist of a psalm for chorus and orchestra; symphonies; concertos; overtures; songs and partsongs. In 1879 he gave a concert at Chickering Hall, New York, with a program made up entirely of his own works. He has published Harmony made Practical and Music and its Masters, and has written numerous articles on musical subjects.