Burton, Frederick Russell

1861-

American composer. Born in Michigan. Was graduate at Harvard College in 1882, with high honors both in college work and in music. In 1895 he settled in Yonkers, N. Y., where he has since lived as a teacher and composer. In 1896 he organized the Yonkers Choral Society, of which he is conductor. One of the best known of Burton's compositions is Hiawatha, a dramatic cantata, in which he has used a real Indian theme. Striking numbers in the cantata are a contralto aria and a beautiful setting of the death song of Minnehaha. Other works by Burton are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, also a dramatic cantata; an Inauguration Ode, composed for McKinley's second inauguration; Songs of the Ojibway Indians; anthems, and many songs. Burton is an author as well as a composer, having written poems, musical essays and short stories.