Pech, James

1839-

Also spelled Peck. Conductor, composer and lecturer; born at Hanover, Germany, but living at present in New York. He received his general education at Rochester, England, and New College, Oxford, from whidi he received the degree of Doctor of Music. H was a pupil of the London Academy of Music, and studied also in Germany, Czerny, Henselt and Dohler, being his teachers in piano, and Friedrich Schneider of Dresden in organ and theory. After holding the conductorship at the Drury Lane Theatre, the People's Philharmonic Society in Exeter Hall, and the London Orchestral Association, jointly with (Sir Julius) Benedict, he left London for America in 1864. He was the last conductor of the New York Sacred Harmonic Society, and in 1866 became director and conductor of the Church Music Association in that, city. Later conducted in opera at the old Academy of Music. He has lectured on aesthetics, history, theory and practice of music in numerous colleges of the United States and Canada, and has composed music for the piano and organ as well as anthems and motets to Latin words.