Frederic Archer, the well-known organist of Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa., died October 22d, from cancer of the stomach at the age of sixty-three.
He was born in Oxford, England, June 16, 1838, where he received a liberal education. He was a precocious youth, and early exhibited a remarkable ability to read at sight the most difficult compositions. He became a chorister in Margaret Chapel, London, at the age of nine, and five years later was appointed organist of St. Clement’s Church and Merton College Chapel, at Oxford. After traveling in Europe he became organist of the Royal Panoptican, London, where he gave many concerts. In 1862 he gave many recitals in Royal Albert Hall and Crystal Palace. Later he became organist of Christ Church, and in turn organist of the Church of the Jesuit Fathers. In 1875 he performed over 2000 compositions on the new organ in Alexandra Palace, and later conducted daily classical and popular orchestral concerts, monthly festivals, and weekly operatic performances.
Coming to the United States in 1881, he was appointed organist of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, and later of the Church of the Incarnation, New York. In 1883 he founded and edited the Keynote. In 1887 for a short time he was located in Boston as conductor of the Boston Oratorio Society. From this time till 1895 his time was divided between Milwaukee and Chicago.
In 1895 he accepted the post of organist at Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh, where he performed a long list of organ-compositions and a longer list of transcriptions of orchestral works. In Pittsburgh he delivered numerous lectures, founded and conducted for several years the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, besides giving his weekly organ-recitals.
Mr. Archer had great technical ability, and possessed a large hand, which enabled him to grasp chords impossible to many organists. He was a brilliant performer and a strong advocate of “arrangements for the organ”; in fact, more than half the compositions which he played were transcriptions. His registration was striking, and he had extraordinary facility for manipulating the stops and combination movements of an organ.
