Dates

• Existence: December 24, 1881 - December 30, 1946

Biography

Charles W. Cadman was born December 24, 1881, in Johnstown, PA to William Charles Cadman and Caroline Wakefield. Cadman commenced his musical education at a fairly young age. He began taking piano lessons at the age of 13 and as a young adult; he studied organ, piano, theory, and orchestration under William Steiner, Edwin L. Walker, Lee Oehmler, Luigi von Kunitz, and Emil Pauer. In 1907-1910, Cadman was in the Pittsburgh Male Chorus as an accompanist, an organist for the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and worked for the Pittsburgh Dispatch as an editor and critic. He received an honorary doctorate (1926) from the University of Southern California. From 1929-1930, he worked for Fox Films Corporation.

Aside from his formal education in music and odd jobs during his life, Cadman was a man intrigued by Native American music. In 1909, Cadman pursued his interest in Native American music by visiting the Omaha and Winnebago reservations. At the time of his visit to the reservations, Cadman made cylinder recordings of various Native American songs. His interest in Native America music leads him to compose Four American Indian Songs op.45, which was actually written before his visit to the reservations. He was such an advocate of Native American music that he devoted his time lecturing in the United States and Europe with the assistance of Tsianina Redfeather, who was a Cherokee-Creek Indian.

In 1916, Cadman settled in Los Angeles, CA, where he continued his work as a composer. He composed several works, such as The Land of the Misty Water (1909), Shanewis (1918), The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám (1925), The Sunset Trail (1919), The Garden of Mystery (1925), Rappaccini’s Daughter (1925), The Ghost of Lollypop Bay (1926), Lelawala (1926), A Witch of Salem (1926), The Belle of Havana (1928), South in Sonora (1932), The Willow Tree (1932), The Dark Dancers of the Mardi Gras (1933), and among other notable works.

He was a member of the Theater Arts Alliance (1919), director of the California federation of Music Clubs (1921), and member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Charles W. Cadman died December 30, 1946, in Los Angeles, California.

Sources: - Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, eds. New Grove Dictionary of American Music. Vol. I. New York, NY: Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1986. - Charles Wakefield Cadman Collection, 1905-1936: Historical Collections and Labor Archives. 2005. Pennsylvania State University Special Collections Library. 30 April 2008 /libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/FindingAids/cadman.frame.html>.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: