![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Votes_for_Woman%2C_Suffrage_Rallying_Song.jpg/220px-Votes_for_Woman%2C_Suffrage_Rallying_Song.jpg)
Edward Moore Zimmerman, often given as E. M. Zimmerman, (9 January 1859 — December 6, 1922) was an American composer, choir conductor, organist, bass, and music educator.[1] A longtime resident of Philadelphia, he is best remembered as a composer of hymns, and for co-writing the suffragist anthem "Votes for Women: Suffrage Rallying Song" (1915) with his wife, the soprano Marie Kunkel Zimmerman.
Life and career
Born on 9 January 1859 in Wilmington, Delaware,[1] Edward M. Zimmerman attended schools in his youth in Newark, Delaware.[2] He studied singing in London with George Henschel, and in New York City with Emilio Belari and John Howard.[1] He began his career as a bass vocalist at the Household of Faith Church in Wilmington with an 1883 article in the Wilmington Daily Republican describing him as "a popular and well known local singer".[3] In February 1886 he was a guest soloist in a benefit concert given to raise funds for the Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.[4]
By 1886 Zimmerman had moved to Philadelphia where he was a member of the Mendelssohn Male Quartet (MMQ),[5] a professional vocal chamber group established from within the Chautauqua movement.[6] In 1891 the MMQ was one of several ensembles that performed at a benefit concert for the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital at the Academy of Music.[7]
Zimmerman was also active a church soloist in Philadelphia, and as early as 1887 held a post a bass soloist at Fifth Baptist Church.[8] He later held similar posts at St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church and the First Universalist Church.[1] He entered the University of Pennsylvania where he studied music composition with Hugh Archibald Clarke. He also studied composition with William Gilchrist,[1] and appeared as a soloist in concerts with the Mendelssohn Club, a Philadelphia choir founded by Gilchrist.[9]
In 1887 Zimmerman was the bass soloist in Jackson of Exeter's cantata The Year presented by the Vesper Choral Society of Philadelphia at Musical Fund Hall under conductor and composer H. H. Pendleton.[10] In May 1887 he sang the role of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, in William Batchelder Bradbury's cantata Esther, the Beautiful Queen in performances given first at Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church,[11] before being presented in a two week engagement at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington.[12] That same month he starred as Captain Corcoran in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore at the Academy of Music.[13]
Zimmerman held posts as choirmaster at several different Philadelphia area churches during his career, among them the Church of St. Luke and The Epiphany, Memorial Baptist Church, and Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church in Germantown.[1] He also held the post of organist at the latter church,[14] and worked as a voice teacher in Philadelphia.[1] He composed the hymns "All Things Beautiful and Fair" and "Blessed Jesus, ere we part".[15]
Zimmerman was married to the soprano and voice teacher Marie Kunkel Zimmerman.[1] Marie, born with the name Mamie Kunkel,[16] was the daughter of actress Ada Proctor and theatre manager, minstrel show performer, and songwriter George Kunkel Sr. (1823–1885).[17] Her brother was George Kunkel Jr. (1866- 1937);[16][17] a silent film actor and opera singer.[18][19] With his wife, Zimmerman composed the song "Votes for Women: Suffrage Rallying Song" (1915) which was dedicated to Anna Howard Shaw, President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.[20][21]
Zimmerman would occasionally sing in concerts with his wife, both before and after their marriage. In 1889 they were both featured vocal soloists in a concert given at the Music Teachers National Association's convention at Musical Fund Hall.[22] The couple were part of a vocal quartet which performed in chamber music concerts sponsored by the Manuscript Music Society of Philadelphia at Musical Fund Hall in 1895.[23] In 1898 the couple were part of the soloist quartet in the Philadelphia premiere of Liza Lehmann's song-cycle In a Persian garden at Witherspoon Hall.[24][25]
Zimmerman died of Bright's disease on December 6, 1922, at Jewish Hospital in Philadelphia.[1][26]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "E. M. Zimmerman; Was Known Here as Choirmaster, Teacher, and Composer". Philadelphia Inquirer. December 7, 1922. p. 27.
- ^ "Personals". Newark Post Newspaper. October 30, 1912. p. 5.
- ^ "Church Entertainment". Wilmington Daily Republican. October 2, 1883. p. 4.
- ^ "Amusements: Grand Concert by the Tuesday Club". Wilmington Daily Republican. February 17, 1886. p. 2.
- ^ "Concert at Heidelberg Church". Philadelphia Times. February 4, 1886. p. 2.
- ^ Lush, p. 202
- ^ "A Brilliant Ending: Close of the Entertainments in Aid of the Hospital Fund". Philadelphia Inquirer. April 11, 1891. p. 2.
- ^ "Christmas Music". Philadelphia Inquirer. December 19, 1887. p. 2.
- ^ "Concert By the Mendelssohn Club". Philadelphia Inquirer. May 6, 1886. p. 2.
- ^ "Popular Entertainments". Philadelphia Inquirer. January 14, 1887. p. 3.
- ^ "Near the City". Philadelphia Times. May 15, 1887. p. 3.
- ^ "This Week in Wilmington". Philadelphia Times. May 22, 1887. p. 16.
- ^ "Pinafore by Church Choir Company". Philadelphia Inquirer. May 16, 1887. p. 3.
- ^ American Guild of Organists (January 1907). Stubbs, G. Edward (ed.). "Ecclesiastical Music; Christmas Services". The New Music Review and Church Music Review. VI (62). H. W. Gray Company: 127.
- ^ "E. M. Zimmerman". hymnary.org. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
- ^ a b 1880 United States Federal Census for Mamie Kunkel, Maryland, Baltimore (Independent City), Baltimore, 059, 17-296J., C274, page number 7, Supervisor's District Number 1
- ^ a b "An Old Time Minstrel Dead". Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. January 29, 1885. p. 7.
- ^ Katchmer, p. 194-195
- ^ Simpson, p. 152
- ^ "The Centenary of the Nineteenth Amendment and US women's right to vote". Americas and Oceania Collections blog. British Library. 26 August 2020.
- ^ Crew, p. 337
- ^ "An Interesting Concert". Philadelphia Inquirer. November 2, 1889. p. 4.
- ^ "Philadelphia". The Musical Courier. XXX (24): 7. June 5, 1895.
- ^ "Musical Notes". Philadelphia Inquirer. October 9, 1898. p. 27.
- ^ "In A Persian Garden: A Delightful Performance At Witherspoon Hall". Philadelphia Inquirer. November 2, 1898. p. 9.
- ^ "E. M. Zimmerman, Old Singer, Dead". Wilmington Evening Journal. December 7, 1922. p. 31.
Bibliography
- Crew, Danny O. (2015). Suffragist Sheet Music: An Illustrated Catalogue of Published Music Associated with the Women's Rights and Suffrage Movement in America, 1795-1921, with Complete Lyrics. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476607443.
- Katchmer, George A. (2015). "Kunkel, George". A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476609058.
- {{cite book|title=Music in the Chautauqua Movement: From 1874 to the 1930s|first=Paige|last= Lush|year= 2013|isbn=9781476606194|publisher=[[McFarland & Company}}
- Simpson, Adrienne (1996). Opera's Farthest Frontier: A History of Professional Opera in New Zealand. Reed Publishing. ISBN 9780790005119.