A brief one today, about a peripheral feature in early Virginia Glee Club history. Frederick G. Rathbun (1862–1903) conducted the Glee Club for a single season, but lived an unusually varied and rich life in music outside of his experience with the Glee Club.
Rathbun was born in South Lee, Massachusetts, which is about a fifteen-minute drive from Tanglewood, in 1862, and attended New England Conservatory, making him one of only a few Glee Club conductors with conservatory training (the others: Frank Albinder and James S. Constantine). Following his marriage to Ida S. Warren, he and his bride moved to Virginia, where he was the organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hampton and a music teacher at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). Sometime in the following years he was connected with the University of Virginia Glee Club, and became their conductor for the 1895–1896 season, succeeding Harrison Randolph.
When I found the photo above, fifteen years ago, I thought with little evidence that Rathbun was likely a student. There is, it is now clear, no evidence to support this assumption, as he appears in no yearbook or directory as a student. So how did he find his way to Charlottesville?
The best guess is that he spent time in Charlottesville pursuing his other musical career, composition. He published his first work, the “Wythe Rifles Quickstep,” with the Dise Company of Philadelphia in 1885, and went on to publish dozens of other compositions, including the 1891 Cabin and Plantation Songs as Sung by Hampton Students. His best known work, though, might be the hymn “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” setting a text by Horatius Bonar.
Unfortunately, Rathbun’s wife died in 1898, and though his family rallied around him, he too passed away in 1903 following the death of his brother.
The above biography is heavily indebted to a 1987 Rathbun family genealogical newsletter that leaves open several questions: Where was Rathbun living while serving as organist in Hampton? The family history says “nearby Virginia City,” but the only thing that turns up by that name in the state is out near Blacksburg. Also, how did he wind up as a Glee Club conductor while remaining the organist in Hampton? His 1903 grave marker says he was the organist for nearly 20 years. With luck, we’ll get more information about Rathbun that will explain the mystery.