Marshall Spring Pike
Life
Born: 1818
Died: 1901
Biography
Marshall Spring Pike was born in Westborough, Massachusetts. He showed talent early and wrote music and verses at age 14. In an era of “black-face” entertainment, he and some colleagues formed a quartet called the “Albino Family” in which he established a routine as a female impersonator in “white-face” and a flaxen wig. His troupe later became known as The Harmoneon Family. In 1847, they appeared at the White House in Washington before President James Polk. Pike then joined Ordway’s Aeolians in Boston, and in 1857 left to form his own troupe, Pike's Harmoneons. After the outbreak of the US Civil War, he enlisted in the 22nd Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry and became Drum Major. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Gaines’s Mill and sent to Libby Prison where he formed a glee club. After the war he formed a partnership known as the Pike and Glunn Combination and toured New England. He was active as a legitimate actor, and wrote more than one hundred songs.
View the Wikipedia article on Marshall Spring Pike.
List of choral works
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Publications
External websites:
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