Composer: William Hunter

[thereallyniceman]

Steve Harrison has been browsing the University Libraries around the world to find interesting tunes for, or suitable for, banjo and has found a composer named William Hunter. On further research he reliably informs me that Parke Hunter composed using the name William Hunter.

He sent me a copy of what he described as one of his favourites "The College Rag".

I didn't immediately recognise the title, but then remembered that William J Ball had recorded it on the  "More William" CD during his 1994 American visit.

 

I have uploaded the banjo score and a full piano score to the MUSIC LIBRARY for those who would like to give it a try.

The CD and other Bill Ball CDs can be bought from Fred Determan's website:

www.williamjball.co.uk  

Here is a snippet:

 

THE COLLEGE RAG

[Dave Houle]

This is great Ian. I was familiar with this catchy song from my "More William" disc also but I've heard Olly Oakley performing it too.

Now I can add it to my overwhelming pile of songs to get to. I hope I live to be 100.

[Richard William Ineson]

I've always liked this tune, what are the titles of the other pieces by William Hunter? 

[thereallyniceman]

Good question Richard,
I can only find reference to College Rag. Perhaps I misunderstood Steve's email, but I guess he will comment.
It is a great tune and I have added a short audio player section of it to my original post.

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Richard..I've done a few arrangements by Charles Hunter, all of which are in the library..I've been playing College Rag for many years and have always been curious as to who William Hunter was. I recently made inquiries with the librarian at Colorado University and obtained a piano score of the tune and discovered that William Hunter's full name was William Parke Hunter. It must be more than a coincidence that he must be 'the' Parke Hunter.

 ichard William Ineson said:

I've always liked this tune, what are the titles of the other pieces by William Hunter? 

[Jody Stecher]

Steve, I'm following the William and Parke identity idea. But who is Charles?

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Jody..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hunter_(composer)....This extract from Wikipedia gives a good potted history of Charles Hunter....tragically he died young of TB as many did at that time but the few tunes he wrote were very good. I've two more of his on my desk top to arrange when time permits. 'Cotton Bolls' and 'Tickled to Death'. The four that are in the library are well worth a listen, the three rags have interesting  syncopation which sets them apart from the usual ragtime formula. Queen of Love is a nice march and not too challenging to play.

(Photo added by Ian)

[Richard William Ineson]

It is all very intriguing, Parke Hunter's first name was Morton, his initials appear on some of his early arrangements (Perlman's Brooklyn Cakewalk, and At a Georgia Camp Meeting for example) and I managed to track down his passport details etc. to establish his first name. He didn't appear to have used this name during his time in the U.K 1896 -1903, and he signed his letters and Mss. Parke Hunter. He was a student at Wabash College and he is listed there in 1896, as Morton Parke Hunter, so what the connection is between William and Morton remains to be cleared up. I did make an attempt to get his death certificate, some years ago, but I didn't have his first name at the time, so failed.

Steve Harrison said:

Hi Richard..I've done a few arrangements by Charles Hunter, all of which are in the library..I've been playing College Rag for many years and have always been curious as to who William Hunter was. I recently made inquiries with the librarian at Colorado University and obtained a piano score of the tune and discovered that William Hunter's full name was William Parke Hunter. It must be more than a coincidence that he must be 'the' Parke Hunter.

 ichard William Ineson said:

I've always liked this tune, what are the titles of the other pieces by William Hunter? 

[Steve Harrison]

http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/IGRADisco... Richard..to add even more confusion.. here's page about Olly Oakley from the California State University Library which also credits the composer of College Rag to William Parke Hunter

Richard William Ineson said:

It is all very intriguing, Parke Hunter's first name was Morton, his initials appear on some of his early arrangements (Perlman's Brooklyn Cakewalk, and At a Georgia Camp Meeting for example) and I managed to track down his passport details etc. to establish his first name. He didn't appear to have used this name during his time in the U.K 1896 -1903, and he signed his letters and Mss. Parke Hunter. He was a student at Wabash College and he is listed there in 1896, as Morton Parke Hunter, so what the connection is between William and Morton remains to be cleared up. I did make an attempt to get his death certificate, some years ago, but I didn't have his first name at the time, so failed.

Steve Harrison said:

Hi Richard..I've done a few arrangements by Charles Hunter, all of which are in the library..I've been playing College Rag for many years and have always been curious as to who William Hunter was. I recently made inquiries with the librarian at Colorado University and obtained a piano score of the tune and discovered that William Hunter's full name was William Parke Hunter. It must be more than a coincidence that he must be 'the' Parke Hunter.

 ichard William Ineson said:

I've always liked this tune, what are the titles of the other pieces by William Hunter? 

[Steve Harrison]

I've been unable to find any other tunes attributed to a William Hunter and as it's so well written, I's hard to believe that this was a one off. I suppose that one explanation is that for some reason William hunter was  used as an alias.

Richard William Ineson said:

It is all very intriguing, Parke Hunter's first name was Morton, his initials appear on some of his early arrangements (Perlman's Brooklyn Cakewalk, and At a Georgia Camp Meeting for example) and I managed to track down his passport details etc. to establish his first name. He didn't appear to have used this name during his time in the U.K 1896 -1903, and he signed his letters and Mss. Parke Hunter. He was a student at Wabash College and he is listed there in 1896, as Morton Parke Hunter, so what the connection is between William and Morton remains to be cleared up. I did make an attempt to get his death certificate, some years ago, but I didn't have his first name at the time, so failed.

Steve Harrison said:

Hi Richard..I've done a few arrangements by Charles Hunter, all of which are in the library..I've been playing College Rag for many years and have always been curious as to who William Hunter was. I recently made inquiries with the librarian at Colorado University and obtained a piano score of the tune and discovered that William Hunter's full name was William Parke Hunter. It must be more than a coincidence that he must be 'the' Parke Hunter.

 ichard William Ineson said:

I've always liked this tune, what are the titles of the other pieces by William Hunter? 

[marc dalmasso]

may

i understand there was a challenge in these periods  between  players from UK and USA and Tarrant Bailey killed Charles Hunter .. ?

Steve Harrison said:

Hi Jody..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hunter_(composer)....This extract from Wikipedia gives a good potted history of Charles Hunter....tragically he died young of TB as many did at that time but the few tunes he wrote were very good. I've two more of his on my desk top to arrange when time permits. 'Cotton Bolls' and 'Tickled to Death'. The four that are in the library are well worth a listen, the three rags have interesting  syncopation which sets them apart from the usual ragtime formula. Queen of Love is a nice march and not too challenging to play.

(Photo added by Ian)

[thereallyniceman]

I think you are correct Marc,

But Wikipedia says "Young of TB",  so, I guess,  it was  TBj  who killed Charles Hunter!

;-)

[Mike Moss]

Death by Tarrant Bailey -- the fate reserved for traitors and apostates! It is said the ancient Chinese invented this one. The victim is locked in a room with a loaded gun, while "Mind the paint" is played non-stop. Most shoot themselves after a day or two.