Charles Henry Galloway

rdf:langString Charles Henry Galloway

rdf:langString Charles Henry Galloway

rdf:langString Charles Henry Galloway

rdf:langString St. Louis, Missouri

rdf:langString St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

rdf:langString Charles Galloway Signature.png

rdf:langString Galloway

rdf:langString Organist, music educator, choral conductor, composer

rdf:langString Charles Henry Galloway (December 21, 1871 – March 9, 1931) was a St. Louis, Missouri church and concert organist, choral conductor, educator, and composer. At six feet eight inches (2.03 m) tall, Galloway was a large man with a commanding presence. His hands were so large, in fact, that his reach on the piano was supposedly twelve keys, or just over eleven inches. A child prodigy, Galloway was employed as a church organist by the age of nine. Over the course of his life, he was employed at various churches in St. Louis, including St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where he served as organist and choirmaster for more than thirty-five years. From 1895 to 1898, Galloway studied with the great French organist Alexandre Guilmant, with whom he became lifelong friends. Most notably, Galloway was the official organist for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, where he debuted the great organ in Festival Hall (now preserved as the nucleus of the Wanamaker Organ at Macy's Center City in Philadelphia) which was the largest organ in the world at that time. Though he composed numerous works as a young man, Galloway later admitted in a letter to W.H. Pommer, “I cannot believe that it was ever meant for Charles Galloway to compose.” He also served as the conductor of the most respected men's and women's choral ensembles in the St. Louis area: the and the Morning Choral Club, respectively. As an educator, Galloway taught at various institutions, including the Strassberger Conservatories of Music, Washington University, and Lindenwood College.) In addition, he had a large number of private keyboard students, many of whom went on to become church musicians and educators.