Cammeyer Passes
BY THE EDITOR
BMG February 1950
AFTER a brief illness of two weeks duration, Alfred D.
Cammeyer passed away peacefully on December 22nd last. With his death the
fretted instrument world loses a master musician and truly artistic
performer; one whose outstanding compositions have done much to elevate the
banjo during the past half century.
Alfred Davies Cammeyer was born in Brooklyn, New York
City, U.S.A., on March 17th 1862 and his first musical instrument was a
violin, presented to him by his father on his ninth birthday. After two
years’ tuition his teacher took the young Cammeyer to play to Dr.
Nightcrick (conductor of the New York Handel and Haydn Orchestral Society),
with the object of finding out if his pupil was good enough to play in the
Orchestra.
The audition was successfully passed and Cammeyer was
given the second violin part in "The Messiah" but his constant
practising of the part at home was too much for the rest of the household,
eventually meaning the end of his orchestral experience.
In his book "My Adventuresome Banjo", Mr.
Cammeyer told how he first became interested in the banjo. His one objection
to the violin was that it did not lend itself to the playing of chords and
harmonies. A fellow student at school played the banjo at sing-songs, and
this instrument seemed to "fill the bill".
All pennies that could be spared were hoarded until the
day the young Cammeyer, at the age of fourteen, bought his first banjo and
commenced to teach himself to play - much to the disgust of his parents.
FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE
Cammeyer and his school friend worked together; making
progress and discovering a new chord every day. They arranged duets of most
of the comic operas of the period and soon requests began to come in for
them to appear at charity concerts, which gave them an incentive to further
study.
The success of their many public appearances set their
imagination working and soon they were appearing with the Georgia Amateur
Minstrel Society, being billed as "Cammeyer & Thompson - Musical
Versatiles"; the act consisting of a multi-instrumental comedy scena.
Mr. Cammeyer himself described in an article in our
December issue how he evolved the "zither-banjo". After this
"new" instrument, with its wire strings, had been perfected,
Cammeyer teamed up with a guitarist named Teddy McGinnis and engagements at
private society functions in and around New York were soon forthcoming.
It was whilst playing for Adelina Patti at the Windsor
Hotel, New York, that this famous singer asked him if he had ever thought of
visiting London. She told him the British people would certainly take kindly
to his zither-banjo and added: "You must certainly come and pay me a
visit if you do".
COMES TO ENGLAND
But it was not until 1888 that Cammeyer sailed for
England, with many introductions to the cream of London Society. It took him
some time to convince these people that his playing of the zither-banjo was
different to the then usual black-faced "banjoist", but once he
started, his private engagements included names famous the world over.
At one of these parties, Sir Arthur Sullivan first gave
Cammeyer the idea of composing solos for his zither-banjo. "Such advice
from a master musician," says Mr. Cammeyer in his book, "made a
deep impression and the more thought I gave it the greater appreciation I
felt for his timely warning, for I fully realised that there were many weak
spots in the various arrangements I had hitherto relied on."
Eventually he composed hundreds of solos, many of which
are real musical gems - judged purely as music. In fact, it has been
said that Cammeyer was such a fine composer it was a pity he limited his
melodies to the banjo.
Four years after landing in England he and Clifford Essex
formed the firm of Essex & Cammeyer with premises at 59, Piccadilly, but
the partnership was dissolved in 1900.
For the next thirty-nine years, Cammeyer continued to
write and publish his musicianly compositions; appear on the concert
platforms and play at private parties given by the cream of London Society
and, during this period, it is safe to say he converted more people of note
to the "humble banjo" than any other artist.
In 1939 he retired from business, being provided with a
house on the estate of the Hon. Arthur Strutt in Derbyshire, where he
enjoyed a happy life until his death.
The passing of Alfred Davies Cammeyer makes a gap in
fretted instrument history that can never be filled. Cammeyer was an
outstanding performer and composer; he was unique. His name and memory will
never die.
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