Will Accooe
Born
Will Accooe

1874
Winchester, Virginia
DiedApril 26, 1904
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMusician

Willis J. Accooe (1874 – April 26, 1904) was an American performing musician and composer, mainly of musicals.[1][2] He was "an important songwriter during the birth of the black musical" according to the Library of Congress website.[2]

Life and career

He was born in Winchester, Virginia to preacher John Harris Accooe and Anna Accooe.[3] He married fellow musician and performer Alice Mackey.[1] He studied at Princess Anne Academy in Maryland.[4]

He played organ at the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, and his composition Tennessee Centennial March proved greatly successful.[2]

Accooe was musical director for John William Isham's Octoroons, a popular quasi-minstrel troupe,[2] and was musical director for productions with Bert Williams. With Bob Cole and Billy Johnson he produced A Trip to Coontown in 1898, "the first New York musical written, produced, and performed by black artists". He wrote songs for the show and was its musical director.[2] In addition to his other theatrical work, he also worked on Broadway musicals for white audiences, including The Belle of Bridgeport (1900), The Liberty Belles (1901), The Casino Girl (1900–1901).[1][5]

He co-wrote a musical with Will Marion Cook entitled The Cannibal King (1901), but it was never produced.[2] He was a co-composer for Harry B. Smith's musical comedy, The Liberty Belles, which was produced in 1901.[6] He composed some of the music for the musical comedy Sons of Ham. During a 1903 production of the show by Avery and Hart (Dan Avery and Charles Hart), Accooe was the orchestra's conductor.[7]

He wrote the comic opera The Volunteers in 1903, but fell ill and production was halted.[3]

Accooee wrote his own funeral oration shortly before his death. He died at age 30 on April 26, 1904, in Brooklyn, New York.[4][8]

Selected compositions

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Peterson, Bernard L. (August 11, 2001). Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 9780313295348 – via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Will Accooe (d. 1904)". Library of Congress.
  3. 1 2 "AfriClassical: Will Accooe (1874–1904) Composed 'Black Patti Waltzes' (6:16) on New World Records CD 'Black Manhattan, Vol. 2' by Paragon Ragtime Orchestra". December 27, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Wrote Own Funeral Oration: It Will Be Delivered To-morrow Over Body of Will Accooe, Song Writer". New York Times. April 27, 1904. p. 2. ProQuest 96427211. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  5. ↑ Peterson, Bernard L. (1993). A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, Or Involving African Americans. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 31, 74, 215. ISBN 978-0-313-26657-7. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Reopening of the columbia theater with "the liberty belles."". The Washington Post. September 22, 1901. ProQuest 144232335. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Other Attractions". The Washington Post. April 21, 1903. p. 4. ProQuest 144426272. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Musical Author and Composer". Boston Evening Transcript. April 28, 1904. p. 7. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  9. ↑ Chicken. August 14, 1899. OCLC 51717040 – via Open WorldCat.
  10. ↑ Lulu: I loves yer, Lulu. August 14, 1901. OCLC 60404619 – via Open WorldCat.
  11. ↑ Love has claimed its own. August 14, 1901. OCLC 497033668 – via Open WorldCat.
  12. ↑ Ma dandy soldier coon
  13. ↑ On the road to Cairo town. August 14, 1903. OCLC 1117311435 – via Open WorldCat.
  14. ↑ Zapolski, Milton (February 15, 1988). "The marine band's black classics". The Washington Post. p. D3. ProQuest 139855811. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  15. ↑ Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Accooe, Will," accessed October 11, 2021, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/116854.
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