Celius Dougherty
| Celius Hudson Dougherty | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 27, 1902 Glenwood, Minnesota |
| Died | December 22, 1986 (aged 84) Effort, Pennsylvania |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Pianist |
| Instruments | Piano |
Celius Dougherty (May 27, 1902, Glenwood, Minnesota – December 22, 1986, Effort, Pennsylvania) was an American pianist and composer of art songs and other music.
Celius Hudson Dougherty was born in Minnesota. He was born to William Francis Dougherty and Louise Martha Dougherty. Celius was interested in music and poetry from childhood. He claimed that he wrote his first song when he was seven years old. He was part of a musical family, and his mother, a music teacher and church musician, organized her seven children into a band. Celius performed as accompanist for one of his mother's song recitals at age ten.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota, where he studied piano with Donald Ferguson and composition. As an undergraduate, he performed his own piano concerto with the school orchestra. In 1924 he won the "Schubert Prize" for piano performance, sponsored by the Schubert Club. He used that scholarship to continue his studies at the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Josef Lhévinne in piano and Rubin Goldmark in composition.
In New York, where he lived for nearly fifty years, he performed his piano Sonata in E Flat at Aeolian Hall in 1925 and his Sonata for Violin and Piano in 1930. As a result of the latter performance, he was given the privilege of working at the MacDowell Colony during the summers of 1931, 1932 and 1933 with artists who were "stimulating influences," including Thornton Wilder, Edgar G. Robinson, Ruth Draper and Padraic Colum. He composed the one-act opera Damia, based on Petronius' Satyricon during these years (1930–32).
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