Will Marion Cook
| Will Marion Cook | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Mercer Cook |
| Born |
January 27, 1869 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | July 19, 1944 (aged 75) |
William Mercer Cook (January 27, 1869 – July 19, 1944), better known as Will Marion Cook, was an African-American composer and violinist from the United States. Cook was a student of Antonín Dvořák and performed for King George V among others. He is probably best known for his popular songs and Broadway musicals, such as Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake Walk and In Dahomey.
Will Marion Cook (né William Mercer Cook) was born in Washington, D.C. to John Hartwell Cook, dean of the Howard University School of Law, and his wife, Isabel. When his father died of tuberculosis in 1879, Cook's mother eventually had to send all her three children away; following a violent altercation with a teacher during a strapping incident, the 10-year-old Will went to live with his maternal grandparents (ex-slaves who had bought their freedom) in Chattanooga, where he first experienced "real Negro melodies" during what he would later call his "soul period".
Cook's musical talent was apparent at an early age. At fifteen, he was sent to the Oberlin Conservatory to study violin. With help from members of the African American community, his benefit recitals were sponsored to help him afford to study abroad. From 1887 to 1889, he studied at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik, working with Joseph Joachim's former student, violinist Heinrich Jacobson; Jacobson served as Chairman of the Orchestral Instruments Department. Although it is often stated that Cook studied abroad for nine years, there is no evidence of this.
Cook married the young singer Abbie Mitchell in 1898; she was 14. They had a daughter, Marion Abigail Cook, in 1900, and a son, Will Mercer Cook, in 1903. Their daughter, raised by family members as had been Mitchell herself, married dancer Louis Douglas. Their son became a professor at Howard University and United States Ambassador to Niger and Senegal.
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