Henry Thomas Smart

Henry Thomas Smart was an English organist and composer.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Henry Smart.

From the period sources

Henry Thomas Smart, a highly esteemed organist and noteworthy composer, was born in London in 1813 and died there in 1879, according to the Dictionary of Music (1896). He was the nephew of Sir George Thomas Smart, a distinguished English conductor and organist, and the son of Henry Smart, an excellent violinist who later became a pianoforte maker in London (Grove’s Dictionary, 1908). Smart composed a significant number of organ pieces, along with cantatas, songs, duets, terzets, and part-songs, particularly for female voices. Notably, in his later years, after becoming perfectly blind, he composed an opera titled Bertha, and several cantatas including The Bride of Dunkerron, King René’s Daughter, and The Fishermaidens, as well as a sacred cantata, Jacob, and anthems (Dictionary of Music, 1896). His cantata The Bride of Dunkerron, with text by Frederick Enoch, was first performed at the Birmingham Festival in 1864, based on the traditional story of the Lord of Dunkerron and a sea-maiden (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 1, 1888). For some time, he held the post of organist at St. Pancras (Dictionary of Music, 1896). His compositions for the organ were analyzed in a work by John Broadhouse, published in 1880, which included a portrait (Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886).