Mark Andrews (17)

Pipe organ player, composer, and choral conductor (born March 31, 1875 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England - died December 10, 1939 in Montclair, Essex, New Jersey, U.S.A.) Andrews studied organ under Sir John T. Buck of Westminster Abbey in London. In 1903, he emigrated with his family from England and settled in Montclair, NJ. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in May 1923. From 1903-1910, Andrews served as the organist of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church in Montclair, NJ, then took over the organ chair at the First Baptist Church, also in Montclair, until 1920. From 1917 to 1938, Andrews was the organist of the First Congregational Church in Montclair, NJ. At the end of WW1, he also served as the Y.M.C.A. music director of Camp Merritt in Tenafly, Bergen County, NJ. Andrews was a fellow of the American Guild of Organists and for a time the dean of its New Jersey chapter. Between 1924 and 1930, Andrews made almost 200 recordings for the Victor label, mostly playing the pipe organ, but in a few cases also as choral director or arranger. In addition, he released one record each with Columbia (1925) and Brunswick (1926). As a choral director, Andrews directed the Bethlehem Steel Male Chorus (est. 1920) and the Bethlehem Male Chorus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for four years. He also participated as a conductor in four mass concerts of the Associated Glee Clubs of America. At the largest of these events, in 1929, he conducted one half of 4,000 singers assembled in Madison Square Garden in New York City. As a composer, he wrote hymns like "Resurrection" (with Jean Thompson), "Lord Of All Beings," and "To Whom Then Shall I Liken God." In 1914, he also wrote a popular arrangement of the old English hunting song "John Peel."