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Calvin Woolsey

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Calvin Woolsey
Birth nameCalvin Lee Woolsey
BornDecember 26, 1883[1]
Tinney's Point, Missouri, U.S.[2]
DiedNovember 12, 1946[2]
Braymer, Missouri, U.S.[2]
GenresRagtime
Occupation(s)Physician, composer and pianist
InstrumentPiano
Years active1909 – 1918

Calvin Woolsey (December 26, 1883 – November 12, 1946) was an American composer, pianist, and physician.

Biography

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Woolsey was the middle of three children born to Napoleon and Gertrude Woolsey. Woolsey was a descendant of George (Joris) Woolsey, one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam, and Thomas Cornell.[3]

Woolsey was raised in Tinney Grove, Missouri, just south of the city of Braymer. He earned a medical degree from the University of Missouri and did his post-graduate work at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Army Medical Corps during World War I and attained the rank of 1st Lieutenant.[1]

He composed rags in the folk ragtime style that was popular around 1900. He sold two of these to Jerome H. Remick and self-published several others. He also published a waltz and a march.

He died at home, in 1946, of a coronary thrombosis.[1]

Compositions

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cover art from sheet music for "Medic Rag" (1910)
  • "Funny Bones" (rag, 1909)
  • "Dissatisfied" (1910)
  • "Poison Rag" (1910)
  • "Medic Rag" (1910)
  • "Peroxide Rag" (1910)
  • "Mashed Potatoes" (rag, 1911)
  • "Bill Johnson" (1912)
  • "Purple and White" (march, 1913)
  • "Lover's Lane Glide" (rag, 1914)
  • "Hearts Across The Sea" (waltz, 1918)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Edwards, Bill. "Calvin Lee Woolsey". Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Jasen, David A.; Trebor Jay Tichenor (1978). Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 61–64. ISBN 0-486-25922-6.
  3. ^ Cornell, Thomas Clapp Adam and Anne Mott: their ancestors and their descendants. A.V. Haight, 1890 Retrieved November 10, 2013
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