Calvin Woolsey

Calvin Woolsey
Birth name	Calvin Lee Woolsey
Born	December 26, 1883[1] Tinney's Point, Missouri, U.S.[2]
Died	November 12, 1946[2] Braymer, Missouri, U.S.[2]
Genres	Ragtime
Occupation(s)	Physician, composer and pianist
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1909 – 1918

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

Biography

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

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

• List of ragtime composers

References

1. Edwards, Bill. "Calvin Lee Woolsey". Retrieved September 18, 2012.
2. 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

External links

• video of a duet performance of "Mashed Potatoes" on YouTube