and in many small towns, popularizing
the best music by that happy fervor of interpretation which alone is
needed to bring classical compositions home to the public heart. In
1869 he was called to the "mother-church" of Chicago. In the Chicago
fire he lost many valuable manuscripts, including a concert overture
on Drake's exquisite poem, "The Culprit Fay," which must be especially
regretted. He moved his family to Boston, assuming in ten days the
position of organist at St. Paul's; and later he accepted charge of
"the great organ" at Music Hall,--that organ of which Artemus Ward
wrote so deliciously.

In 1875 Theodore Thomas, whose orchestra had performed many of Buck's
compositions, invited him to become his assistant conductor at the
Cincinnati Music Festival and at the last series of concerts at the
Central Park Garden in New York. Buck accepted and made his home in
Brooklyn, where he has since remained as organist of the Holy Trinity
Church, and conductor of the Apollo Club, which he founded and brought
to a high state of efficiency, writing for it many of his numerous
compositions for male voices.

Buck's close association with church work has naturally led him
chiefly into sacred music, and in this class of composition he is by
many authorities accorded the very highest place among American
composers. He has also written many organ solos, sonatas, marches, a
pastorale, a rondo caprice, and many concert transcriptions, as well
as a group of etudes for pedal phrasing, and several important
treatises on various musical topics. His two "Motett Collections" were
a refreshing relief and inspiration to church choirs thirsty for
religious Protestant music of some depth and warmth.

In the cantata form Buck also holds a foremost place. In 1876 he was
honored with a commission to set to music "The Centennial Meditation
of Columbia," a poem written for the occasion by the Southern poet,
Sidney Lanier. This was performed at the opening of the Philadelphia
Exhibition by a chorus of one thousand voices, an organ, and an
orchestra of two hundred pieces under the direction of Theodore
Thomas. In 1874 he made a metrical version of "The Legend of Don
Munio" from Irving's "Alhambra," and set it to music for a small
orchestra and chorus. Its adaptability to the resources of the vocal
societies of smaller cities has made it one of his most popular works.

Another bit of Washington Irving is found in Buck's cantata, "The
Voyage of