George Loder

George Loder (1816–1868) was an English conductor, composer, and book writer whose career spanned orchestral music, opera, and the Broadway stage. Born George Patrick Henry Loder in Bath, Somerset, he was baptized at the Chapel of St Mary, Walcot, Bath, on 14 November 1816. His father, also named George Loder, was a flautist, and his mother was Mary Cook, whom his father had married at St James, Bath, on 18 December 1815. Mary Loder died in 1821, and his father remarried Frances Kirkham two years later. Loder came from a musically distinguished family: his sister Kate Loder was a pianist and composer, and his uncle, the violinist John David Loder, was the father of composer Edward Loder.

Loder first traveled to America in 1836, settling for a period in Baltimore before establishing himself in New York. By 1844 he held the position of principal at the New York Vocal Institute and was a member of both the Philharmonic and Vocal Societies, institutions he had helped to found. He played double-bass in the Philharmonic Society for five seasons and periodically served as its conductor. On 20 May 1846, he led the orchestra in the first American performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. His original orchestral work also received attention during this period, including a performance of his overture Marmion at a Philharmonic Society concert held at the Apollo. His compositions found a particularly receptive audience in America, and the New York Glee Book of 1844 included several of his original part songs; the volume was reprinted multiple times between 1850 and 1855 and was later republished as The Philadelphia and New York Glee Book in 1864.

Around 1856, Loder traveled to Adelaide, South Australia, accompanying the soprano Anna Bishop, and subsequently remained in Australia as conductor of William Saurin Lyster's opera troupe. He returned to London by 1859, where he worked as an organist, vocalist, conductor, and composer. That year, on 11 June, he conducted a revival of his cousin Edward Loder's opera Raymond and Agnes. In 1860 he published The Middle Voice, a collection of twelve solfeggi, in London. His theatrical output from this period includes The Pets of the Parterre, a comic operetta published in 1861 that had been produced at the Lyceum Theatre, and The Old House at Home, a musical entertainment published in 1862. Various individual songs by Loder appeared in print in both England and America throughout his career.

Among his Broadway credits, Loder served as composer and book writer for The Andalusian and The Spirit of the Air. He made a second visit to Australia in his later years and died in Adelaide on 15 July 1868, following a prolonged illness.