 George Edward Percy Careless LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 1, p.738-739
Careless, George Edward Percy, director of the Tabernacle Choir for several years, was born Sept. 24, 1839, in London, England. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church by Elder John Hyde, Oct. 6, 1850, and was later ordained to the Priesthood and labored in different positions in the London branch for fourteen years. In 1864 he emigrated to Utah and located in Salt Lake City, where he became a member of the sixth quorum of Seventy. As a boy, Bro. Careless exhibited marked budding musical talent and became a student in the Royal Academy of London, afterward taking orchestral positions under the baton of several prominent leaders, playing in Exeter Hall, Drury Lane and the Crystal Palace, in concert, operas and oratorios when the performers reached into the thousands. Having received the gospel, his musical ability was in requisition as a director of the choir and at all the gatherings of the Saints in London, until 1864, when he emigrated to Utah. Soon after his arrival in Salt Lake City he became the leader of the theater orchestra and held that position first for six years, and again at a later period he served a term of six years in that capacity, making twelve years altogether. Musical dramas were successfully produced under his direction, and he was appointed conductor of the Tabernacle choir, retaining that supreme position for fourteen years. In 1875 Professor Careless made the first grand effort at oratorio with the "Messiah," having a combination of soloists and instrumentalists "partly 'Mormons' and partly outsiders." In 1879 he organized the Careless orchestra and for seven years he regularly gave orchestral concerts which grew in public favor and esteem, and were not only satisfactory from an artistic standpoint, but were also financial successes. The receipts for the first concert were about $500, while the last one brought in $1,000. He was a partner for some years with David O. Calder, together with whom he published the "Musical Times," the first publication of its kind in the Rocky Mountains. To publish music in proper type was, however, reserved for a later serial, "The Utah Magazine." In orchestral and operatic presentation, the professor has had no equal and no successor. His success in the "Mikado," "Pinafore," etc., and as an organizer was pre-eminent. This was the secret of his phenomenal success in presenting Handel's famous "Messiah." The labor attending this can hardly be computed, for but one of his instrumentalists, soloists or chorus had ever heard that magnificent work; yet patient, willing, and the inspiration begotten of loving confidence cemented [p.739] the incongruous and untrained elements into one, until all the critics were astonished and both the press and the public vied in appreciated encomium. Soon after his arrival in Utah, Elder Careless married Miss Lavinia Triplett, who was an associate with him in the London choir. She was an unusually gifted woman. As a composer, Professor Careless is counted by musicians as among the solid ones of our time; his versatility never degenerates into levity, and his sacred music, from the dirge-like melody of "Rest for the weary soul," to the semi-jublant "Hark, listen to the trumpeters, they call for volunteers," is certainly of wide range. But in the Psalmody it will be seen that while he ran the whole gamut of expression, he in every instance subordinated his musical fancy to the words. There is a fitness, an appropriateness, which tells how faithfully he entered into the spirit of the writers and interpreted their motive with the faculty of the connoisseur and the precision of the master. His supremacy was acknowledged by his coadjutors in both editions of the Psalmody, when they made him their leader in that delicate work, where his inspiration and talent had such scope that all Israel now sings and will continue to sing his music long after he has passed from earth. In 1888, Elder Careless married Jane Davis, daughter of Edward W. Davis, and since his retirement from an unusually busy life, he has quietly resided in the First Ward, Salt Lake City, where he still gives his time to extending the knowledge and love of his fascinating profession, giving lessons in voice training, violin, piano, cabinet organ, harmony and sight-reading, a program which exhibits capacity and ability such as only long experience could venture upon and real worth fully sustain. |
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