Introduction

Biography

Chauncey was the son of Ol­iv­er Ca­dy and Abi­gail Brain­ard, and hus­band of Har­ri­et Mul­ford Ha­vens. He is said to have had a son al­so named Chaun­cey Mar­vin Ca­dy (1871–1880).

He was edu­cat­ed at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mi­chi­gan (AB 1851) and Un­ion Theo­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, New York Ci­ty (1851–53).

He worked with Will­iam Brad­bu­ry for some time, and ed­it­ed the New York Mu­sic­al Re­view un­til 1856.

In 1858, he and Eb­en­ezer Tow­ner Root (young­er bro­ther of com­pos­er George Root) found­ed the Root & Ca­dy mu­sic pub­lish­ers in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois. The firm last­ed un­til 1871, when the Great Chi­ca­go Fire des­troyed much of its in­ven­tory and led to the com­pa­ny’s bank­rup­tcy. By 1878, Ca­dy was again run­ning a pub­lish­ing house, in New York Ci­ty.

Cady is re­mem­bered as a lib­ret­tist, sing­er, mu­sic teach­er, cho­ral con­duc­tor, ed­it­or, and pub­lisher.

Works

• Minnehaha Glee Book (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: H. M. Hig­gins, 1857)
• The Three An­gel Vi­sit­ants (New York: J. L. Pe­ters, 1857)
• Parlor Gems (New York: C. M. Ca­dy, 1879)
• Esther, the Beau­ti­ful Queen, with Will­iam Brad­bu­ry et al.
• Songs of Hen­ry Clay Work, with Ber­tram C. Work et al.
• Daniel, a can­ta­ta, with George Root et al. (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ol­iv­er Dit­son, 1881?)