1859–1940

Introduction

Born: De­cem­ber 25, 1859, Bucks­port, Maine.

Died: Jan­ua­ry 24, 1940, Or­ange, New Jer­sey.

Buried: Ev­er­green Ce­me­te­ry, Port­land, Maine.

portrait

Biography

Charles was the son of Lu­ther Au­gus­tine Coombs and Ca­ro­line Whit­ney.

In 1878, he moved to Stutt­gart, Ger­ma­ny. He spent five years stu­dy­ing com­po­si­tion with Max Sei­frig, con­duct­or of the Roy­al Op­era; pi­ano with Wil­helm Spei­del; and li­te­ra­ture and lang­uag­es with Fer­di­nand Lowe.

He moved to Dres­den in the fall of 1884 to stu­dy or­gan with Jans­sen and com­po­sition with Drae­se­ke.

In 1886 he went to Pa­ris, then to Lon­don in 1887. He moved back to Dres­den to ac­cept a po­si­tion as or­gan­ist and choir­mas­ter at the Am­er­ican Church.

In 1891 he re­turned to Am­er­ica to be­come or­gan­ist and choir­mas­ter at the Church of the Ho­ly Com­mun­ion in New York, where he stayed un­til 1908. He then ac­cept­ed a si­mi­lar po­si­tion at St. Luke’s Church in New York.

He re­tired in 1928, spend­ing much of his re­tire­ment liv­ing on a house­boat in Kash­mir and tra­vel­ing in Eur­ope and Asia.

He lived his last two years with his ne­phew, Fred­er­ick A. Coombs, in Or­ange, New Jer­sey.

Coombs was a found­er of the Am­er­ican Guild of Or­gan­ists, a mem­ber of its Coun­cil, and for three years its Ge­ne­ral Trea­sur­er.

He was al­so a mem­ber of St. Wil­fred’s Club, the Am­er­ican Club, and the Clef Club.

Sources

Music