Product Description
Thomas Wiggins was a talented American pianist and composer from the late nineteenth century. Born to slave parents, Wiggins was blind at birth and was not given usual slave labor. Instead, he learned to play piano by ear, and wrote his first composition at age 5. He was hired to tour throughout the US as a performer when he was only 8 years old, and earned an estimated $750,000 for his owner, General James Neil Bethune, making Wiggins arguably the most highly compensated pianist of the nineteenth century. Reportedly Wiggins could hear a performance only once and was able to reproduce the music at the piano. He continued to perform extensively until he was 55, when he allegedly suffered a stroke. Even after retiring, however, neighbors said they could hear Wiggins playing piano at all hours at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Visit jeremycrosmer.com/black-composers for more Classical String Quartets by Black Composers, where you will find coupons and a wide selection of products. Composers include: Joseph Bologne, Thomas Wiggins, Ignatius Sancho, George Bridgetower, Francis Johnson, and more.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.