*Continued biography from the description:* Taking full advantage of the hospitality, Hunter found himself enjoying a number of different venues throughout St. Louis as a musician, unfortunately at the cost of his very own career & life upon stumbling unto the many distractions St. Louis had to offer, including it’s notorious Red Light District. Although there is no mention of him ever playing in "colored bars" such as Turpin's Rosebud Café, as with many other performers who fed into their popularity & the crowds they drew, Hunter had found himself to live & play hard, allowing the alcohol and carnal activity to take a took a toll on his body. The same lifestyle lived out by a number of St. Louis musicians at the time including Louis Chauvin, Tom Turpin & Scott Joplin (to an extent) just to name a few. Losing himself deep into the St. Louis nightlife & facing detrimental failing health, Hunter managed to see the error of his ways and attempted to return to a healthier mode of living. This would be around the same period he would release one of his final works “Back to Life,” said to be as a celebration to his partial recovery to better health after the change. For a bit of time throughout 1904 & 1905, Hunter enjoyed the more positive aspects of a proper lifestyle outside of the “sportin’ life,” including settling down to get married to Ms. Estelle F. Inch on October 21, 1905. Yet despite his efforts in rebuilding his health, all was already lost for Hunter as the tuberculosis that had begun to ravage his worn body was discovered shortly after the marriage, taking his life on January 23, 1906. Just 13 weeks after his marriage and a little short of his 30th birthday, Charles Hunter would leave behind him the great potential of yet another young talented musician & composer to be lost too soon, a common fate for many during the Ragtime Era. Less than a month after Hunter's death, more evidence citing Hunter's musical capabilities came around in an issue of “The Intermezzo” magazine issued by publisher John Stark, as a work titled “Davy - from the Opera (Josephine)" had appeared with Hunter shown as the composer with lyrics by W.V. Reynolds. This alone had led to the discovery that a copy of the entire opera, listed with music by Hunter himself and words by Reynolds, was published & copyrighted in 1904 with a single manuscript known to exist to this day in microfilm form, currently residing at the University of Missouri Columbia. Apart from composing the complete score for an Opera at such an early age, it was also discovered that Hunter had composed & written his first (and unfortunately only) waltz just a year before his death titled as the “Seraphine Waltzes,” providing a great example alongside “Josephine” that Hunter was already becoming capable in performing & composing classical works. Losing not only his career but also public interests after his death, major elements of Hunter’s complete history as the short-lived but famed Tennessee composer would become lost throughout the Era as the years continued to go by without him. Yet even with or without a deeper known background to his life both at the piano & about, we can continue to enjoy his early works of Folk-Ragtime to this very day, ensuring his legacy, history and name do not go out forgotten just as with many famed musicians of the past.
Have you ever considered making an Ed Claypoole video? I wrote a Wikipedia article about him, but it was sent back until I added more sources. Hopefully, I can find enough to warrant publishing. I did write the one about Max Kortlander, which has been published.
![The best of James Scott- 1 HOUR EDITION (1885-1938) [HQ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LK4uHQaQNRE/mqdefault.jpg)
![The best of James Scott- 1 HOUR EDITION (1885-1938) [HQ]](/img/tr.png)
*Continued biography from the description:*
Taking full advantage of the hospitality, Hunter found himself enjoying a number of different venues throughout St. Louis as a musician, unfortunately at the cost of his very own career & life upon stumbling unto the many distractions St. Louis had to offer, including it’s notorious Red Light District. Although there is no mention of him ever playing in "colored bars" such as Turpin's Rosebud Café, as with many other performers who fed into their popularity & the crowds they drew, Hunter had found himself to live & play hard, allowing the alcohol and carnal activity to take a took a toll on his body. The same lifestyle lived out by a number of St. Louis musicians at the time including Louis Chauvin, Tom Turpin & Scott Joplin (to an extent) just to name a few. Losing himself deep into the St. Louis nightlife & facing detrimental failing health, Hunter managed to see the error of his ways and attempted to return to a healthier mode of living. This would be around the same period he would release one of his final works “Back to Life,” said to be as a celebration to his partial recovery to better health after the change.
For a bit of time throughout 1904 & 1905, Hunter enjoyed the more positive aspects of a proper lifestyle outside of the “sportin’ life,” including settling down to get married to Ms. Estelle F. Inch on October 21, 1905. Yet despite his efforts in rebuilding his health, all was already lost for Hunter as the tuberculosis that had begun to ravage his worn body was discovered shortly after the marriage, taking his life on January 23, 1906. Just 13 weeks after his marriage and a little short of his 30th birthday, Charles Hunter would leave behind him the great potential of yet another young talented musician & composer to be lost too soon, a common fate for many during the Ragtime Era. Less than a month after Hunter's death, more evidence citing Hunter's musical capabilities came around in an issue of “The Intermezzo” magazine issued by publisher John Stark, as a work titled “Davy - from the Opera (Josephine)" had appeared with Hunter shown as the composer with lyrics by W.V. Reynolds. This alone had led to the discovery that a copy of the entire opera, listed with music by Hunter himself and words by Reynolds, was published & copyrighted in 1904 with a single manuscript known to exist to this day in microfilm form, currently residing at the University of Missouri Columbia.
Apart from composing the complete score for an Opera at such an early age, it was also discovered that Hunter had composed & written his first (and unfortunately only) waltz just a year before his death titled as the “Seraphine Waltzes,” providing a great example alongside “Josephine” that Hunter was already becoming capable in performing & composing classical works. Losing not only his career but also public interests after his death, major elements of Hunter’s complete history as the short-lived but famed Tennessee composer would become lost throughout the Era as the years continued to go by without him. Yet even with or without a deeper known background to his life both at the piano & about, we can continue to enjoy his early works of Folk-Ragtime to this very day, ensuring his legacy, history and name do not go out forgotten just as with many famed musicians of the past.
Thank you so much for making this video of Charles Hunter's music.
You are ever so welcome. 😌💚
Thank you for stopping by to take a listen or two. 🎹🎶
Have you ever considered making an Ed Claypoole video? I wrote a Wikipedia article about him, but it was sent back until I added more sources. Hopefully, I can find enough to warrant publishing. I did write the one about Max Kortlander, which has been published.
I haves not in the past but I have now! 😋
Always loved Claypoole's music ever since I had gotten into Ragtime, surely would make quite the video. 🤭