Henry Gordon Thunder, Sr.

Henry Gordon Thunder, Sr. (10 February 1832, Tipperary - 15 December 1881, Philadelphia) was an Irish-born American organist, pianist, conductor, composer, music arranger, and music educator. Raised and educated in Dublin, he immigrated to the United States and began his career in the late 1840s as an organist in Baltimore, Maryland. He spent most of his career working as the organist and choirmaster at St. Augustine Church in Philadelphia while simultaneously teaching at a music academy he founded in that city. He also held organist posts at Saint Clement’s Church, Philadelphia and the Church of St. Stephen the Martyr in Manhattan. At the time of his death The New York Times stated that " Thunder arranged and composed a great deal of music for the Catholic Church service, and stood in the front ranks of the organists and pianists in this country." He should not be confused with his son, the organist, composer, and conductor Henry Gordon Thunder, Jr. (1865-1958). His uncle was Henry St John, 5th Viscount Bolingbroke. He immigrated to the United States where he settled in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 30, 1877 he gave a recital of music by Mozart, Haydn, and Handel at St. Stephe