Introduction

Biography

Charles was the son of Will­iam Hors­ley.

He stu­died in Ger­ma­ny un­der Haupt­mann and Men­dels­sohn, and on return to Eng­land com­posed se­ver­al ora­to­rios and oth­er pieces.

In 1860 he was ap­point­ed to ar­range the mu­sic for the 1862 In­ter­na­tion­al Ex­hi­bi­tion.

The fol­low­ing year, he emi­grat­ed to Aus­tral­ia, where he worked as a cho­ral and or­ches­tral con­duct­or.

In 1872, Hors­ley went to Am­er­ica and be­came or­gan­ist of St. John’s Cha­pel, New York Ci­ty, at an an­nu­al sal­a­ry of £500, a po­si­tion he held un­til his death.