George B. Sippi

Sippi, George B.

George B. (Buckley) Sippi. Organist, choirmaster, teacher, b Bombay 10 Mar 1847, d London, Ont, 18 Sep 1915. His family returned in 1854 to Ireland from India, where his Italian grandfather had settled. He attended Queen's College in Cork and studied piano and organ with his uncle, John A. Sippi, but also played the violin well enough to appear in local concerts. After studying medicine briefly he followed his elder brother Charles A. Sippi to London, Ont, in 1870. He taught music 1870-6 at Hellmuth College (University of Western Ontario) and, after a short period in Montreal as organist-choirmaster at St Martin's Church, served for 37 years as organist-choirmaster at St Paul's Cathedral, London, Ont. An able performer and choirleader he also was an avid student of church music and music history. He assembled at the cathedral a collection of about 350 volumes of choral music, which, with his private library of musical literature, was donated to the University of Western Ontario after his death. In 1907 the Bishop of Huron, recognizing the unusual 'precision, solemnity and power' of Sippi's choir, appointed him director of diocesan music. Sippi's published compositions include The Oddfellows Galop (Nordheimer 1875) and a setting of William Henry Drummond's 'Canadian Forever' (Whaley Royce 1915).