William Dayas


William Humphreys Dayas was an American pianist, pedagogue and composer, one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt.
Dayas lost his parents at an early age. He took church organist appointments and piano pupils as a teen to earn a living, while also studying piano with S. B. Mills and Rafael Joseffy and organ with Samuel P. Warren. In 1881 he moved to Berlin to pursue musical education, studying with Franz Kullak, Ehrlich, and Haupt. He then travelled to Weimar, where he was among many in Liszt's circle in the 1880s.
From 1890 to 1893 he succeeded Busoni as professor of piano at the Helsinki conservatory. He subsequently taught in Wiesbaden and, at Franz Wüllner's invitation, to the Cologne Conservatorium. From 1896 until his death he taught at Royal [Manchester College of Music], succeeding Charles Hallé, and succeeded by Arthur Friedheim.
Dayas concertized frequently, including with Adolph Brodsky, Wilma Neruda, and piano four-hands with Busoni. Upon his death, The [Musical Times] published remembrances by Busoni and Wilma Neruda, remarking on his fierce individuality and his pedagogical gifts. Busoni's arrangement of Bach's prelude and fugue for organ BWV 552 is dedicated to Dayas. The Royal [Northern College of Music] awards a Dayas Prize for Composition.

Personal life

William Dayas was married to Margaret Vocke, a fellow pupil of Liszt, in 1891. Their daughter Karin Dayas, a noted pianist and pedagogue, was born in Helsinki in 1892.

Selected compositions