Cadman, grandson of Samuel Wakefield, composer of hymns and builder of the first pipe organ west of the Allegheny Mountains, studied music privately with many distinguished teachers. During a period in which he was serving as a conductor of the Pittsburgh Male Chorus, the organist at the United Presbyterian Church in Homestead, PA and as music critic and editor for the =Pittsburgh Dispatch=, Cadman developed an interest in the music of Native Americans. He spent a summer on the Omaha and Winnebago reservations recording tribal songs. This led to the publication of = Four American Indian Songs=, with words by the poet Nellie Richmond Eberhart. Two of these songs, =At Dawning= and =From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water=, became very popular. Cadman's music is characterized by its well constructed melodies and traditional harmonies and is inspired by Native American sources. However, Cadman is clearly a member of of the group of American composers, including Farwell and Gilbert,} who have idealized Native American music and turned it into sentimental household music, robbing it of its ethnic character. © Lynn Vought, All Music Guide

Below are works by C.Cadman that every music lover should explore: