Augustus Stephen Vogt

Who was Augustus Stephen Vogt?

Augustus Stephen Vogt was a German Canadian organist, choral conductor, music educator, composer and author.

Born in Washington, Oxford County, Canada West, Province of Canada, the son of German immigrant John George Vogt and Swiss immigrant Marianna Zingg, Vogt grew up in Elmira, Ontario. Vogt's father was a hotel-keeper and also built organs. Vogt was appointed organist at the local church and later studied in Hamilton. He was appointed organist of First Methodist Church in St Thomas, Ontario. From 1881 to 1884, he studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. From 1885 to 1888, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany. In 1888, he returned to Canada and was organist-choirmaster of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto, where he would stay until 1906. He taught at the Toronto College of Music and at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Among his notable pupils were W. H. Hewlett and Ernest Seitz.

In 1894, he founded the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. In 1913, he was appointed musical director of the Toronto Conservatory of Music and resigned from the Mendelssohn Choir in 1917.