Deems Taylor

Deems Taylor (actually: Joseph Deems Taylor, born December 22, 1885 in New York; † July 3, 1966 ) was an American composer, critic and broadcaster.

Biography

Deems Taylor studied architecture at New York University (NYU ). To finance his studies with he sold, despite a small musical training, some compositions. The result was a series of works for orchestra and individual vocal pieces. His 1912 published Siren Song was honored by the National Federation of Music Clubs with a price. In 1916 he wrote the cantata The Chambered Nautilus, followed by Through the Looking - Glass ( 1918), which earned him praise and recognition.

In 1916 he was on the editorial board of the New York Tribune and went for this newspaper as a correspondent for France. Taylor was a member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of writers, critics and actors who, ten years ( 1919-1929 ) daily for at Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel met. By Dorothy Parker, he stood in the rain correspondence. Between 1921 and 1925 Taylor music critic worked for the magazine New York World, and from 1931 to 1932 he was the music critic of the New York American.

Deems Taylor was a patron of classical music on the radio, and commented in the New York Philharmonic pauses. In Walt Disney's Fantasia film in 1940, he was seen as master of ceremonies.

In 1910 Deems Taylor married the journalist Jane Anderson ( 1888-1945 ), the marriage failed shortly thereafter. From a later relationship was the daughter, Joan (* 1926), produced.

Posthumous effect

The history of the Algonquin Round Table in 1994 filmed the director Alan Rudolph under the title Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Deems Taylor was here played by James LeGros.

The ASCAP awards since 1968 an annual named after Taylor Award for music journalism.

Works (selection)

  • Moments mausicals ( "Moments mousicals "). Noack Hübner, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88453-016- X.
  • Music lover 's encyclopedia. Times Music Comp. , Chicago, Ill. 1939.
  • Of men and music. , 1937.
  • A pictorial history of the movies. Simon & Schuster, New York 1949.
  • Some enchanted evenings. The story of Rogers and Hammerstein. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1976, ISBN 0-8371-5414-6 ( reprint of New York 1953).
  • The well-tempered listener. Useful and delightful instructions, particularly for listeners of orchestral works, also on the radio ("The welltempered listener "). Heimeran, Munich 1948.
  • The echo. Opera. , 1910.
  • The king's henchman. Opera. ( Libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay )
  • Peter Ibbetson. Opera.
  • Ramuntcho. Opera. 1940 ( free after Pierre Loti's novel).
Fantasia (film) Jane Anderson (American journalist) Richard Rogers Oscar Hammerstein II Name Authority File
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