Philip Hale

Philip Hale ( born March 5, 1854 in Norwivch / Vermont, † November 30, 1934 in Boston ) was an American music critic and organist.

Hale had in his childhood piano and organ lessons and was fourteen years old organist at the Unitarian Church in Northampton / Massachusetts. He studied at Phillips Exeter Academy and until 1876 at Yale University.

After graduating, he worked in the law firm of an uncle in Albany. He became in 1880 a member of the New York State Bar Association and worked for two years as a lawyer. At the same time he took over the post of organist at St. Peter's Church and worked as a music critic for the Albany Times.

From 1882 he undertook a study tour of Europe. He attended among others Berlin, Dresden and Paris, where he took organ lessons with Alexandre Guilmant. After his return to Albany, he was organist at St. John 's Church in Troy and wrote music reviews for various newspapers.

In 1889 he assumed the position of organist of the First Religious Society in Roxbury / Massachusetts, he held seventeen years. 1890-91 he was music critic of the Boston Post, then he moved to the Boston Journal. From 1903 to 1934 he was a music and theater critic for the Boston Herald.

Famous were his program notes for the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he published from 1902 until his death, and of which 1935 appeared a collection as a book. Furthermore, Hale operated as editor of the Musical Record (1897-1901) and the Musical World ( 1901-1902 ).

Swell

• Five College Archives & Manuscript Collections - Philip Hale Papers
• Encyclopedia.com - Philip Hale

• Classic organist
• Music critic
• Born in 1854
• Died in 1934
• Man