Deems Taylor

Synopsis

In the 1930s and 40s, radio’s so-called Golden Age, Deems Taylor was the dominant voice of classical radio. Taylor was both the broadcast announcer of the New York Philharmonic on the CBS Network, and the opera commentator for NBC. He was also the voiceover narrator in the famous Disney animated film Fantasia.

In his day, Taylor was also a successful composer, producing a wide variety of music ranging from orchestral works to grand operas, including two that were commissioned by and staged at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York: The King’s Henchman, composed to a libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay premiered there in 1927, and Peter Ibbetson, based on a novel by George du Maurier, in 1931. He was also a fine writer and critic on musical topics, and was the author of several books.

Taylor was born in New York City on today’s date in 1885 and died there in 1966. The year after his death, ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, established the annual Deems Taylor Awards to acknowledge outstanding coverage of music topics — and in the interest of full disclosure, this program, Composers Datebook was one of the recipients of that award.

Music Played in Today's Program

Deems Taylor (1885-1966): Through the Looking Glass; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3099

On This Day

Births

• 1723 - German composer and gamba player Carl Friedrich Abel, in Cöthen

• 1821 - Italian composer, doublebass player and conductor Giovanni Bottesini, in Crema

• 1858 - Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, in Lucca

• 1874 - Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, in Pressburg (Bratislava)

• 1883 - French-born American composer Edgard (or Edgar) Varèse, in Paris

• 1885 - American composer and critic Deems Taylor, in New York City

• 1900 - British composer Alan Bush, in Dulwich, South London

• 1901 - Russian-born American conductor and arranger André Kostelanetz, in St. Petersburg

Deaths

• 1745 - Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, 66, during the night of December 22-23, in Dresden

• 1950 - American composer and conductor Walter Damrosch, 88, in New York City

Premieres

• 1808 - Beethoven: Symphonies 5 and 6 along with the Choral Fantasy and the Piano Concerto No. 4, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, with composer as conductor and piano soloist

• 1837 - Lortzing: opera Zar und Zimmermann (Csar and Carpenter), in Leipzig at the Stadttheater

• 1888 - Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3, in Budapest

• 1906 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 8, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Dec. 9)