Thomas Baker (c. 1820 – 1888) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

music arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, and musical producer who was primarily active in New York City. He is best known for composing the music for ''

The Black Crook ''The Black Crook'' is a work of musical theatre first produced in New York City with great success in 1866. Many theatre writers have cautiously identified ''The Black Crook'' as the first popular piece that conforms to the modern notion of a mu ...

''; a work which is widely cited as the first precursor to the twentieth-century

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

Life and career

Thomas Baker was born in England in c. 1820. A

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

on the violin, he was educated at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

in London. Baker joined the orchestra of the French conductor and composer

Louis-Antoine Jullien Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué V ...

, and with this ensemble he traveled on a concert tour to the United States in 1853. He decided to remain in America, and began his career working in the United States as an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

conductor at

Niblo's Garden Niblo's Garden was a theater on Broadway and Crosby Street, near Prince Street, in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the ''Sans Souci'' and was later the property ...

in New York City. He left that post two years later in 1855 to become musical director for the impresario

Laura Keene Laura Keene (20 July 1826 – 4 November 1873) was a British stage actress and theatre Actor-manager, manager. In her twenty-year career, she became known as the first powerful female manager in New York. She is best known for being the le ...

; a position he remained in through 1863. His first composition to be staged on Broadway, ''

Novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

'', opened at Laura Keene's Variety House on February 22, 1856. In 1861, Baker published the first "sheet-music publication of any black spiritual", ''Song of the Contrabands''. His efforts were later criticized as betraying a lack of knowledge of black music, for having "turned the slave song into a parlor ballad in time". He was credited with writing the music for the 1866 stage production ''

'', which premiered at

in New York City, using a melodrama and a French ballet troupe whose venue burnt to the ground while they still rehearsed. The "result was an unprecedented triumph", and was one of the major events in the early history of the

extravaganza An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of Victorian burlesque, and pantomime, in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. The term is derived from th ...

. The production "is frequently cited as the first real precursor to the twentieth-century musical".William A. Everett, Paul R. Laird, ''The Cambridge Companion to the Musical'' (2008), p. 18. Baker also arranged musical productions of

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

and

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

.Internet Broadway Database page on Thomas Baker
He wrote the music for a number of productions at the

Olympic Theatre Olympic Theater or Olympic Theatre may refer to: * Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, formerly Coppin's Olympic Theatre * National Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, converted to and renamed Olympic Theater in 1873 * Olympic Theatre (London), En ...

in New York. The last play for which he arranged and directed the music was titled ''Diplomacy'' and was produced on 1 April 1878.

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Thomas 1820s births 1888 deaths 19th-century composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Music directors English musical theatre composers English violinists English music arrangers English conductors (music)

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading

External links