Winthrop Sargeant (December 10, 1903 – August 15, 1986) was an American music critic,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist, and writer.

Early life

Sargeant was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

on December 10, 1903. He studied violin in his native city with Albert Elkus, and with Felix Prohaska and

Lucien Capet Lucien Louis Capet (8 January 1873 – 18 December 1928) was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer. Career Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes. He studied ...

in Europe.

Career

In 1922, at the age of 18, he became the youngest member of the San Francisco Symphony. He left there for New York City in 1926 where he became a violinist with the

New York Symphony The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie, ...

from 1926 to 1928 and later the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

from 1928 to 1930. He abandoned his performance career in favor of pursuing a career as a journalist, critic, and writer in 1930. He wrote music criticism for ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. History 1898–19 ...

'', ''

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

'', and '' The New York American''. He was notably a music editor for ''Time'' magazine from 1937–1945, and he served as a senior writer for ''Life'' magazine from 1945–1949. In 1940,

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...

lists him among "contributing editors" at ''Time'' in the play, ''Love's Old Sweet Song''. From 1949–1972, he wrote the column ''Musical Events'' for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. He continued to write music criticism for that publication until his death in 1986 at the age of 82. His books included ''Jazz: Hot and Hybrid'' (1938), ''Geniuses, goddesses, and people'' (1949), ''Listening to music'' (1958), ''Jazz: a history'' (1964), ''In spite of myself: a personal memoir'' (1970), ''Divas'' (1973).

Other scholarship

Sargeant had a long-standing interest in the '' Bhagavad Gītā''. Sargeant published his own English translation of the ''Bhagavad Gītā'' (see article) in 1979.

Personal life

Sargeant died at his home in

Salisbury, Connecticut Salisbury () is a town situated in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwesternmost in the state of Connecticut; the Massachusetts-New York-Connecticut tri-state marker is located at the northwest corner of the town ...

on August 15, 1986. He was survived by his wife, Jane Smith Sargeant, and his brother, Emmet Sargeant.

References

External links

Sargeant, Winthrop (1903-1986)
at the

Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center The Mugar Memorial Library is the primary library for study, teaching, and research in the humanities and social sciences for Boston University. It was opened in 1966. Stephen P. Mugar, an Armenian immigrant who was successful in the grocery b ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargeant, Winthrop 1903 births 1986 deaths American music critics Translators of the Bhagavad Gita 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century translators