Emerson Whithorne (birth surname ''Whittern'') (September 6, 1884 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

- March 25, 1958) was a notable American

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 ...

and researcher into the

history of music Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of la ...

. He had a reputation as an authority on the

music of China The music of China consists of many distinct traditions, often specifically originating with one of the country's various Ethnic groups in China, ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country, involving either people of Chinese or ...

. He wrote music criticism for ''Musical America'' and the ''Paul Mall Gazette''.

Marriage to Ethel Leginska

In 1907 Whithorne was married to the English musician Ethel Leginska. They met whilst studying music in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Sometimes they performed duets together, with Whithorne playing the second part in two-piano pieces during her recitals. Whithorne acted as her concert manager for the first two years of their marriage. , and as a composer. Emerson Whithorne had one son with her, Cedric Whithorne, born in September 1908 after the couple returned to England after visiting the United States. They travelled to

where Leginska made her unofficial American debut at Cleveland's Hippodrome, a vaudeville theater. The couple separated in 1910 and divorced in 1916. Ethel mounted an unsuccessful custody fight for her son Cedric,

Career

Whithorne served on the Council of the International Composers' Guild (ICG). His composition ''Greek Impressions'' was the opening piece for the very first of the concerts the ICG organised, held at

Greenwich Village Theatre Greenwich Village Theatre (GVT) was an arts venue in Greenwich Village, New York which opened in 1917 and closed for the last time in 1930. Herman Lee Meader was the architect and it was located in Sheridan Square at 4th Street and Seventh Av ...

on 19 February 1922. A year later two of his compositions, ''Tears'' and ''Invocations'' received their world premiere at the

Klaw Theatre The Klaw Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 251–257 West 45th Street (now a part of George Abbott Way) in Midtown Manhattan. Built in 1921 for producer Marcus Klaw, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa. Rachel Crothers' '' Ni ...

, a

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

on 4 March 1923, also under the auspices of the ICG. However his piece was performed immediately prior to

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

's ''

Hyperprism In geometry, a prism is a polyhedron comprising an polygon base, a second base which is a translated copy (rigidly moved without rotation) of the first, and other faces, necessarily all parallelograms, joining corresponding sides of the tw ...

'' which led to a riot. Following this there was a dispute between Claire Reis and Varèse about programming, and Whithorne left the ICG to join Reis's new organisation, the

League of Composers The League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music is a society whose stated mission is "to produce the highest quality performances of new music, to champion American composers in the United States and abroad, and to introduce Ame ...

Trivia

Whithorne lived for a period in London, staying until 1915. The Times reported that Whithorne was prosecuted for playing the pianoforte at unsocial hours. In November 1913 he won the case brought by the landlord of his South Kensington flat.

Partial List of Compositions

* ''Greek Impressions'' * ''Tears'' * ''Invocation'' * ''Sierra Morena'', premiered 1938 by

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

and

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...

* ''Moon Trail'', premiered 1933 by

Serge Koussevitzky Serge Koussevitzky (born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky;Koussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his sig ...

and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. * ''The Rain'', Op. 12 No. 1 * ''Hototogisu'', Op. 14 No. 1 * ''Put by the Lute'', Op. 15 No. 1 * ''2 Chinese Poems'', Op. 18 (1. ''Tears'' based on a Cranmer-Byng translation of a Wang Sang-Ju poem, dedicated to Frances Garrison, and 2. ''The Golden Nenuphar'', based on Cranmer-Byng translation of a Han-zi poem) * ''2 Chinese Nocturnes'', Op. 34 * ''La Nuit: Nocturne'', Op.35 No. 1 * ''Aeroplane,'' Op. 38 No. 2 (dedicated to Rudolph Ganz) * ''New York Days & Nights'', Op. 40 (suite for piano published in 1922, orchestral arrangement premiered by the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra under Whithorne in 1927) * Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 49, premiered by Eugene Goossens and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in January 1934. * ''String Quartet'', Op. 51 * ''Hommage'', Op. 58 No. 2 * Symphony #2

References

External links

* 1884 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American classical composers American male classical composers American music historians Classical musicians from Ohio Musicians from Cleveland Pupils of Theodor Leschetizky Members of the International Composers' Guild 20th-century American male musicians Historians from Ohio 20th-century American male writers {{US-composer-19thC-stub