Lawrence Gilman (July 5, 1878 – September 8, 1939) was an American author and music
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...
.
Lawrence Gilman was the son of
Arthur Coit Gilman and
Bessie (Lawrence) Gilman, and the grandnephew of educator
Daniel Coit Gilman. Lawrence Gilman studied art at
Collins Street Classical School in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
under
William M. Chase. He also taught himself music in theory and practice on several instruments, including
organ and
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
.
From 1896 to 1898, he worked for the
New York Herald,
then from 1901 to 1913 as a music critic for
Harper's Weekly
''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...
,
where he advanced to the position of managing editor. From 1915 to 1923, he worked as a critic in multiple arts for the
North American Review, and for the
Herald Tribune from 1923 until his death.
On August 1, 1904, he married
Elizabeth Wright Walter, with whom he had one child, "Betty"
Elizabeth Lawrence Gilman in 1905.
Gilman earned later notoriety for his scathing negative reviews of compositions that later became known as classics. He described
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...
's ''
Rhapsody in Blue'', for example, as trite, feeble, conventional, vapid, fussy, futile, lifeless, stale, derivative and inexpressive.
[Slonimsky, Nicolas (2000). ''Lexicon of Musical Invective''. W. W. Norton & Company. . Gilman's unfavorable review, "weep over the lifelessness".] He was similarly dismissive of Gershwin's later ''
Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy (play), ...
''.
Works
Gilman wrote several books:
* "Phases of Modern Music" (1904)
* "The Music of Tomorrow" (1906)
* "Stories of Symphonic Music" (1907)
* "A Guide to Strauss' 'Salome'" (1907)
* "A Guide to Debussy's 'Pelleas et Melisande" (1907)
* "Edward MacDowell: A Study" (1909)
* "Aspects of Modern Opera" (1908)
* "Nature in Music" (1914)
* "A Christmas Meditation" (1916)
* "Music and the Cultivated Man" (1929)
* "Wagner's Operas" (1937)
* "Toscanini and Great Music" (1938)
* "Orchestral Music" (1951)
He also wrote musical works:
* "A Dream of Death" (1903)
* "The Heart of a Woman" (1903)
* "The Curlew" (1904).
References
External links
*
*
*
Lawrence Gilman Papers, Georgetown University Library, library.georgetown.edu
1878 births
1939 deaths
Gilman family (New Hampshire)
Opera critics
American music critics
Students of William Merritt Chase
American male journalists
New York Herald people
New York Herald Tribune people
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