Richard Aldrich (July 31, 1863 – June 2, 1937) was an American

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

. From 1902–23, he was music critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Early life

Richard Aldrich was born on July 31, 1863, in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. His father was Elisha S. Aldrich and his mother, Anna E. Gladding. He attended Providence High School and graduated with an A.B. in 1885 from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, where he had studied music.

Career

He began his journalistic career on the ''

Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, the largest newspaper in Rhode Island, US. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspaper had won four ...

''. From 1889 to 1891, he was private secretary to Senator Nathan F. Dixon III in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, writing criticisms for the '' Washington Evening Star''. In 1891–92 he was with the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'' in various editorial capacities, assisting Henry Edward Krehbiel with musical criticisms. He was associated with Krehbiel as an American contributor to the revised edition of '' Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''.

Personal life

In 1906, he was married to Margaret Livingston Chanler, daughter of John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877) of the Dudley–Winthrop family and Margaret Astor Ward (1838–1875) of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business sector, business, Socialite, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With Germans, German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to th ...

. Margaret Livingston Chanler served as a nurse with the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

. They had two children, a daughter and a son: * Margaret Aldrich (1911-2011), who married Christopher Rand in 1934. She later married Byron DeMott (d. 1963). * Richard Chanler Aldrich (1909-1961), who married Susan Cutler (d. 1998), the daughter of John Wilson Cutler and Rosalind (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Fish) Cutler, and the granddaughter of Hamilton Fish II. Aldrich died on June 2, 1937, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy.

Publications

* ''Guide to Parsifal'' (Ditson, 1904) * ''Guide to the Ring of the Nibelung'' (Ditson, 1905) * Translator of Lilli Lehmann's ''How to Sing'' (Macmillan 1912) * ''Musical Discourse'' (1928) * ''Concert Life in New York 1902–1923'' (1941)

References

External links

A biographical sketch of composer Jan Albert van Eyken written by Aldrich
in a score of van Eyken's Three Sonatas for Organ; from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
A biographical sketch of Paganini written by Aldrich
in a score of Paganini's Le streghe (the witches’ dance) for violin and orchestra (or piano); from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Guide to Richard Aldrich's collection of musical autographs
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University
Guide to Richard Aldrich papers
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University
Richard Aldrich family letters from colleagues, 1904-1937
a
Isham Memorial Library, Harvard University
* * * 1863 births 1937 deaths Writers from Providence, Rhode Island Harvard College alumni American music critics Opera critics Pupils of John Knowles Paine Chanler family Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters {{Opera-bio-stub