Drinker, Henry S (and with, Jr.)
Drinker, Henry S (and with, Jr.)
Drinker, Henry S (and with, Jr.), American music scholar and translator; b. Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 1880; d. Merion, Pa., March 9, 1965. He was a lawyer by profession, but devoted much time to musical pursuits. He founded the Accademia dei Dilettanti di Musica in his home in 1930, which gave performances of choral music ranging from the 17th to the 20th centuries until it was disbanded in 1960. He also founded the Drinker Library of Choral Music, which he later donated to the Free Library of Philadelphia. He tr. the texts of 212 cantatas by Bach, as well as the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the Easter Oratorio, and the Magnificat; also all of Mozart’s choral music, all of Schumann’s songs, all of the solo songs of Schu-bert and Wolf, and the complete vocal works of Brahms. His wife, Sophie (Lewis) (nee Hutchinson) Drinker (b. Philadelphia, Aug. 24, 1888; d. Chestnut Hill, Pa., Sept. 6, 1967) was a champion of women in music; she publ. Music and Women (1948) and Brahms and His Women’s Choruses (1952).
Writings
The Chamber Music of Johannes Brahms (Philadelphia, 1932); Bach’s Use of Slurs in Recitativo Secco (Merion, Pa., 1946); Drinker Library of Choral Music: Catalogue (Philadelphia, 1957); Accademia dei Dilettanti di Musica, 1930–1960 (Merion, Pa., I960).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire