Hadley, Henry (Kimball)
Hadley, Henry (Kimball)
Hadley, Henry (Kimball), noted American conductor and composer; b. Somerville, Mass., Dec. 20, 1871; d. N.Y., Sept. 6, 1937. He received training in piano, violin, and conducting from his father, and then studied harmony with Emery and counterpoint and composition with Chadwick in Somerville and at the New England Cons, of Music in Boston. He then took lessons in counterpoint with Mandyczewski in Vienna (1894–95) and in composition with Thuille in Munich (1905–07). After teaching at St. Paul’s School in Garden City, N.Y. (1895–1902), he devoted himself fully to conducting and composing. He was conductor of the Mainz Stadttheater (1907–09) and of the Seattle Sym. Orch. (1909–11). In 1911 he became conductor of the newly organized San Francisco Sym. Orch., which he conducted until 1915. After serving as assoc. conductor of the N.Y. Phil. (1920–27), he was founder-conductor of the Manhattan Sym. Orch. (1929–32). In 1934 he founded the Berkshire Music Festival in Stockbridge, Mass., which he conducted for 2 seasons. In 1924 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1933 he organized the National Assn. for American Composers and Conductors, which subsequently endowed the Henry Hadley Memorial Library at the N.Y. Public Library. In 1938 the Henry Hadley Foundation was organized in N.Y. to further Hadley’s championship of American music. In his own compositions, Hadley wrote well-crafted scores in a late Romantic vein. His 2nd Sym. received the Paderewski Prize in 1901.
Works
dramatic:Happy Jack, operetta (1897); Nancy Brown, operetta (1903); Safie, opera (Mainz, April 4, 1909); The Atonement of Pan, incidental music (1912; also an orch. suite, 1912); The Pearl Girl, operetta (n.d.); Azora, Daughter of Monte-zuma, opera (1914; Chicago, Dec. 26, 1917); The Masque of Newark, pageant (1916); Bianca, opera (1917; N.Y., Oct. 15, 1918); The Fire Prince, operetta (1917); Cleopatra’s Night, opera (1918; N.Y, Jan. 31, 1920); Semper virens, music drama (1923); A Night in Old Paris, opera (1924); The Legend of Hani, incidental music (1933; also an orch. suite, 1933); The Red Flame, musical (n.d.). ORCH.: Ballet Suite (1895); Festival March (1897); 5 syms.: No. 1, Youth and Life (N.Y., Dec. 2, 1897), No. 2, The 4 Seasons (N.Y., Dec. 20, 1901), No. 3 (1906; Berlin, Dec. 27, 1907), No. 4, North, East, South, and West (Norfolk, Conn., Jan. 6, 1911), and No. 5, Connecticut (Norfolk, Conn., 1935); Herod, overture (1901); In Bohemia, overture (Boston, Dec. 16, 1901); Oriental Suite (1903); Symphonic Fantasia (1904); Salome, tone poem (1905-06; Boston, April 12, 1907); Konzertstück for Cello and Orch. (1907); The Culprit Fay, rhapsody (1908; Grand Rapids, Mich., May 28, 1909); Lucifer, tone poem (1910; Norfolk, Conn., June 2, 1914); Silhouettes, suite (1918; Philadelphia, July 17, 1932); Othello, overture (Philadelphia, Dec. 26, 1919); The Ocean, tone poem (1920-21; N.Y., Nov. 17, 1921); Suite ancienne (1924); Streets of Pekin, suite (Tokyo, Sept. 24, 1930); San Francisco, suite (1931); Youth Triumphant, overture for Band (1931); Alma mater, overture (1932); Scherzo diabolique (Chicago, Aug. 1934). CHAMBER: Violin Sonata (1895); 2 string quartets (c. 1896, 1934); 2 piano trios (c. 1896, 1933); Piano Quintet (1919); piano pieces. vocal: cantatas:In Music’s Praise for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1898); The Princess of Ys for Women’s or Mixed Voices and Orch. (1903); A Legend of Granada for Soloists and Women’s Chorus (1904); The Fate of Princess Kiyo for Soloists, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1907); The Nightingale and the Rose for Soloist, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1911); The Golden Prince for Soloists, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1914); The Fairy Thorn for Soloists, Women’s Voices, and Piano or Orch. (1917); Prophecy and Fulfillment for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1922); The Admiral of the Seas for Soloist, Chorus, and Orch. (1928); Belshazzar for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1932). OTHER: The Fairies for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. or Piano (1894); Lelawala for Chorus and Orch. (1898); Merlin and Vivian, lyric drama for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1906); Music: An Ode for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1915); In Arcady, idyll for Chorus and Orch. (c. 1918); The New Earth, ode for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1919); Resurgam, oratorio for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1922); Mirtil in Arcadia, pastoral for Soloists, Narrator, Chorus, Children’s Chorus, and Orch. (1926); anthems; choruses; more than 200 songs.
Bibliography
H. Boardman, H. H., Ambassador of Harmony (Atlanta, 1932); P. Berthoud, ed., The Musical Works of Dr. H. H.. (N.Y., 1942); J. Canfield, H. K. H. (1871–1937): His Life and Works (diss., Fla. State Univ., 1960).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire