Henry Kimball Hadley

Henry Kimball Hadley (20 December 1871 – 6 September 1937) was an American composer and conductor.

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, he first studied music with his father, who was a secondary school music teacher, and later with the composer George Whitefield Chadwick. In 1894 he travelled to Vienna to further his studies with Eusebius Mandyczewski.

He conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra from 1909 to 1911 and founded the San Francisco Symphony in 1911. Hadley was invited by Warner Bros. to conduct The New York Philharmonic for the soundtrack music for its 1926 film, "Don Juan" with John Barrymore; this was the first feature film with synchronized music and sound effects. He was also filmed with the New York Philharmonic conducting the overture to Wagner's opera Tannhauser. He wrote a complete original score for the 1927 Barrymore film "When a Man Loves".

In an age when Americans preferred European conductors to home grown ones, Hadley felt that he needed to establish himself in Europe. So, after some years as teacher, Hadley returned to Europe in 1904 to tour, compose, and study with Ludwig Thuille in Munich. Thuille introduced him to the music of Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler, which had a considerable impact on Hadley's compositional style. Before long his conducting ability and his compositions, including his second symphony and symphonic poem "Salome" started to win admirers. In 1907, he obtained a position as an assistant conductor at the opera house in Mainz, Germany, and was soon invited to conduct the premiere of his third symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 1909 his first opera, "Safié", premiered in Mainz under the composer's baton.

Later that year he was appointed conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and was asked to become the first conductor of the San Francisco Symphony two years later, where he served until 1915, when he was replaced by a European conductor. Unable to find a permanent conducting position, Hadley returned east and continued to compose, while maintaining a busy schedule as a guest conductor. He married concert singer Inez Barbour in 1918.

Between 1917 and 1920 three of Hadley's operas received high profile premieres, including "Cleopatra's Night" which bowed at the Metropolitan Opera on January 31, 1920. Hadley conducted some of the performances, becoming the first American composer to conduct his own opera at the Met, and the opera was revived the following season. Several critics judged it the best among the ten American operas to appear at the Met to that point.

Hadley was named associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1921, and he remained in that post until 1927, when he resigned, perhaps due to frustration at being repeatedly passed over for the top spot in favor of European conductors. In 1929 Hadley formed the Manhattan Symphony, which he conducted for three years, including an American work in each concert. He then stepped down to devote more time to composition.

Hadley was also a guiding spirit of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and particularly in establishing the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, Massachusetts in 1934. Serge Koussevitsky, the Boston Symphony's music director from 1924 to 1949, became the director of the festival in 1936. Hadley was also a talented composer, whose music is largely neglected today, and he promoted contemporary music in his concerts. Hadley died in New York City, New York. The majority of his personal papers and scores are housed in the [http://www.nypl.org/musicdiv Music Division] of [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts] .

In 1932 Hadley was diagnosed with cancer. Surgery was initially successful, and Hadley continued his career, including conducting tours of Japan and South America. However, Hadley's popularity as a composer began to wane, as popular and especially critical opinion turned against the robust romanticism which Hadley's music embodied. Hadley's cancer recurred, and he died in 1937.

Hadley was a very prolific composer, who worked in almost every musical form, including five symphonies, five operas, numerous cantatas and oratorios, symphonic poems, ballet music, chamber music, and countless songs with both piano and orchestral accompaniment. He also wrote the first synchronized score for a motion picture, the silent film "When a Man Loves" in 1926. During his lifetime, Hadley's music was immensely popular, and was a regular part of the repertory of America's top orchestras, and was also performed in Europe. Many legendary conductors performed his music, including Gustav Mahler, Leopold Stokowski, Serge Koussevitzky, and Karl Muck. But recently his music has been largely neglected, although a few recordings of his music have been issued.

Major works

Operas

* "Safié" Op. 63, 1909
* "Bianca" Op. 79, composed c. 1913, produced 1918
*"Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma" Op. 80, c. 1914, produced 1917
*"Cleopatra's Night" Op. 90, 1920
*"A Night in Old Paris" 1924

Symphonies

*Symphony No. 1 in D minor Op. 25 "Youth and Life", 1897
*Symphony No. 2 in F minor Op. 30 "The Four Seasons", 1899
*Symphony No. 3 in B minor Op. 60 1907
*Symphony No. 4 in D minor Op. 64 "North, East, South, West", 1910
*Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 140 "Connecticut", 1935

Symphonic Poems

*"Salome" Op. 55, 1905
*"The Culprit Fay" Op. 61, 1909
*"Lucifer" Op. 66, 1914
*"The Ocean" Op. 99, 1921

Cantatas and Oratorios

*"In Music's Praise" Op. 21
*"The Princess of Ys" Op. 34
*"The Legend of Granada" Op. 45
*"The Nightingale and The Rose" Op. 54
*"The Fate of Princess Kiyo" Op. 58
*"Music: An Ode" Op. 75
*"The Fairy Thorn" Op. 76
*"Prophesy and Fulfillment" Op. 91
*"Resurgam" Op. 98
*"Mirtil in Arcadia" Op. 100
*"Divine Tragedy" Op. 139

References

*cite book | last=Schneider | first=David | title=The San Francisco Symphony | location=Novato, CA | publisher=Presidio Press | year=1983 | isbn=089141181X
*cite book | last=Schoenberg | first=Harold C | title=The Great Conductors | location=New York | publisher=Simon and Schuster | year=1967 | isbn=0671207350

External links

* [http://www.classical-composers.org/cgi-bin/ccd.cgi?comp=hadley Henry Hadley Biography] in the Classical Composers Database
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9038741 Henry Hadley] in the "Encyclopædia Britannica Online"
* [http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/default.asp?pn=Composers&char=H&ComposerID=2617 Henry Hadley Biography] at Naxos Records