Hinshaw, William Wade

Hinshaw, William Wade, American baritone, pedagogue, and operatic impresario; b. near Union, Iowa, Nov. 3, 1867; d. Washington, D.C., Nov. 27, 1947. He studied civil engineering (B.S., 1888), music (Mus.B., 1890), and law (LL.B., 1897) at Valparaiso (Ind.) Univ., and also pursued vocal training with Arturo Marescalchi and Alfred Hertz. In 1893 he made his debut at a concert at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. From 1895 to 1899 he was head of the music dept. at Valparaiso Univ. On Nov. 6, 1899, he made his operatic debut as Gounod’s Méphistophélès with Henry Savage’s opera company in St. Louis. Returning to Chicago, he became secretary of the Hinshaw School of Opera and Drama; when it merged with the Chicago Cons, in 1903, he became president of the new institution; subsequently he was director of the Hinshaw Cons. (1907–10). With the tenor James Sheehan, he organized the Metropolitan Grand Opera Co. to stage operas in English at the International Theatre; Hinshaw sang Telramund in the company’s first production in 1908. On Nov. 16, 1910, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. at Biterolf, and subsequently remained on its roster as a distinguished Wag-nerian until 1913; he also appeared at the Wagner Festivals in Graz (1912) and Berlin (1914). In 1916 he offered a prize of $1, 000 for the best 1-act opera by an American composer, which was won by Hadley with his opera Bianca. After serving as president of the Soc. of American Singers in N.Y. (1918–20), he toured the U.S., Canada, and Cuba with his own opera company (1920–26). He spent his remaining years compiling the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (6 vols., 1936-47).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire