Parker, Henry Taylor
Parker, Henry Taylor
Parker, Henry Taylor, American critic and writer on music; b. Boston, April 29, 1867; d. there, March 30, 1934. He attended Harvard Univ., then served as N.Y correspondent of the Boston Evening Transcript and later as its London correspondent. In 1905 he became the newspaper’s principal drama and music critic, holding this position until his death. Although not trained as a musician (he could not read notes), Parker possessed an extraordinary sense of aesthetic values, and often gave unstinting praise to composers of the modern school who were disdained by the musical establishment; he was equally capable of appreciating fresh talents among performers. He wrote a curiously antiquated prose, employing archaic turns of phrase, but his articles, often very long, were uniquely artistic. He signed his name H.T.P, which was facetiously deciphered by some as an acronym for “Hard To Please,” or “Hell To Pay.” He publ. a collection of essays on music, Eighth-Notes (N.Y., 1922).
Bibliography
D. McCord, HT P.; Portrait of a Critic (N.Y., 1935)
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire