Spelman, Timothy (Mather)

Spelman, Timothy (Mather), American composer; b. Brooklyn, Jan. 21, 1891; d. Florence, Italy, Aug. 21, 1970. He studied with H.R. Shelley in N.Y. (1908), W.R. Spalding and E.B. Hill at Harvard Univ. (1909–13), and Walter Courvoisier at the Munich Cons. (1913–15); he returned to the U.S. in 1915 and was active as director of a military band. After 1918 he went back to Europe with his wife, the poetess Leolyn Everett, settling in Florence. He returned to the U.S. in 1935; in 1947 he went back to Florence. His music was performed more often in Europe than in America; indeed, his style of composition is exceedingly European, influenced by Italian Romanticism and French Impressionism.

Works

DRAMATIC: Snowdrop, pantomime (Brooklyn, 1911); The Romance of the Rose, “wordless fantasy” (Boston, 1913; rev., St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 4, 1915); La Magnifica, music drama after Leolyn Everett-Spelman (1920); The Sea Rovers, opera (1928); The Sunken City, opera (1930); Babakan, fantastic comedy (1935); The Courtship of Miles Standish, opera after Longfellow (1943). ORCH.: Saint’s Days, suite in 4 movements, including Assisi, the Great Pardon of St. Francis (Boston, March 26, 1926); The Outcasts of Poker Flat, symphonic poem after Bret Harte (1928); Sym. (1935; Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 29, 1936); Jamboree, “pocket ballet” (1945); Oboe Concerto (1954). CHAMBER: 5 Whimsical Serenades for String Quartet (1924); Le Pavillion sur l’eau for Flute, Harp, and Strings (1925); Eclogue for 10 Instruments (1926); String Quartet (1953); piano pieces, including a sonata (1929). VOCAL: Pervigilium Veneris for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (1929; Paris, April 30, 1931); I Love the Jocund Dance for Women’s Voices and Piano (1938); choruses; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire