Alec Wilder was born on Feburary 16, 1907 in Rochester, N. Y. , one of four children of George Wilder, a bank president, and Lilian Chew. His father died when he was three years old, and his twin brother died in childhood. He described himself as "an odd boy who was always reading books who never fought or even played with other children but who made people laugh. "
He went to private schools in Rochester. When his family moved to Garden City, N. Y. , on Long Island, he attended the St. Paul School. Eventually, the Wilders moved to Park Avenue in New York City, where he graduated from the prestigious Collegiate School. After failing his Regents examination he abandoned his plan to attend Princeton University. Instead, he returned to Rochester and enrolled at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied composition with Edward Royce and counterpoint with Herbert Inch.
At Eastman he made many lifelong professional friends, including Mitchell Miller (later famous as "Mitch" Miller, who had a popular sing-along show on television in the 1960's), an oboist; John Barrows, a french horn player; and Jimmy Carroll, a clarinetist. In the early 1930's, Wilder began a career of arranging and composing popular songs in New York City. Most of his music was written with specific performers, including Mildred Bailey, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, and Ethel Waters, in mind. In 1939 he formed the Alec Wilder Octet, in which he played the harpsichord and Mitch Miller played the oboe; the other six instrumentalists played clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, bassoon, string bass, and drums. For this group, Wilder composed a series of experimental compositions that blended popular song, jazz, and classical elements. Wilder's innovations were not well received. He later noted, "They were gunned down by the jazz boys because they had a classical flavor and they were gunned down by the classical boys because they had a jazz flavor. " In the 1940's Wilder wrote arrangements for big bands and individual performers, such as Frank Sinatra and Mabel Mercer. His best-known works from this period include "I'll Be Around, " "It's So Peaceful in the Country, " and "While We're Young. " Despite a string of hit songs and fame within the popular music world as a skilled arranger, Wilder was restless and hungered for challenges. He later commented, "I was hip-deep in the pop music world, and I hated it. " The challenge Wilder sought came in the early 1950's, when John Barrows moved to New York City and encouraged Wilder to try writing chamber music. At Barrows's prompting, Wilder began to compose serious works that combined elements of big band swing and popular song with classical genres. In the 1960's, Wilder began work on his celebrated book, American Popular Song: Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (written with the editorial assistance of James T. Maher). The book, finally published in 1972, examines 800 songs submitted for copyright in the first half of the century. Wilder stated what his principles were for examining these songs: "I should make clear that my criteria are limited to the singing (melodic) line and include the elements of intensity, unexpectedness, originality, sinuosity of phrase, clarity, naturalness, control, unclutteredness, sophistication, and honest sentiment. Melodrama, cleverness, contrivance, imitativeness, pretentiousness, aggressiveness, calculatedness, and shallowness may be elements which result in a hit song but never in a great song. " The modest Wilder totally ignored his own contribution to the American song tradition, omitting any mention of his songs. His book led to a weekly series on National Public Radio, in which Wilder hosted a gallery of America's greatest songwriters.
He wrote more than 300 "serious" compositions, including pieces for orchestra, wind ensemble, and chorus. He was a prolific composer who wrote quickly at the piano and rarely edited his first ideas. Volumes of concert music were written while he continued to write popular songs. Much of his concert music was composed for friends; characteristically, he never asked them for any remuneration.
Wilder was something of an eccentric. He favored "seedy" surroundings when he composed because it forced him "to create a little loveliness. "
