Background
Philip Hale was born on March 5, 1854, in Norwich, Vermont, the son of William Bainbridge Hale and Harriet Amelia Porter, and a descendant of Thomas Hale, who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1638.
(Philip Hale's Boston Symphony Programme Notes is an uncha...)
Philip Hale's Boston Symphony Programme Notes is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition . Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.
https://www.amazon.com/Philip-Hales-Boston-Symphony-Programme/dp/333746548X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=333746548X
conductor music critic organist
Philip Hale was born on March 5, 1854, in Norwich, Vermont, the son of William Bainbridge Hale and Harriet Amelia Porter, and a descendant of Thomas Hale, who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1638.
Hale prepared for college at Phillips Exeter, was graduated from Yale with the degree of Bachelor of Arts degree in 1876 and a few months later entered a law office in Albany, New York.
Hale became the organist of Saint Peter's Church and wrote musical criticisms for Albany papers. Although he was admitted to the bar, he gave up the law for music. In 1882 he went abroad, first to Dresden and then to Berlin, where he spent two years, studying under Carl Haupt and Woldemar Bargiel.
In 1884 Hale went to Munich to work with Joseph Rheinberger. Later he studied at Stuttgart, then finally in Paris, as a pupil of Guilmant.
Hale returned to the United States in November 1887 and continued his musical career as a church organist successively at Albany and Troy, New York, and at the First Unitarian Church at Roxbury, Massachusetts, from 1889 to 1905. In Albany he again did newspaper work, and in Boston he established himself in a journalistic career which was to continue uninterruptedly for nearly half a century. In 1890 - 1891 Hale was music critic of the Boston Post.
For the next twelve years he was on the staff of the Boston Journal as music critic and writer of a daily column headed "The Talk of the Town" in which he commented shrewdly and vigorously upon a thousand topics that were continuously in the forefront of his versatile mind.
In May 1903 Hale joined the editorial staff of the Boston Herald where he remained until about a year before his death. He continued his career on that paper as music critic and writer of a daily column entitled "As the World Wags, " and eventually became drama editor and critic as well. Among the invented characters in his column was Herkimer Johnson, who projected a philosophical work to be completed in an immense number of huge volumes, and he was fond of quoting the pseudonymous Halliday Witherspoon's account of his travels. Associated with Philip Hale for a brief period on the staff of the Herald was Philip L. Hale, artist and critic. Lest their identity be confused by the casual reader, their articles were signed in facsimile autograph.
Hale's work as a writer about music was not restricted to daily newspapers for Hale acted also as correspondent for musical journals mainly published in New York. Among these was the Musical Courier, a trade paper, the authority and dignity of which were enhanced by his contributions. He was also editor of the Musical Record from October 1897 to December 1900 and of the Musical World from 1897 to 1901.
Not the least of the activities that brought him a repute outside of Boston and even of the United States were his "Historical and Descriptive Notes" published in every issue of the program books of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1901 until shortly before his death. These he took over from William F. Apthorp, who had established their reputation. They represent a valuable and permanent contribution to the history and criticism of all forms of music. Their texts were, of course, notes on the passing show of music presented from week to week by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and they ranged far and wide. As they appeared topographically as driblets of reading matter scattered over many pages of advertising their appearance was unattractive, but nothing could detract from their scholarship, their brilliant analyses of great composers, their keen wit, and the frankness with which Hale commented upon the works of the masters whose style and reputation he did or did not approve. He had no fear of the Olympian gods of music who had been placed by great critics upon the heights of Parnassus. He could be derisive when he spoke of Wagner and Brahms, and in a lesser scale he could pour his scorn upon Sir Edward Elgar and others.
Hale was urged by his friends to make a compilation of these notes but he always refused on the ground that they were of merely transitory interest. Selections from them were edited, however, by John N. Burk, who succeeded him in their preparation. The resulting work was first published in 1935 under the title: Philip Hale's Boston Symphony Programme Notes.
Hale received academic recognition of his high standing as a critic but he cared more for his reputation as a staff writer on the Boston Herald than for such awards. His standing as a drama critic, although not so conspicuous and spectacular, was no less high than his authority as an expert on music.
Philip Hale died on November 30, 1934, suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in his apartment at the Hotel Vendome, Boston, where he had been living for some months after his professional retirement the previous year.
(Philip Hale's Boston Symphony Programme Notes is an uncha...)
Philip Hale was a man of distinguished though unconventional appearance. He wore a loose black silk tie and, even in an era when that facial adornment was fast disappearing, he continued to wear a large mustache. Personally and professionally, among many friends and in the Herald office, he was a cordial associate and talker upon varied subjects far apart from music and drama, and, in any gathering, he was the center of interest.
Quotes from others about the person
In describing these notes, one of his ablest professional associates wrote: "Of all programme notes written for orchestras all over the world none approached them in variety, penetration, and musicianship. "
In the summer of 1884, while studying in Berlin, Philip Hale was married to Irene Baumgras of Washington, District of Columbia.