Carl K. McKinley (October 9, 1895 – July 24, 1966) was an American composer of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

. Born in Yarmouth, Maine, he spent some time in Paris on a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. He studied music at Harvard University, and was granted a Naumberg Fellowship to study in New York City for the 1917-1918 school year. There he worked with Rubin Goldmark, Gaston Dethier, and

Walter Henry Rothwell Walter Henry Rothwell (22 September 1872 – 13 March 1927) was an English conductor. Biography He was born in London on 22 September 1872 to an English father and an Austrian mother. After initial training from his mother, who had been a p ...

. He later played the organ in a church in Hartford, Connecticut, after which he spent four years playing the instrument in New York's Capitol Theatre. In 1929 he became a member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music. His students there included

Ivana Marburger Themmen Ivana Marburger Themmen (born April 7, 1935) was an American composer and pianist, whose ''Concerto for Guitar'' was a finalist in the 1982 Kennedy Center Friedheim Composition Competition. Career Themmen was born on April 7, 1935 in New York Cit ...

. McKinley wrote mainly for orchestra, and had pieces performed by the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription ...

and the New York Philharmonic. He also composed for organ, for chorus, and for piano, and wrote a handful of songs. He has been described as a "conservative modernist" who acknowledged that his own style borrows something from

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. He died in

Centerville, Massachusetts Centerville is one of the seven villages in the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Located on the South Side of Barnstable, Centerville is primarily residential, and includes a small business district as well as several notable beach ...

, in 1966, aged 71.

References

* 1895 births 1966 deaths American male composers American organists American male organists Harvard University alumni New England Conservatory faculty 20th-century American composers People from Yarmouth, Maine 20th-century organists 20th-century American male musicians {{US-composer-19thC-stub