John Alexander McGlinn III (September 18, 1953 – February 14, 2009) was an American conductor and musical theatre archivist. He was one of the principal proponents of authentic studio cast recordings of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

musicals, using original orchestrations and vocal arrangements.

Biography

John Alexander McGlinn III was born in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It i ...

, and was raised in

Gladwyne, Pennsylvania Gladwyne is a suburban community in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States along the historic Philadelphia Main Line. In 2018, Gladwyne was ranked the sixth richest ZIP code (using 2015 IRS data) in the country in a ...

. A self-taught pianist, he studied music theory and composition at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, graduating in 1976. His first recording, 1984's ''Songs of New York'' for the

Book of the Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ...

was not his first experience as a conductor. He had previously conducted ''Hey Feller!'' and ''Misery's Come Round'', using Karla Burns and members of the Houston Grand Opera production of ''Show Boat'', for one of the "Jerome Kern Revisiteds" for Ben Bagley's Painted Smiles Records. He had previously worked for the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

and planned a book on

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

. McGlinn's interest in Kern emerged at the same time as a 1970s' revival of interest in authentic American music, including a

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

revival and

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

performances. In the early 1980s he joined with the Houston Grand Opera to work on a major revival of Kern and

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

's ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'', acting as musical editor and restoring the original orchestrations for the production. He also did some work for

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

on original orchestrations for several Gershwin projects and worked with veteran orchestrator Hans Spialek on the 1983 Broadway revival of ''

On Your Toes ''On Your Toes'' (1936) is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939. While teaching music at Knickerbocker University, Phil "Junior" Dol ...

.'' Following the Book of the Month Club recording, McGlinn performed three Kern musicals in concert at the Carnegie Recital Hall and this success led to a recording contract with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...

. The first recordings were an album of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

songs with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and a program of Gershwin overtures. From 1987 to 1992 he made recordings of the complete scores for ''

,'' ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

'', ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a ...

'', '' Annie Get Your Gun'', ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-s ...

'', and an obscure Jerome Kern musical, '' Sitting Pretty''. The three-disc, three-and-a-half hour ''Show Boat'' album was highly acclaimed, and the one-disc ''Anything Goes'' album, was acclaimed by some, but panned by others. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine called McGlinn's ''Show Boat'' "''the'' show album of the past" and "a show album for the future. It unites the possibilities of reproduction and reinvestigation." McGlinn unearthed the lost materials for ''Show Boat'' in a

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves t ...

'' (at the Carnegie Recital Hall), and the Kern-Hammerstein show '' Sunny.'' He made several radio appearances with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, conducted several concerts in conjunction with the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Music Division, and was guest conductor on an "Evening With The Boston Pops" telecast. He returned to the recording studio to make two albums of excerpts from

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 ...

operas for

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

. At the

he conducted revivals of ''Brigadoon'' and ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' and, in 1993, at Juilliard School of Music, he conducted the Poulenc one-act operas ''La Voix Humaine'' and ''Les Mamelles de Tiresias''. Another project, begun in early 2001, was to record and edit for The Packard Humanities Institute scholarly editions of

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is bes ...

and Jerome Kern musicals, but none of these albums has been released. McGlinn left the project in 2002 and the future of the recordings remains in limbo. His last project was to edit a new edition of the 1954 Broadway version of ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

'' for Samuel French. McGlinn was found dead in his New York City apartment on February 14, 2009, of a heart attack.John McGlinn, Conductor & Musical Archivist Passes Away
/ref>

Discography

* Irving Berlin: "Annie Get Your Gun", EMI Records 54206 (1991) * George Gershwin: "Kiri Sings Gershwin", EMI Records 47454 (1987) * George Gershwin: ''Gershwin Overtures'', EMI Records 47977, 1987 * Jerome Kern: ''Show Boat'', EMI Records 49108, 1988 * Jerome Kern: ''Jerome Kern Treasury'', EMI Records 54883, 1993 * Jerome Kern: ''Overtures and Music from the film "Swing Time"'', EMI 49630, 1989 * Jerome Kern: ''Sitting Pretty'', New World Records, 80387, 1990 * Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner: "Brigadoon", EMI Records 54481 (1992) * Cole Porter: ''Anything Goes'', EMI Records 894424, 1989 * Cole Porter: "Kiss Me, Kate" EMI 54033 (1990) * Cole Porter: ''Night and Day:

Thomas Hampson Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range ...

sings Cole Porter'', EMI Records 54203, 1991 * Cole Porter: "Overtures and Ballet Music", EMI Records 54300 (1991) * Richard Rodgers: ''My Funny Valentine: Frederica von Stade sings Rodgers and Hart'', EMI Records 54071, 1990 * Harry Warren/Al Dubin: "The Busby Berkeley Album" EMI Records 55189 (1994) * Kurt Weill: ''Kurt Weill on Broadway'', EMI Records 55563, 1996 * Various: ''The Lorelei'',

Kim Criswell Kim Criswell (born July 19, 1957) is an American musical entertainer and actress. Life and career Criswell was born in Hampton, Virginia, United States, and grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After she graduated from Hixson High School in subur ...

, EMI 54802, 1993 * Various: "Broadway Showstoppers", EMI Records 54586 (1992) * Various: "Songs of New York", Book of the Month Club Records 41-7005 (1984)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGlinn, John 1953 births 2009 deaths American male conductors (music) American music historians People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians from Pennsylvania Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American male writers