William James Henderson (December 4, 1855 – June 5, 1937) was an American musical critic and scholar.

Biography

He was born on December 4, 1855 in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

in 1876 and immediately began work as a journalist, later as a reporter, then as the musical critic of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and in 1902 of ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

''. He wrote perceptive press reviews of the performances of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

's star singers which remain valuable for today's scholars. Henderson's perspicacity as a musical reviewer and evaluator was recognised when he was appointed lecturer on musical history in the

New York College of Music The New York College of Music was an American conservatory of music located in Manhattan that flourished from 1878 to 1968. The college was incorporated under the laws of New York and was empowered to confer diplomas and degrees ranging from a Bac ...

. He was also elected a member of the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

in 1914. Three days after the death of his longtime friend and fellow newspaper music critic, Richard Aldrich, he committed suicide with a .38-calibre revolver in his West-Side

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

hotel room. His ''New York Times'' obituary called him "for fifty years one of America's best known music critics."(6 June 1937)
W.J. Henderson, 81, Killed by Bullet
''

'', p. 1, 14 (paywall)

Publications

* ''Sea Yarns for Boys'' * ''Afloat with the Flag'' * ''The Last Cruise of the Mohawk'' * ''Preludes and Studies'' (1891) * ''The Story of Music'' (1889; 12 enlarged ed., 1912) * ''Elements of Navigation'' (1895) * ''What is Good Music?'' (1898) * ''How Music Developed'' (1899) * ''The Orchestra and Orchestral Music'' (1902) * ''Richard Wagner, His Life and His Dramas'' (1901) * ''Modern musical Drift'' (1904) * ''The Art of the singers'' (1906) * ''Some Forerunners of Italian Opera'' (1911) * ''The Soul of a Tenor'' (1912) a novel * ''Early History of Singing'' (1921)

References

*Baker, Theodore and Remy, Alfred, Ed
"Henderson, William James"
''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, third edition'', New York, 1919. *Slonimsky, Nicolas, Ed. ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, sixth edition'', New York, 1978.

''Time'', June 14, 1937.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, William James 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male journalists Critics employed by The New York Times New York College of Music faculty Opera critics Princeton University alumni Writers from Newark, New Jersey 1855 births 1937 suicides American opera librettists Suicides by firearm in New York City 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New Jersey Novelists from New York (state) 20th-century American non-fiction writers