Lawrence Gilman (July 5, 1878 in

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

– September 8, 1939 in

Sugar Hill, New Hampshire Sugar Hill is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 647 at the 2020 census, an increase over the figure of 563 tabulated in 2010. The town overlooks the White Mountain National Forest, with views of the Presi ...

) was a U.S. author and music critic. Lawrence Gilman was the son of Arthur Coit Gilman and Bessie (Lawrence) Gilman, and the grandnephew of educator

Daniel Coit Gilman Daniel Coit Gilman (; July 6, 1831 – October 13, 1908) was an American educator and academic. Gilman was instrumental in founding the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale College, and subsequently served as the second president of the University ...

. Lawrence Gilman studied art at Collins Street Classical School in Hartford, Connecticut under William M. Chase. He also taught himself music in theory and practice on several instruments, including organ and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

. From 1896 to 1898, he worked for the New York Herald, then from 1901 to 1913 as a music critic for

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

, where he advanced to the position of managing editor. From 1915 to 1923, he worked as a critic in multiple arts for the

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived at ...

, and for the

Herald Tribune ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * The Herald (Adelaide), ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * ''Ba ...

from 1923 until his death. On August 1, 1904, he married Elizabeth Wright Walter, with whom he had one child, "Betty" Elizabeth Lawrence Gilman in 1905. Gilman earned later notoriety for his scathing negative reviews of compositions that later became known as classics. He described

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 ' ...

's ''

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

'', for example, as trite, feeble, conventional, vapid, fussy, futile, lifeless, stale, derivative and inexpressive.Slonimsky, Nicolas (2000). ''Lexicon of Musical Invective''. W. W. Norton & Company. . Gilman's unfavorable review, "weep over the lifelessness". He was similarly dismissive of Gershwin's later ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', it ...

''.

Works

Gilman wrote several books: * "Phases of Modern Music" (1904) * "The Music of Tomorrow" (1906) * "Stories of Symphonic Music" (1907) * "A Guide to Strauss' 'Salome'" (1907) * "A Guide to Debussy's 'Pelleas et Melisande" (1907) * "Edward MacDowell: A Study" (1909) * "Aspects of Modern Opera" (1908) * "Nature in Music" (1914) * "A Christmas Meditation" (1916) * "Music and the Cultivated Man" (1929) * "Wagner's Operas" (1937) * "Toscanini and Great Music" (1938) * "Orchestral Music" (1951) He also wrote musical works: * "A Dream of Death" (1903) * "The Heart of a Woman" (1903) * "The Curlew" (1904).

References

External links

* * *
Lawrence Gilman Papers, Georgetown University Library, library.georgetown.edu
1878 births 1939 deaths Gilman family of New Hampshire Opera critics American music critics Students of William Merritt Chase American male journalists New York Herald people New York Herald Tribune people {{US-music-journalist-stub