Scott, Tom, 1912-1961

Thomas Jefferson Scott (1912-1961) was an American composer and folk-song singer and scholar. He studied music at the University of Kentucky, and in the 1940s he studied and became friends with George Antheil. Scott moved to New York City where he joined Fred Waring's Glee Club, which employed him as an arranger. In 1942 he began a successful solo career as a folk singer, accompanying himself on the guitar. Scott was dubbed "The American Troubador" on his own radio program, which ran for several years in the mid-1940s. He appeared at such major venues as the Rainbow Room and the Cotillion Room of the Pierre Hotel, and toured the United States and Europe.

In the 1950s Scott began concentrating more on composition. Although he wrote his own folk songs, Scott is mostly remembered for his classical works, in particular his orchestral pieces. His symphonic compositions include Ballad of the Harp Weaver, Binorie Variations, Colloquy for Strings, Coney Island (the first movement of This Is My Country, an incomplete suite for harmonic and orchestra), Fanfare and Cantilena, Hornpipe and Chantey, Johnny Appleseed, Music for String Orchestra, and Symphony No. 1. His piece From the Sacred Harp was premiered by Leopold Stokowski conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Scott's other compositions include chamber music, art songs, piano pieces, the opera The Fisherman (1956), and scores for television, film, and theater. During the era of live broadcast dramas he wrote music for Camera 3, Robert Herridge Theatre, Studio One, and the CBS Film and Television Workshop. He also wrote the music for Ferdinand Bruckner's play Gloriana (1938), which had a brief Broadway run, and the films A Stranger Returns and No Man Walks Alone, a documentary about paraplegics.

Despite his busy career and publishing activity, Scott's finances were always precarious. He married and quickly divorced during the 1950s, and had a daughter, Susanna. Scott died of a heart attack at the age of 49.

Source: "Thomas J. Scott, A Composer, 49." The New York Times, August 13, 1961, p. 88.

From the guide to the Tom Scott papers, 1912-1970, 1942-1960, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)