Elmore, Robert, 1913-1985

Composed 1935. First performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia, April 9, 1937, Leopold Stokowski conducting.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Robert Hall Elmore was born on January 2, 1913 in Rapapatnam, India where his parents served as missionaries. In 1915 the family returned to America and in 1918 settled in Lincoln Nebraska where Elmore began his formal music lessons. In 1925 the family moved to Wayne, Pennsylvania. Through the generosity of Harriet Newberry, wife of Truman Newberry, Robert Elmore began his studies in organ, piano, and theory with Pietro Yon in New York City.

As a teen Elmore played as the organist at the Central Baptist Church in Wayne as well as at the Lincoln Theatre in Bryn Mawr and the Anthony Wayne Theatre in Wayne. By 1933 Elmore had earned three licentiates simultaneously from the Royal Academy of Music of London in organ, concert piano, and pianoforte accompaniment, an unprecedented accomplishment. In 1933 he enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania under Harl McDonald, graduating with various University distinctions in 1937.

Elmore continued studying under Pietro Yon in New York and gave a recital at Carnegie Hall on December 2, 1936. On April 9, 1937, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stowkowski gave the first major performance of an Elmore work, his tone poem "Valley Forge, 1777." In 1938 his composition "Three Sonnets" won the Mendelssohn Club national competition with Eugene Ormandy as one of the judges. Elmore continued to experience success including the performance of his one-act opera, "It Happened At Breakfast" as the first televised American opera.

Robert Elmore served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania from 1937 to 1950 and became well known as the conductor of University choral groups and as the organist for Commencements. He also taught at the Clarke Conservatory and served as organist-choir director for the Holy Trinity Church on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia as well as for Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.