Downes, Olin
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person
Downes, Olin
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Name :
Downes, Olin
Downes, Olin, 1886-1955
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Name :
Downes, Olin, 1886-1955
Downes, Olin Edwin (1886-1955).
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Name :
Downes, Olin Edwin (1886-1955).
Downes, Olin, 1886-1955, music critic
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Name :
Downes, Olin, 1886-1955, music critic
Downes, Edwin Olin.
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Name :
Downes, Edwin Olin.
Downes, Edwin Olin 1886-1955
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Name :
Downes, Edwin Olin 1886-1955
Downes, Edwin 1886-1955
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Name :
Downes, Edwin 1886-1955
Downes, O.
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Name :
Downes, O.
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Biographical History
American music critic.
Olin Downes (1886-1955), American music critic with the Boston Post (1906-1924) and the New York Times (1924-1955).
Olin Downes, the music critic of the New York Times from 1924 to 1955, also active as lecturer and radio broadcaster, provided the impulse for the creation of the works Railroads on parade and Down in the valley, with music by Kurt Weill.
As music director of the New York World's Fair in 1938-39, he played a role in the commissioning of Weill's music for the pageant Railroads on parade. A more important commission for Weill, however, was that arranged by Downes as head of Frontiers Unlimited, a production company he founded together with the advertising executive Charles McArthur. Their purpose was the commissioning and producing of a series of short radio operas based on folk songs or ballads. In this capacity he was responsible for commissioning Down in the valley in 1945, which though never broadcast in the ill-fated series, became very successful in 1948 in a revised version as a (staged) folk opera. Downes' interest in, and generally favorable response to, Weill's music was much appreciated both by the composer and, after his death, by his widow, Lotte Lenya. Irene Stuart was an apparently well-educated opera fan who wrote to Downes to express her admiration for Down in the valley.
Of the New York Times.
Epithet: music critic
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/35262748
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n84149912
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n84149912
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7086909
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/93PX-DWW
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Languages Used
eng
Zyyy
Subjects
Musicians
Authors, American
Blues (Music)
Composers
Conductors
Folk music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music critics
Music theory
Opera
Radio broadcasters
Nationalities
Americans
Activities
Occupations
Collector
Legal Statuses
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United States
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United States
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United States
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United States
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United States
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United States
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United States
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United States
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AssociatedPlace
United States
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
United States
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AssociatedPlace
United States
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>