Kraus, Milton, 1866-1942

Arranger and pianist Milton Max Kraus (1906-1995), who had a varied career in broadcasting and popular music, assembled materials on Louis Moreau Gottschalk and wrote a paper on the works of the composer.

Kraus was trained in composition by Tibor Serly, a disciple of Béla Bartók and Joseph Schillinger. He attended City College of the City University of New York briefly before transferring to Juilliard (then the Institute of Musical Art) on scholarship for piano. He also earned a degree in education at Teachers College, where he produced an essay on Gottschalk for a course in the Historical Approach to Music Literature given by Robert Pace. Kraus taught only very briefly (one half day at James Monroe High School in New York), before deciding he could earn more money as a professional pianist. He worked with Ed Sullivan, as well as on the the production of the Jerome Kern musical, Very Warm for May, and served as a staff pianist for all three major broadcasting networks. He also was the pianist for Kate Smith when she introduced God Bless America.

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