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American composer, educator, and author (August 10, 1893 – July 25, 1969).

He wrote music for the theater, film, ballet and orchestra, but he is best-known for his operas The Devil and Daniel Webster (1938) and The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956). Moore was born in Cutchogue, New York and died in Greenport Long Island. He went to Yale University, graduating with two degrees in 1917. He served in the Navy as a lieutenant, after which he studied music with Nadia Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy and Ernest Bloch. Apart from classical compositions, Moore also composed several popular songs while at Yale with poet and Hotchkiss School-mate Archibald MacLeish and later in collaboration with John Jacob Niles. These songs were later published in 1921 under the collective title Songs my Mother never taught Me.

Four Museum Pieces, Moore’s first serious work, in its orchestrated version, was first performed by the The Cleveland Orchestra with Moore conducting. It won him a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, allowing him to return to Europe to study with Boulanger. In 1926, Moore was invited to join the music faculty at Columbia University, where he remained until his retirement in 1962. He succeeded Daniel Gregory Mason as head of the music department at Columbia University in 1940. He wrote two books on music, Listening to Music (1932) and From Madrigal to modern Music (1942). He also collaborated with fellow Yale alumnus Stephen Vincent Benét on the folk opera The Devil and Daniel Webster (1938).

Moore served as president of the National Institute and American Academy Of Arts And Letters, 1953 - 1956. He had been a member since 1941. In 1954 he was a co-founder, with Otto Luening and Oliver Daniel, of the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI) record label. He was also the director of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) from 1957 to 1960.

ALBUMS


Moore*, Nadine Sierra
The Willow Song
2023, File, FLAC, Single, Deutsche Grammophon
Douglas Moore - The New York City Opera*, Samuel Krachmalnick
Carry Nation: An American Opera
2010, 2xCD, Album, RE, RM, Phoenix USA
Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Cecil Effinger, Douglas Moore, Sinfonia Varsovia, Ian Hobson
Symphony No. 11
2008, SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel, Album, Albany Records, ,
Modern
Howard Hanson Conducts: Barber* • Piston* • Chadwick* • Ives* • MacDowell* • Gould* • Schuman* • Mennin* • Moore* • Griffes* ‒ Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Howard Hanson Conducts American Masterworks
2004, 5xCD, Comp, RE, RM, Mercury Living Presence, ,
Romantic/Modern/Neo-Romantic
Diamond* / Moore* / Porter* / Koussevitzky* - Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra*, Alfredo Antonini / Polish National Radio Orchestra*, Jan Krenz
Music For Shakespeare's "Romeo And Juliet" / In Memoriam / Double Bass Concerto / Harpsichord Concerto
1998, CD, Album, Citadel (3)
Douglas Moore, Cast* & Orchestra Of The Central City Opera, John Moriarty
The Ballad Of Baby Doe
1997, 2xCD, Album, Newport Classic
Douglas Moore, Marion Bauer
Farm Journal / Cotillion Suite / Symphony In A / Prelude & Fugue / Suite For String Orchestra
1996, CD, Comp, Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI)
Douglas Moore / Paul Hindemith / Gian Carlo Menotti - The New York Chamber Ensemble, Stephen Rogers Radcliffe
Gallantry - A Soap Opera / Hin Und Zurück / The Telephone
1995, CD, Albany Records
Norman Dello Joio / Henry Cowell / Douglas Moore
Meditations On Ecclesiastes / Symphony No. 5 / In Memoriam
1990, CD, Comp, Bay Cities, ,
Modern
Douglas Moore - The New York City Opera*, Samuel Krachmalnick
Carry Nation: An American Opera
1990
John Alden Carpenter / Douglas Moore / Ron Nelson (2) - Howard Hanson, Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Adventures In A Perambulator / The Pageant Of P.T. Barnum / Savannah River Holiday
1977, LP, Comp, RE, Mercury
Walter Piston / Douglas Moore - Howard Hanson, Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
The Incredible Flutist / The Pageant Of P.T. Barnum
1959, ,
Romantic/Modern
Carl Ruggles / Douglas Moore / Robert Ward
Organum / In Memoriam / Symphony No. 2
1959
Douglas Moore & John Latouche - Beverly Sills, Walter Cassel, Frances Bible, Emerson Buckley, New York City Opera Orchestra & Chorus*
The Ballad Of Baby Doe
1959, ,
Opera
Douglas Moore / Julia Perry - Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, William Strickland, Makiko Asakura
Symphony In A / Stabat Mater
1959
Douglas Moore, Stephen Vincent Benét - The Festival Choir (2) & Orchestra*, Armando Aliberti
The Devil And Daniel Webster
1958
Robert McBride / Avery Claflin / Douglas Moore
Punch And The Judy / Fishhouse Punch / Cotillion Suite
1957
Douglas Moore – Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra*, Alfredo Antonini / Marion Bauer – The Vienna Orchestra*, F. Charles Adler
Farm Journal / Suite For String Orchestra • Prelude And Fugue For Flute And Strings
1956, ,
Modern
Douglas Moore, David Oppenheim with The New Music String Quartet* / Wallingford Riegger, The New Music String Quartet*
Quintet For Clarinet And Strings / String Quartet No. 2, Op. 43
1953
American Recording Society Orchestra, Randall Thompson, Douglas Moore
Symphony No. 2 / Symphony In A
1952
Douglas Moore, Albert Grobe
The Hunters' Horn
1950, 10", Mono, Young People's Records
Douglas Moore, David Allen
Licorice Stick The Clarinet's Story
1948, ,
Educational
Mischa Mischakoff / Prof. Douglas Moore*
The Wonderful Violin
1948
Raymond Abrashkin - Douglas Moore
The Emperor's New Clothes
2x10", The Children's Record Guild
Douglas Moore / William Bergsma
Quintet For Clarinet And Strings / String Quartet No. 2
LP, Desto, ,
Contemporary
Douglas Moore / William Bergsma
Quintet For Clarinet And Strings / String Quartet No. 2
LP, Mono, Desto
Douglas Moore
Puss In Boots

APPEARANCES +


New Music String Quartet
The Complete Columbia Album Collection
2019, 10xCD, Mono, RE, RM + Box, Comp, Mono, RM, Sony Classical, ,
Modern/Classical/Baroque/Romantic
Heather Fetrow, Mila Henry
Voices Of Women: From Unknown To Renowned
2018, CD, Album, Affetto Recordings,
Festival City Symphony, Monte Perkins
American Tales
2011, CDr, Album, Not On Label (Festival City Symphony Self-released)
Arthur Weisberg, Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Sydeman : Music for Flute, Guitar, Viola, Percussion - Concerto da Camera No. 2 / Cortes: Chamber Concerto
2010
Beverly Sills
The Art Of Beverly Sills
2002, 2xCD, Comp, RM, Deutsche Grammophon, ,
Classical/Romantic/Modern/Opera
Harry Partch
Enclosure Five
1998, 3xCD, Comp, Innova Recordings
Various With Special Guest Artist Jean-Marie Londeix
America's Millennium Tribute To Adolphe Sax, Volume I
1998, CD, Arizona University Recordings, ,
Contemporary/Experimental
"The President's Own" United States Marine Band*
The Bicentennial Collection (Celebrating The 200th Anniverary Of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band)
1998, 10xCD, Comp + Box, Not On Label (United States Marine Band Self-released), ,
Military/Classical/Marches
Renée Fleming, James Levine (2), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra*
I Want Magic!
1998, ,
Opera/Operetta
Dawn Upshaw
The World So Wide
1998, ,
Opera/Modern/Contemporary/Musical
Various
The Domingo Era Begins – The Washington Opera 1996-97 Season
1996, CD, Comp, Promo, CreatiVentures, Inc., ,
Opera
Howard Hanson Conducting The Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Douglas Moore, John Alden Carpenter, Bernard Rogers, Burrill Phillips
1992, CD, Comp, RM, Mercury Living Presence
Various
Our Record Speaks For Itself! Volume Two
1985, LP, Album, Promo, Millikin University School Of Music,
Helen-Kay Eberley, Donald Isaak
American Girl (Arias For Soprano)
1983, LP, Eb-Sko Productions
Teresa Uriburu
Historia De España
1973, 5xCass, Comp, Dydas, Discos Aguilar, ,
Education/Spoken Word/Neo-Classical/Classical
National Symphony Orchestra, Howard Mitchell, Gladys Tipton
Adventures In Music, Grade 1, Volume 2
1969,
Billy Jim Layton – Claremont String Quartet* / Robert Moevs – Joseph Bloch
String Quartet In Two Movements / Sonata For Piano
1968, LP, Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI)
Harry Partch
And On The Seventh Day Petals Fell In Petaluma
1967
Mario Davidovsky / Harvey Sollberger
Three Synchronisms / Chamber Variations
1966, ,
Contemporary/Experimental
Richard Donovan, Polish National Radio Orchestra*, Jan Krenz / Leslie Bassett, Radio Zürich Symphony Orchestra*, Jonathan Sternberg
Passacaglia On Vermont Folk Tunes / Epos / Variations For Orchestra
1966
Salvatore Martirano / George Rochberg
O, O, O, O, That Shakespeherian Rag (For Mixed Chorus And Instrumental Ensemble) / String Quartet No. 2, With Soprano
1963
Various
MIllion Dollar Stereo - Vol. 1
1960, LP, Comp, MGM Records, ,
Musical/Theme
Olivia Bonelli
Guest Artist Of The Troy Vocal Society, Troy, N.Y.
1958, 12", Mono, Transcription, Not On Label
Lukas Foss / Seymour Shifrin
Psalms • Behold! I Build An House / Serenade For Five Instruments
1958, ,
Contemporary
David Allen (13), Gilbert Mack
Said The Piano To The Harpshicord
1953
Dean Dixon (2), American Recording Society Orchestra
Symphony In A By Douglas Moore
1951, 10", Mono, American Recording Society
Shannon Four
Yale Songs - Medley I / Yale Songs - Medley II
1923, Shellac, 10", Columbia
United States Marine Band* / Arthur Pryor's Band
Good-Night Harvard March / Whoop It Up March
1914, Shellac, 10", Victor, ,
Marches/Military
Yale Glee Club, Yale Band
Songs Of Yale
10", Album, Recorded Publications Company
Tom Glazer
Going West: A Group Of American Pioneer Songs
10", Young People's Records, ,
Educational/Story
Frank Maxwell
The Lonesome House
10", The Children's Record Guild
Various
Harvest Time / The Emperor's New Clothes
LP, Young People's Records
Eleanor Steber, Mildred Miller, John McCollum, Donald Gramm
Songs Of American Composers
2xLP, Box, Desto, Desto, Desto, ,
Vocal/Modern
Yale Glee Club, David H. Connell
American Sampler
CD, Album, Not On Label (Yale Glee Club Self-released), ,
Choral
Gerson Yessin, Jacksonville University College Of Music
Junior Festival List 1959-1962 National Federation of Music Clubs
LP, Album, Not On Label
Milton Babbitt / John Bavicchi
Chamber Works
The Goldman Band, Richard Franko Goldman
The Sound Of The Goldman Band
Mischa Mischakoff
The Wonderful Violin
,
Educational/Story/Instrumental
Various
Billy Rings The Bell / The Lonesome House / By Rocket To The Moon
1960, LP, Young People's Records