Sigmund Spaeth
Sigmund Gottfried Spaeth (April 10, 1885 – November 12, 1965) was an American musicologist who traced the sources and origins of popular songs to their folk and classical roots. Presenting his findings through books, lectures, liner notes, newspapers, radio and television, he became known as The Tune Detective.
Biography
Spaeth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Adolph Spaeth and Harriet Reynolds Krauth Spaeth. His father, his grandfather Charles Porterfield Krauth and his great-grandfather Charles Philip Krauth were all Lutheran clergymen. He attended Haverford College (where he composed the "Haverford Harmony Song")[1] and went to Princeton where he did his Ph.D. thesis on "Milton's Knowledge of Music." He taught school and worked for Life, The New York Times, the Evening Mail and the Boston Evening Transcript.
He composed the music score for the silent film The Magic Flame (considered lost), with Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky; and wrote the lyrics[note 1] of one of the songs in The Trespasser (1929), the talkie debut of Gloria Swanson. His books include Read 'Em and Weep, Weep Some More, My Lady, A History of Popular Music in America, The Common Sense of Music, Fifty Years With Music, The Importance of Music and Stories Behind the World's Greatest Music.
On NBC his program of piano instruction, Keys to Happiness (1931), brought an avalanche of 4000 fan letters each week. In November, 1931 he began his 15-minute NBC program, The Tune Detective, airing Tuesdays at 10pm and continuing until 1933. Beginning in 1932 NBC also carried his Song Sleuth which was heard Thursdays at 8:15pm. On Mutual he did Sigmund Spaeth's Musical Quiz on Sunday afternoons at 1:15pm from January 19 to March 23, 1947. He also appeared on Metropolitan Opera Quiz.
He was a charter member of the Iota chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Northwestern University. He was awarded the 1958 Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award for his contributions. Haverford College awarded him an honorary D.H.L. in 1965.[3]
Spaeth died in New York City, New York at the age of 80.
Selected bibliography
Books
- Spaeth, Sigmund Gottfried (1913). Milton's Knowledge of Music: Its Sources and its Significance in His Work (PhD thesis). Princeton University. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- Spaeth, Sigmund (1924). The Common Sense of Music. New York: Boni and Liveright. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1979) [1926]. Read 'em and Weep: The Music You Forgot to Remember (Reprint). New York: Da Capo Press. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1926). Words and Music: A Book of Burlesques. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- —— (1927). Weep Some More, My Lady. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Co.
- —— (1933). The Art of Enjoying Music. New York: Whittlesey Press. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1934). The Facts of Life in Popular Song. New York: Whittlesey House. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1972) [1936]. Great Symphonies: How to Recognize and Remember Them (1952 revised ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0837156416. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1940). Great Program Music: How to Remember and Enjoy It. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1940). Stories behind the World's Great Music. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1948). A History of Popular Music in America. New York: Random House. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- —— (1950). Dedication: The Love Story of Clara and Robert Schumann. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- Spaeth, Sigmund, ed. (1950). Music and Dance in the New England States. New York: Bureau of Musical Research. Retrieved August 28, 2022. Other volumes in the Music and Dance survey which were edited by Spaeth include Music and Dance in New York State, Music and Dance in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, Music and Dance in the Southern States and Music and Dance in the Southeastern States.
- Spaeth, Sigmund (1959). Fifty Years with Music in America. New York: Fleet Publishing Corporation. LCCN 59-8950. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- Song collections (as editor)
- Spaeth, Sigmund, ed. (1942). Barber Shop Harmony: A Collection of New and Old Favorites for Male Quartets. New York: Mills Music.
- ——; Thompson, Carl O., eds. (1943). 55 Art Songs. Boston: C.C. Birchard and Company. Spaeth provided "new singable translations of the German, French, Italian, and Russian songs".
- ——, ed. (1956). Barber Shop Classics, 16 Songs. New York: Remick Music.
Essays and reporting
- S. S. (February 21, 1925). "A New York dictionary". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 1. p. 30.
- — (February 28, 1925). "Echo". Art. The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 2. p. 19.
- — (March 7, 1925). "What a young man should know". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 3. p. 12.
- — (March 14, 1925). "Notes from the Metropolitan". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 4. p. 25.
- — (March 21, 1925). "Information, please". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 5. p. 21.
- — (April 4, 1925). "Under the palm trees". New York, Etc. The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 7. p. 23.
- — (April 11, 1925). "Speaking of publicity". The Sky-Line. The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 8. p. 29.
- — (April 25, 1925). "Notes of a traveling man". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 10. p. 21.
- (August 1928). "Jazz is not music." Forum: the magazine of controversy. 80 (2): 267–271.
Notes
- ^ Spaeth translated the original Italian lyrics written by Alfredo Silvestri for the song Serenade by Enrico Toselli.[2]
References
- ^ Raber, Rebecca (27 September 2017). "Curt Cacioppo Honors "Lives That Speak" In Song". Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Serenade : Rimpianto (1923)". University of Maine Digital Commons. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients" (PDF). Haverford.edu. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
