Moore, Douglas Stuart

Moore, Douglas Stuart, 1893–1969, American composer and teacher, b. Cutchogue, N.Y. Moore studied with Horatio Parker, Vincent D'Indy, Nadia Boulanger, and Ernest Bloch. In 1926 he joined the music faculty of Columbia Univ. and was its chairman from 1940 to 1962. His major works include Pageant of P. T. Barnum (1924) and Moby Dick (1929) for orchestra; the operas for children The Headless Horseman (1937; libretto by Stephen Vincent Benét) and The Emperor's New Clothes (1949); the operas The Devil and Daniel Webster (1939), Giants in the Earth (1951; awarded a Pulitzer Prize), The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956); The Wings of the Dove (1961), and Carrie Nation (1966); two symphonies (1945, 1948); chamber music; and settings of poetry by Donne, MacLeish, Benét, and Vachel Lindsay. Moore's music is outstanding for its theatricality and use of the American vernacular. His prose works include Listening to Music (1932) and From Madrigal to Modern Music (1942).

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