Joseph Deems Taylor was born in New York City on December 22, 1885. He
received his academic education in New York, at the Friends School,
Ethical Culture School, and New York University. All the while he
studied music with private teachers. Following his graduation from
college, Taylor appeared in vaudeville, worked for several magazines,
and from 1921 to 1925 was the music critic of the New York _World_. He
first distinguished himself as a composer in 1919 with the orchestral
suite, _Through the Looking Glass_. In 1925 he resigned from the _World_
to concentrate on composition. In the next half dozen years he completed
two operas, each successfully performed at the Metropolitan Opera: _The
King’s Henchman_ (with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay) in 1927, and
_Peter Ibbetson_ in 1931. Since 1927, Taylor has followed several
careers besides that of one of America’s most important serious
composers. He was editor of _Musical America_, music critic for the _New
York American_, master of ceremonies on radio and television, program
annotator, intermission commentator for broadcasts of opera and
orchestral music, and author of several best-selling books on music. A
highly sophisticated composer with a consummate technical skill,
Taylor’s works are not for popular consumption. But he did write one
composition in a popular style, _Circus Day_; and a second of his works,
_Through the Looking Glass_, while intended for symphonic concerts, has
enough wit and charm to fall gracefully into the semi-classical
category.
_Circus Day_ is a fantasy for orchestra, op. 18 (1925) written on
commission from Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. When Whiteman and his
orchestra introduced it that year, the work was orchestrated by Ferde
Grofé, but since then Taylor has prepared his own symphonic adaptation.
Subtitled “eight pictures from memory” this fantasy strives “to convey
one’s early impressions of a day at the circus.” The composer has
provided his own program notes for the eight movements. The first,
entitled “Street Parade,” describes the circus parade as it “passes on
down the street.” “The playing of the band grows fainter and dies away
in the distance.” “The Big Tops” tells in musical terms about “peanuts,
popcorn, pink lemonade, bawling side-show barkers.” This is followed by
“Bareback Riders.” “As the ringmaster cracks his whip, the riders
perform the miraculous feats ... that make horseback riders the objects
of such awe and admiration.” The fourth movement is in three parts. The
first is devoted to “The Lion’s Cage.” “The roar of the lions is blood
curdling, but they go through their tricks with no damage to any of us.”
The second speaks about “The Dog and the Monkey Circus.” “Into the ring
dash a whole kennel full of small dogs guised as race horses, ridden by
monkeys dressed as jockeys.” In the third, we get a picture of “The
Waltzing Elephants.” “The great beasts solemnly waltz to a tune that is
a pachydermous version of the theme of the bareback riders.” In the
fifth movement, “Tight-Rope Walker,” the performer “balances his
parasol; he pirouettes and slips and slides as he makes his perilous way
along the taut wire.” “The Jugglers,” in the sixth movement, “juggle
little balls and big ones, knives, dishes, hats, lighted candles....”
Even the orchestra is seized by the contagion and finally juggles its
main theme, keeping three versions of it in the air. In “Clowns,” two of
them “come out to play us a tune.... Finally, after a furious argument,
the entire clown band manages to play the tune through, amid applause.”
The finale, the composer goes on to explain, “might better be called
‘Looking Back.’ For the circus is over, and we are back at home, trying
to tell a slightly inattentive family what we saw and heard. The helpful
orchestra evokes recollections of jugglers, clowns, bareback riders,
tight-rope walkers, trained animals.”
_Through the Looking Glass_, a suite for orchestra (1919) is a musical
setting of episodes from Lewis Carroll’s delightful tale of the same
name. Taylor’s suite is in four movements, for which he has provided his
own program. The first movement, “Dedication; The Garden of Live
Flowers,” consists of “a simple song theme, briefly developed,” which
leads immediately to the brisk music of “The Garden of Live Flowers.” In
the second movement, “Jabberwocky,” the theme of the frightful beast,
the Jabberwock, “is first announced by the full orchestra. The clarinet
then begins the tale [with] the battle with the monsters recounted in a
short and rather repellant fugue.” The third movement, “Looking Glass
Insects” tells of “the vociferous _diptera_ that made such an impression
on Alice—the Bee-elephant, the Gnat, the Rockinghorse fly, and the
Bread-and-butter fly.” The last movement, “The White Knight” has two
themes. “The first is a sort of instrumental prance, being the knight’s
own conception of himself as a slashing daredevil. The second is bland,
mellifluous, a little sentimental—much more like the knight as he really
was.”