Editing Nathaniel Shilkret

{{short description|American musician, composer, conductor and musical director (1889–1982)}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Nathaniel Shilkret
| image               =  NShilkretSeatedPortrait.jpg
| caption             =   Nat Shilkret in the 1920s
| image_size          =  
| background          = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name          = Natan Schüldkraut
| alias               = Nat Shilkret
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1889|12|25|mf=y}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1982|2|18|1889|12|25}}
| death_place         = [[Franklin Square, New York]], US
| birth_place         = [[New York City]], US
| instrument          = [[Clarinet]], piano
| genre               = 
| occupation          = {{hlist|Musician|composer|conductor|musical director}}
| years_active        = 
| label               = 
| associated_acts     = 
| website             = 
}}

'''Nathaniel Shilkret''' (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982)<ref name="AMG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nat-shilkret-mn0000369528/biography|title=Nat Shilkret Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 10, 2021}}</ref> was an American musician, composer, conductor and musical director.

==Early career==
Shilkret (originally named '''Natan Schüldkraut''') was born in [[New York City]], United States, to parents who emigrated from Lemberg (now [[Lviv]] in [[Ukraine]]).<ref name=shilkret1>Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8108-5128-8}}</ref><ref name=shilkret2>Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell, ''Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)).</ref> His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Older brother Lew Shilkret was a fine pianist who also worked in the insurance industry. Younger brother Jack Shilkret had a career that paralleled Nathaniel's career: he played clarinet and piano, recorded extensively, and conducted and played piano on the radio and in motion pictures. The youngest brother Harry Shilkret was a medical doctor who worked his way through school playing trumpet, and continued to play trumpet frequently in Nathaniel's orchestras, particularly for radio broadcasts, long after he was a practicing allergist. Nathaniel Shilkret's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Finston, was a violinist in many organizations in his youth and was musical director for [[Paramount Pictures]] and later for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], at one time being Nathaniel Shilkret's boss.

Shilkret was a child prodigy, touring the country with the New York Boys' Orchestra from the ages of seven to thirteen as their clarinet soloist. From his late teens to mid-twenties he was a clarinetist in the best New York music organizations, including the [[New York Philharmonic Society]]<ref name="LarkinGE"/> (under [[Vasily Safonov]] and [[Gustav Mahler]]), the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]],<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2253/4}}</ref> the [[Metropolitan Opera]] House Orchestra,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> the Russian Symphony Orchestra, [[Victor Herbert]]'s Orchestra, [[Arnold Volpe]]'s Orchestra, [[John Philip Sousa|Sousa]]'s Grand Concert Band,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> [[Arthur Pryor]]'s Band,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and [[Edwin Franko Goldman]]'s Band. He was also a rehearsal pianist for [[Walter Damrosch]], playing for stars who included dancer [[Isadora Duncan]].

In June 1914, he married Anne Finston ''(née'' Anna Finston ''aka'' Finkelstein; 1895–1958), sister of a fellow musician Nathaniel Finston ''(né'' Nathaniel William Finkelstein; 1890–1979). Nathaniel Shilkret and Anna Finston had a son, Arthur Shilkret (1915–1982).<ref name=shilkret1/><ref name=shilkret2/>

He joined the Foreign Department of the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] (later [[RCA Victor]]) around 1915, and soon was made manager of the department.<ref name=shilkret1/><ref name=shilkret2/><ref name=shell>Shell, Niel, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: A Most Prolific and Diverse Creator of Recorded Sound'', ARSC Journal, '''39''' (2008), 80—90.</ref>

In 1926, Shilkret became "director of light music" for Victor.<ref name="AMG"/> He directed thousands of recordings, possibly more than anyone in recording history. His son Arthur estimated the sales of these records was of the order of 50 million copies. He formed, wrote arrangements for, and conducted the Victor Salon Orchestra and the [[International Novelty Orchestra]] between the late 1920s up to the mid 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Metason |title=International Novelty Orchestra |url=https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=International%20Novelty%20Orchestra |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=ArtistInfo |language=EN}}</ref><ref name="AMG"/> He was the conductor of choice for many of Victor's innovative recordings. He conducted Victor's first record made by the electrical process in 1925, the first commercial (albeit unsuccessful) Victor Long Playing record in 1931, and was the first conductor to successfully dub an electrically recorded orchestral accompaniment over the acoustically recorded vocals of [[Enrico Caruso]], Victor's star recording artist, who died in 1921, before electrical recording was developed. The premiere recording of [[George Gershwin]]'s symphonic poem ''[[An American in Paris]]'', in 1929, was one of five conducted by Shilkret that later earned [[Grammy Award]]s. Shilkret also conducted [[Paul Whiteman|Paul Whiteman's Orchestra]] in the first electrical recording of Gershwin's ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' in 1927 (after Whiteman refused to conduct following a disagreement with Gershwin).<ref name=shilkret1/> 
[[File:VictorSalonOrchBainMicrophone.jpg|thumb|300px|Shilkret (center holding baton) with the Victor Salon Orchestra, c. 1925]]

==Radio and the recording studio==
He was also one of radio's earliest stars, estimating that he made over 3000 broadcasts between 1925 and 1941, including being the conductor for ''[[The Eveready Hour]]'', regarded as the first major commercial broadcast and the first major variety show. His sponsors included Camel, Carnation, Chesterfield, Esso, Eveready, General Electric, General Motors, [[Hires Root Beer]], Knickerbocker, Lysol, Maxwell House, Mobil Oil, Palmolive, RCA Victor, [[Salada tea]] and Smith Brothers' Cough Drops.

Between his conducting for records and for radio, virtually every musical star of the day performed under the baton of Nathaniel Shilkret. His orchestra members included [[Jimmy Dorsey]], [[Tommy Dorsey]], [[Benny Goodman]], [[Lionel Hampton]], [[Glenn Miller]], [[Artie Shaw]], [[Mike Mosiello]], [[Joe Lipman]] and [[Del Staigers]]. [[George Gershwin]], [[Jascha Heifetz]], [[Mischa Elman]] and [[Andrés Segovia]] all played under his direction. Opera stars [[Rose Bampton]], [[Lucrezia Bori]], [[Feodor Chaliapin]], [[Jon Crain]], [[Richard Crooks]], [[Miguel Fleta]], [[Emilio de Gogorza]], [[Amelita Galli-Curci]], [[Mary Garden]], [[Beniamino Gigli]], [[Helen Jepson]], [[Maria Jeritza]], [[Giovanni Martinelli]], [[Nino Martini]], [[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]], [[James Melton]], [[Grace Moore]], [[Jan Peerce]], [[Lily Pons]], [[Rosa Ponselle]], [[Elisabeth Rethberg]], [[Gladys Rice]], [[Tito Schipa]], [[Gladys Swarthout]], [[John Charles Thomas]], and [[Lawrence Tibbett]] were all conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret in their recordings of light-classical and popular songs. The lists of popular singers and foreign artists that played under his direction are just as impressive.

==Compositions==
[[File:Victor22529A.jpg|thumb|''African Serenade'', a 1930 issue of a Nathaniel Shilkret composition recorded with the Victor orchestra]]
He composed and arranged thousands of pieces. His best-known popular composition was "[[The Lonesome Road]]", first sung by co-writer [[Gene Austin]],<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and later by [[Jules Bledsoe]] (dubbing [[Stepin Fetchit]]) in the final scene of the 1929 part-talkie film version of [[Show Boat (1929 film)|''Show Boat'']],<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and recorded by more than two hundred artists, including [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Bing Crosby]], [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Paul Robeson]]. He composed the theme song "Lady Divine" for the Academy Award-winning film ''[[The Divine Lady]]'' in 1929. He also composed the theme song "Some Sweet Day" for the film ''Children of the Ritz'' in the same year. His composition "[[Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time]]" sold almost two million copies of sheet music and was also recorded by over a hundred top artists, including Louis Armstrong, [[Skitch Henderson]], [[Guy Lombardo]], [[The London Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]], [[Mitch Miller]], [[Hugo Montenegro]], [[The Platters]], and [[Lawrence Welk]].

His [[Trombone Concerto (Shilkret)|Concerto for Trombone]] was premiered in 1945 by [[Tommy Dorsey]], playing with the New York Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of [[Leopold Stokowski]]. The piece was unavailable to the public from the mid-1950s until Scottish trombonist Bryan Free rescued it from obscurity at the beginning of the 21st century. It was re-premiered at Carnegie Hall by the New York Pops, under the direction of [[Skitch Henderson]], with [[Jim Pugh]] as soloist. Since its revival, the Concerto for Trombone has been performed about eighty times (with more performances scheduled) in the United States, Canada and several European countries.

==Later career==
Shilkret left RCA Victor in mid-1935, but continued to record occasionally for the company. His last recording released on the Victor label was the American Banjo Album (P-218) recorded in October 1946. This album was reissued shortly after the Victor issue as one side of an LP under the Aztec label.

Shilkret moved to Los Angeles in late 1935 and there contributed music scores and musical direction for a string of Hollywood films for [[RKO]] (as musical director from 1935 to 1937), [[Walter Lantz Productions]] (one of the studio's musical directors during 1937) and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (as a musical director from 1942 to 1946). His films included ''Mary of Scotland'' (1936), ''Swing Time'' (1936), ''The Plough and the Stars'', and ''Shall We Dance?'' (1937) and several films of [[Laurel and Hardy]].<ref name="AMG"/> He also received an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nomination for his work scoring the film version of [[Maxwell Anderson]]'s stage drama ''Winterset'' (1936).

[[File:Draft letter Shilkret to Bartok p1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Nathaniel Shilkret's letter to [[Béla Bartók]] in 1945.]]

In 1939, he conducted a group of soloists (including tenor [[Jan Peerce]]) and the Victor Symphony Orchestra for RCA Victor's multi-disc tribute to [[Victor Herbert]], which were recorded following a special [[NBC]] radio broadcast, and he recorded a number of other albums in 1939 and 1940. Due to a serious abdominal operation for cancer removal, he did not conduct for most of 1941.

In 1944–45, Shilkret led the [[Classical music written in collaboration|collaborative project]] that created ''[[Genesis Suite]]'', a work for narrator, chorus, and orchestra based on the events in the biblical [[Book of Genesis]]. This collaboration involved Shilkret, plus six other composers who immigrated to the United States from Europe – most of whom were Jewish – contributing one movement each: [[Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco]], [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Arnold Schoenberg]], [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Alexandre Tansman]] and [[Ernst Toch]]. Shilkret also tried to involve [[Béla Bartók]] in the collaborative project, but this was unsuccessful.

He worked at RKO-Pathe, making short films from 1946 through the mid-1950s. During this same period he recorded at least 260 transcriptions for SESAC.<ref name=shilkret1/> He was the pit orchestra conductor for the Broadway show ''Paris '90'' in 1952.

In 1951, Shilkret wrote the music for a brief documentary titled, ''The Flying Padre'', that was directed by a young [[Stanley Kubrick]].

He lived in his son's home in [[Franklin Square, New York]] from the mid-1950s, until his death in 1982. He was a great-uncle of actress [[Julie Warner]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Nat Shilkret}}
*{{IMDb name|6287|Nathaniel Shilkret}}
*[http://www.collateralworks.com/linernotes/natshilkret.html Nat Shilkret]
*[https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105692 Nathaniel Shilkret recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
*{{YouTube|PVni1vngD-c|Franz Liszt}}, written and directed by James A. Fitzpatrick; fictional 11-minute 1925 film short about Franz Liszt; Nathaniel Shilkret appears, conducting his orchestra.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shilkret, Nathaniel}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:American clarinetists]]
[[Category:American big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:Musicians from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Jewish American songwriters]]
[[Category:Victor Records artists]]
[[Category:Songwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American male songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]