Theodore Stearns

American composer and conductor, of 17th century immigrant stock, was born June 10, 1875 at Berea, Ohio and died November 1, 1935 at Los Angeles. Evidencing a strong musical talent at a young age he received his early training at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His teen years found him conducting his high-school orchestra and playing viola in the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. In 1895 he traveled to Germany for further study, graduating from the Royal Conservatory of Wurzburg in 1898.
After returning to the United States, Theodore Stearns traveled extensively throughout the country conducting opera and musical comedy. By 1910 he was in New York conducting light opera and became Victor Herbert's principle conductor. Stearns had an auxilliary career as a music journalist both in New York and Chicago. His column, "Stardust and Fiddlesticks" for the New York Morning Telegraph attracted a large and diverse following. In 1932 he was appointed to the faculty of The University of California at Los Angeles where he taught composition, music theory and history. His several marriages produced five children: Irving Kip (1895-1942), Lucy Cecilia (1912-1998), Gloria Pease (1920-1923), [Charles] Theodore (b. 1927) and Peter Pindar (b. 1931). After composing numerous works early in his life, Stearns wrote little more until after 1920. (see List of Works)

Following is a news release from UCLA on the occasion of the death of Theodore Stearns dated December 5, 1935:
In the death on November 1, 1935, of Theodore Stearns, Professor of Music, 1932-35, the University of California at Los Angeles lost the services of a creative musician, and a presence that was ardent, sensitive, scholarly, and humane.
Born in Berea, Ohio, 1875, he was trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at the Bavarian Royal Conservatory, where he received his M.A. degree in 1898. In 1919 he married Margaret Middleton, who, as Marguerite Lamar, had herself achieved recognition as an artist (opera and art song singer). They had three children.
A thoroughly competent musician himself, Professor Stearns conducted opera and symphony at Wurtzburg, Germany, and collaborated with Victor Herbert and Fritz Kreisler. His acute artistic discrimination brought him the editorship of the music journal Etude, and the position of music critic for the Chicago Herald-Examiner, and the New York Telegraph. He wrote the Story of Music in 1931, and was a frequent contributor to professional periodicals.
In 1927 he received the Guggenheim Foundation Award, and spent two more years in Germany, engaged in study and composition. He won the David Bispham Medal for Grand Opera in 1929. His major works are "Indian Suite," 1898; "Snowbird," a one-act lyric suite produced at Chicago in 1928; "Atlantis," 1929; and "Suite Caprese," 1927, which was presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932.
His last work, the tone-poem "Baal-Hamon," was first presented at Royce Hall, University of California at Los Angeles, in April, 1935. Its effective mingling of the sensuous and intellectual elements of music was both moving and profound. As always, the work was indicative of the man, and to know either or both was to be aware of a fine spirit enriched by the color and warmth of an understanding heart.

LIST OF MUSICAL WORKS