[PW] ?Herbert Kingsley dates & biography

[Winters, Murl]

I have been asked to locate life dates and (at least a brief) biography
of Herbert Kingsley.

He is primarily known for composing the art song, Green Dog, c.1939/1950
- a standard soprano solo.

I have checked www.vivisimo.com <http://www.vivisimo.com/> ,
www.dogpile.com <http://www.dogpile.com/> , and www.google.com
<http://www.google.com/> . I found somebody else has sought the same
information in a Yahoo listserv and on the classical music listserv. The
latter string (from 2002) did offer that he wrote a ballet that was
funded by the WPA and he was born in 1898, but offered no documentation
for the date. It also mentioned he is supposed to have written the Green
Dog for singer/actor/director (?) Juanita Hall.

I did find the Federal Theatre Project Collection: A Register of the
Library of Congress Collection of U.S. Works Progress Administration
Records ... 2005 at
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/music/eadxmlmusic/eadpdfmusic/mu995001_x.p
df .

In Container 1257 there are 3 folders containing: Eternal Prodigal -
Herbert Kingsley, NY, NY (which apparently was where the work was
produced on stage).  Among the Production Records, 1934-43, in Container
1364 there is a note the material is Oversize. (It is within a section
carrying the subtitle: WPA Catalog of Transcriptions.)

However, these entries do not offer any life dates or even where the
composer may have lived.

The Social Security Death Index has 6 Herbert Kingsleys but none have
the 1898 birth date mentioned above.

LOC Authorities has Kingsley, Herbert in the Name Authority file but
does not include life dates.

 

The solo work, Green Dog, is described in From Studio to Stage:
Repertoire for the Voice, by Barbara Doscher, and Repertoire for the
Solo Voice, by Noni Espina, but no life dates, etc. are provided.

In American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion, by Bloom, he
is listed as Composer of "Nutcracker Jive" (1943) with John Latouche as
Lyricist which has the note: "This show, ... , was to be produced at
Christmas as a puppet show for adults." Also, in the same work he is
listed as the Musical Director of "Talent 50" (which opened 04/28/1950
in the Guild theatre). Kingsley is credited composing the music
(Langston Hughes was the lyricist) for Lil Ole Letter which was sung in
the production.

Green Dog is presently available in Twentieth Century Art Songs for
Recital and Study, and First Book of Soprano Solos, compiled by Joan
Frey Boytim - both published by G. Schirmer.  I briefly checked for a
Contact Us link, but have not tried the company yet.

 

Other sources checked with negative evidence:

Musica Virtual Choral Library

New Grove... 2nd ed.

Slonimsky. Baker's Biographical... 6 vol. 2000.

Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4th ed

Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950

Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre/Ganzl

Dictionary of Amer. Composers/Butterworth

ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. 4th ed.

Great Song Thesaurus 2nd ed.

Songs of the Theater/Lewine & Simon

Dictionary of Composers and Their Music/Gilder

Who's Who in Music and Musicians Intl. Directory 5th ed.

Historical Biographical Dictionaries Master Index 1st ed.

Biographical Dictionaries Master Index 3 vol. 1st ed. [I do not have the
later expansions of this set.]

Dictionary of American Biography Master Index  in Supplement Ten

Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives Cumulative Index (2003)

American National Biography/Garraty & Carnes (1999)

Music for the Voice/Kagan

 

Murl Winters

Associate Library Director

Evangel University

Springfield, MO 65802

I