1. Robert Paul Commanday was an American music critic who specialized in classical music.
14 Facts About Robert Commanday
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Robert Commanday's focus concerned American music in general, but particularly ensembles, performers and events in San Francisco.
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Also a music educator and choral conductor, Robert Commanday held brief teaching posts at Ithaca College and the University of Illinois, before a decade of teaching music and conducting choirs at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Robert Paul Commanday was born on June 18,1922, in Yonkers, New York.
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Robert Commanday enrolled at Harvard University to study music theory and music history, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1943.
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The composer Andrew Imbrie, who Robert Commanday had met during the war, invited him to the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Master of Arts in 1952 for musicology.
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Robert Commanday credits being an "inveterate letter writer" as important to the growth of his style of criticism.
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Topics of particular interest to Robert Commanday included the San Francisco music scene since 1850, music education and American music, especially American music after 1950 and American opera.
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Robert Commanday's writings were often inextricably tied to San Francisco; according to Smith, he "was a champion of local composers and musical organizations".
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Robert Commanday reportedly quipped that he "flunked retirement"; following his SF Chronicle tenure, he aimed to launch an online news site for the classical music scene of San Francisco.
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Robert Commanday was motivated by the decline in the circulation of print newspaper, as well as his claim that much important and relevant information was ignored by local newspapers.
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Robert Commanday wrote numerous entries for various editions of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the subsequent Grove Music Online.
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Robert Commanday was president of the Music Critics Association of North America two times, first, from 1981 to 1985.
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Robert Commanday was survived by his wife Mary, as well as daughter Michal, and son David, who conducts the Heartland Festival Orchestra of Peoria, Illinois.