William Schuman

William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910 – February 15, 1992) was an American composer and arts administrator.

In 1928 he entered New York University's School of Commerce to pursue a business degree, at the same time working for an advertising agency.

Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to William H. Schuman.

On April 13, 1930, Schuman attended a Carnegie Hall concert of the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

[citation needed] According to the Philharmonic's archives, the program included works by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Smetana.

"[This quote needs a citation] Schuman dropped out of school and quit his part-time job to study music at the Malkin Conservatory with Max Persin and Charles Haubiel.

He left in 1961 to succeed John D. Rockefeller III as president of Lincoln Center, a position he held until 1969.

[4] He won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1985 citing "more than half a century of contribution to American music as composer and educational leader"[5] and he received the National Medal of Arts in 1987.

Other works include the New England Triptych (1956, based on melodies by William Billings), the American Festival Overture (1939), the ballets Undertow (1945) and Judith (1949) (the latter written for Martha Graham), the Mail Order Madrigals (1972) to texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog, and two operas, The Mighty Casey (1953, based on Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat"), which reflected his lifelong love of baseball, and A Question of Taste (1989, after a short story by Roald Dahl).

[9] Because of his recognizability, panel members Dorothy Kilgallen, Martin Gabel, Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf were blindfolded.

Schuman's title card identified him as "Composer and President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City)".