User:Mritch999/John Manley Barnett

John Manley Barnett (1917-2013)

Conductor John Manley Barnett was born September 3, 1917 in Manhattan, New York to optician Guy Carlton Barnett and Bernadette Emma (Manley) Barnett.[1]  He died in Los Angeles, California December 6, 2013[2] at the age of 96.

Barnett began studying music at the age of 5 when his mother taught him piano.  In 1927, when the youngster was ten years old, his family relocated to Englewood, New Jersey.[1]  By 1930, the family was living on Knickerbocker Road in Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey.[2]  When Barnett was 7 years old, Haworth Grammar School teacher Clifford Demarest of Tenafly, NJ realized the youth’s talent and placed him on trumpet in the school orchestra, where he received his initial musical ensemble training.  Barnett continued studying with Demarest through grammar and high school, playing solos in Demarest’s Tenafly High School Orchestra and the Beethoven Orchestra of Tenafly (which Demarest founded).  Demarest was the former President of the Music Department of the New Jersey State Teachers Association, founder of the Bergen County Division. Demarest retired from teaching in 1938 to devote more time to composing.  Barnett would later conduct Demarest’s arrangement “Bach Doric Toccata” in January 1940 which Demarest had written in the summer of 1939 and premiered with the Beethoven Orchestra of Tenafly that fall.[3]

By 1930, the 13-year-old musical prodigy was garnering awards for his trumpet and piano playing, winning two silver medals for those instruments in the Junior Division at the New Jersey State Musical Contest given at Newark. At the time, he was a freshman at Englewood High School (Dwight Morrow High School) studying with a member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra who was preparing him for entry into the Orchestra when he reached the age of 21.[1]  Having played with the Heckscher Symphony Orchestra, the 13-year-old cornetist was featured as soloist in the 310^th Infantry Band (“Col. Moore’s Own Band”) on August 12, 1931 at Winton J. White Stadium.[2]

When he was 15 years old, he received a scholarship from the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York which provided for instruction in orchestral conducting, advanced music theory, composition and piano study.  That summer he studied music at Columbia University summer school in New York, a four-week extension course in Boston, and in the fall entered Carnegie Hall’s preparatory course to became a cornetist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  He had been studying since the age of 10 with New York Philharmonic cornetist/trumpeter Max Schlossberg (1873-1936), “who studied trumpet in Moscow and with Julius Kosleck in Berlin before settling in New York in 1902. . . Although his teachers were noted cornet players, Schlossberg primarily played trumpet and was considered ‘The Founder of the American School of Trumpet Playing in the Twentieth Century’”.[1][2][3]  Young Barnett also studied violin with Hugo Kortschak, and composition and counterpoint with Dr. Reginald Mills Silby of New York and Princeton, New Jersey. [4]  Barnett also studied at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

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[1] “Cornetist, 15, Studies at College; Will Join Philharmonic Orchestra”.  The Record [Hackensack, NJ] 27 Jul. 1933, Bergen Evening ed. 9.  Newspapers.com.  Web.  9 Oct. 2019.

[2] Smith, Andre M.  “Max Schlossberg: Founder of The American School of Trumpet Playing in the Twentieth Century”, ITG Journal (May 1997), 48n.

[3] Wallace, John, and McGrattan, Alexander. The Trumpet. Yale Musical Instrument Series.  Yale University Press, 31 Jan. 2012.  Google Books, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Trumpet/bZYJMOzlhiEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=schlossberg

[4] Vreeland, Roger S.  “John Barnett to Study in Europe”.  The Record [Hackensack, New Jersey] 19 May, 1936, Bergen Evening ed.: 21.  Newspapers.com.  Web. 30 Sep. 2019.

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[1] “Englewood Students Win Music Honors”.  The Record [Hackensack, NJ] 23 Apr. 1930, Bergen Evening ed.:  17.  Newspapers.com.  Web. 30 Sep. 2019.

[2] “Reveal Program of Infantry Concert – 310^th Infantry Band to Play at Stadium August 12”.  The Record [Hackensack, NJ] 7 Aug. 1931, Bergen Evening ed.: 6. Newspapers.com.  Web.  9 Oct. 2019.

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[1] “Barnett, Englewood Optician, Dies at 57 – Father of Music Scholar Succumbs at Home to Pneumonia”.  The Record [Hackensack, NJ] 23 Feb. 1937, Bergen Evening ed.: 12.  Newspapers.com.  Web. 27 Sep 2019.

[2] United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

[3] Vreeland, Roger S.  “John Barnett to Conduct Clifford Demarest’s Work”.  The Record [Hackensack, NJ] 12 Jan. 1940, Bergen Evening ed.: 13.  Newspapers.com.  Web. 30 Sep 2019.

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[1] Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Birth Index, 1910-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017. Original data:New York City Department of Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images.

[2] Kyse, Barbara C.  Kyse Family Tree.  Ancestry.com, 23 Oct 2019.

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