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4 unusual facts about Douglas Moore


Douglas Moore

Apart from classical compositions, Moore also composed several popular songs whilst at Yale together with poet and Hotchkiss School mate Archibald MacLeish and later in collaboration with John Jacob Niles.

His chosen style was what some regard as "typically American" i.e. based on American folk music, though Moore never actually used any authentic folk tunes but rather created his own (much like Gustav Holst or Falla).

He wrote music for the theater, film, ballet and orchestra, but his greatest fame is associated with his operas The Devil and Daniel Webster (1938) and The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956).

Stephen Vincent Benét

He furnished the material for Scratch, a one-act opera by Douglas Moore.


Central City Opera

Successful commissions for the company include the American classic The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore, premiered in 1956, the popular one-act opera The Face on the Barroom Floor by Henry Mollicone, premiered in 1978 and the 2003 world premiere of Gabriel's Daughter, also composed by Henry Mollicone.


see also

Martin Yates

After attending Kimbolton School (1969 - 1974), he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducting), Richard Arnell (composition), Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands (piano) and Douglas Moore & John Burden (French horn).