William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910–February 15, 1992) was an American composer and music administrator.
Born in the Bronx in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft (although his family preferred to call him Bill). Schuman played the violin and banjo as a child, but his overwhelming passion was baseball. While still in high school, he formed a dance band, "Bill...
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William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910–February 15, 1992) was an American composer and music administrator.
Born in the Bronx in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft (although his family preferred to call him Bill). Schuman played the violin and banjo as a child, but his overwhelming passion was baseball. While still in high school, he formed a dance band, "Billy Schuman and his Alamo Society Orchestra", that played local weddings and bar mitzvahs (Schuman played string bass in the band).
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. He also wrote popular songs with E. B. Marks, Jr., a friend he had met long before at summer camp. About then Schuman met lyricist Frank Loesser and wrote some forty songs with him. (Indeed, Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to...
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