Chalmers Clifton
1889-1966

Chalmers Clifton was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 30, 1889. He graduated with distinction from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1907 and from Harvard University in 1912, summa cum laude. While at Harvard, he conducted the first MacDowell Festival, at Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1910, and conducted the orchestras of the Pierian Society and the Musical Arts Society in Boston. In 1912, he won the Frederic Sheldon Traveling Scholarship, which allowed him two years' study in Paris with Vincent d'Indy and Andre Gedalge.

After returning from Europe, he was appointed conductor of the Cecilia Society in Boston. In 1915, he composed and conducted music for the Lexington (Massachusetts) Pageant, commemorating one hundred and forty years of American independence. He resigned his position in 1917 in order to enlist in the U.S. Army. Clifton received his commission as first lieutenant in the Intelligence Service and served overseas for two years during World War I. After the War, and before returning to the United States, he conducted a concert of American music with the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1919, which created much interest in American music.

During the season of 1920-21, Clifton conducted opera at the San Carlo Opera and the Italian Lyric Federation, and served as music director of the Plymouth Tercentenary Project in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1922, he was appointed Music Director of the American Orchestral Society in New York, a position he held for ten years. During this period, he appeared as guest conductor with the orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and New York. He was a lecturer at Columbia University and taught classes in conducting and score reading there for a number of years. In 1936, Clifton organized the Federal Music Project of New York City and served as its director for four years. He spent his last years in New York City with his wife, Wanda Baur Clifton (sister of Bertha Baur, who was the niece of the founder of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Clara Baur). He died there in 1966.

Chalmers Clifton did much toward bringing the works of American composers before the public. He conducted the premiere performances of many new works. Although his is now remembered chiefly as a conductor, he had many compositions to his credit. There is little evidence that he promoted them, however, and, as a result, he is now nearly forgotten as a composer. The manuscript of the full score of his The Poppy: Poem for Tenor and Orchestra (1914) is held by the Gorno Memorial Music Library.