Born in Brookline, MA on July 14, 1885, Warren Storey Smith studied at the Carl Faelten Pianoforte School, Boston, where he then taught from 1908-1919. He was appointed professor of theory and music history at New England Conservatory in 1922 and continued to teach there until 1964. He was faculty emeritus there from 1965 until his death in 1971. He introduced a “Syllabus of the Lectures in Musical History” for use at NEC and published A Handbook of Musical Form (1964).
Smith, commonly known as W.S.S., was the assistant music critic for the Boston Evening Transcript from 1919-1924 and music editor of the Boston Post from 1924-1953. As a composer, Smith wrote for orchestra a Romance (performed by the Boston Pops in 1916) and Andante Cantabile (1920); songs: “To Helen” (1914), “The Gift of Pan”, “Faith”, “I Know a Trail” (all from 1915); “Ring out Wild Bells” from Poe; “Last Invocation” from Whitman; “A Caravan From China Comes” (1916; also with orchestra); as well as numerous instructive pieces for piano.
The pride of his final years was an honorary seat to the concerts of the BSO, given to Smith in recognition of his service to music. Warren Storey Smith died on October 15, 1971, at the age of 86.
Physical description
The Warren Storey Smith Collection consists of seven scrapbooks (which have been photocopied).
Access
Access to the Warren Storey Smith Collection is granted by the Archivist. Appointments must be scheduled in advance. There are no restrictions pertaining to this collection. A detailed inventory of this collection is available online: Warren Storey Smith Inventory
Copyright
All copyrights to this collection belong to the New England Conservatory. Permission to publish materials from this collection is granted by the Director of Libraries. This collection should be cited as: Warren Storey Smith Collection, New England Conservatory Archives, Boston, MA.