{{short description|American music critic, writer, librettist, editor, pianist, and composer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Leonard Liebling | image = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1874|02|07}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1945|10|28|1874|02|07}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | education = City College of New York | occupation = {{plainlist| * Music critic * Writer * Librettist * Editor-in-chief * Pianist * Composer }} | organization = {{plainlist| * ''Musical Courier'' * ''New York Journal-American'' * CBS Radio }} | awards = | parents = Max Liebling<br />Matilde Perkiewicz | relatives = Estelle Liebling (sister)<br />Emil, Sally, Georg (uncles) }} '''Leonard Liebling''' (February 7, 1874 – October 28, 1945<ref name="obit"/>) was an American music critic, writer, librettist, editor, pianist, and composer. He is best remembered as the long-time editor-in-chief of the ''Musical Courier'' from 1911 to 1945.<ref name="obit"/><ref name="Bailey">{{cite journal|title=Will Schoenberg Be a New York Fad?: The 1914 American Premiere of Schoenberg's String Quartet in D minor|author=Walter B. Bailey|journal=American Music|volume=26|number=1|date=Spring 2008|page=42}}</ref>
==Life and career== Born into a Jewish family in New York City, Liebling was the son of composer Max Liebling (1845–1927) and his wife Matilde née de Perkiewicz.<ref name="women">{{cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/liebling-estelle|title=Estelle Liebling: 1880–1970|website=Encyclopedia of Jewish Women|author=Charlotte Greenspan|year=2009|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive}}</ref> His father and his three uncles, Emil, Sally, and Georg Liebling, were all pupils of Franz Liszt and had successful careers as pianists and composers.<ref name="Bailey"/><ref name="women"/> His brother James Liebling was also a professional musician, and his sister Estelle Liebling was a soprano with the Metropolitan Opera who became a famous voice teacher and coach.<ref name="women"/>
After graduating from the City College of New York in 1897, Liebling pursued music studies in Berlin where he was a pupil of Leopold Godowsky (piano), Theodor Kullak (piano), Karl Heinrich Barth (piano), and Heinrich Urban (composition).<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/10/29/archives/leonard-liebling-librettist-critic-editor-in-chief-of-the-musical.html|title=Leonard Liebling, Librettist, Critic; Editor-in-Chief of the ''Musical Courier'' for 34 Years Dies – Worked on 4 Comic Operas|author=Roy Pinney|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 29, 1945}}</ref> He then worked as a concert pianist and piano teacher in Europe before returning to the United States to join the staff of the ''Musical Courier'', a music journal published weekly, in 1902.<ref name="obit"/> He remained with that publication until his death 43 years later, first serving as a music critic, and then rising to post of editor-in-chief from 1911 to 1945.<ref name="obit"/> Liebling's column in the ''Musical Courier'' was entitled "Variations", and he was known for his insightful wit.<ref>{{cite book|title=Notable Twentieth-century Pianists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook|page=652|author1=John Gillespie|author2=Anna Gillespie|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Press}}</ref> He also concurrently served as music critic for the ''New York Journal-American'' from 1923 to 1936.<ref name="obit"/> In 1904 he married Eda Baxter of Brooklyn.<ref name="obit"/>
Outside of music criticism, Liebling wrote the libretti for at least four comic operas: ''The Glass Blowers'' (1909, music by John Philip Sousa;<ref>{{cite news |title=Music Review; Stars and Stripes Meets Gilbert and Sullivan: Sousa Cues a Different Drummer |author=Anthony Tommasini |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2002-04-18 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/arts/music-review-stars-stripes-meets-gilbert-sullivan-sousa-cues-different-drummer.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109134107/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/arts/music-review-stars-stripes-meets-gilbert-sullivan-sousa-cues-different-drummer.html |archive-date=2012-11-09}}</ref> revived in 1913 as ''The American Maid''); ''The Girl and the Kaiser'' (1910, with music by Georg Jarno); ''Vera Violetta'' (1911, with music by Edmund Eysler); and Frederick Lonsdale and Frank Curzon's ''The Balkan Princess'' (1911 Broadway version).<ref name="obit"/> As a composer he wrote an orchestral overture, a trio, several works for solo piano, and several art songs.<ref name="obit"/> He was an active member of the Lotos Club and The Lambs.<ref name="obit"/> He also served as the arbiter for the nationally broadcast radio quiz show ''So You Think You Know Music'' from 1939 to 1941 on CBS Radio.<ref>{{cite book|title=Quiz Craze: America's Infatuation with Game Shows|author1=Thomas A. DeLong|author2=Peter Ramsberger|year=1991|publisher=Praeger Publications|page=72}}</ref>
Liebling died of a heart attack at the Hotel Buckingham, now The Quin, in New York City in 1945.<ref name="obit"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music|Opera}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebling, Leonard}} Category:1874 births Category:1945 deaths Category:American classical composers Category:American classical pianists Category:American male classical composers Category:American male classical pianists Category:American classical music critics Category:American opera librettists Category:City College of New York alumni Category:Composers from New York City Category:Jewish American classical composers Category:New York Journal-American people