Nicolas Slonimsky (April 27, 1894 - December 25, 1995) was a Russian-American composer, conductor, music critic, musician, and author. He emigrated to the United States in 1923. In 1958 Slonimsky took over the supervision of Baker's Dictionary of Music & Musicians and was head editor until 1992. He also wrote "Music since 1900," a survey of every important musical event in the 20th Century, and The Lexicon of Musical Invective, a compilation of hilariously bad reviews by critics of composers since Beethoven's time, as well as an autobiography, Perfect Pitch. During 1986, Slonimsky made frequent Saturday afternoon visits to appear on the Doug Ordunio show, heard over KFAC-FM, Los Angeles. Their discussions were often witty and humorous. On one Saturday during this period a crew came out from the New York public television station, WNET, to film the entire show. Portions of this session were included in the "Aging" segment of the PBS Series "The Mind." Slonimsky possessed a sly sense of humor, a trait he would exhibit on the various appearances he made on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He died at age 101. April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Wikicities has a wiki about Music: Music MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia Science of Music... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Slonimsky was a great champion of contemporary music. He conducted the world premiere of Edgar Varèse's Ionisation for thirteen percussionists in 1933, of Charles Ives' Three Places in New England in 1931, and various other works. His best known book is the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns ISBN 082561449X, which has influenced many composers and jazz musicians. Edgar (or Edgard) Varèse (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer, who moved to the United States in 1915, and took American citizenship in 1926. ... This photo from around 1913 shows Ives in his day job: he was the director of a successful insurance agency. ...

External link

• Nicolas Slonimsky and John Coltrane : Countdown, Giant Steps, and the Chromatic Third Relationship by Katherine Kristalovich