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Benjamin E. Woolf (February 16, 1836 – February 7, 1901), was a British-born American violinist, composer, playwright and journalist. His best known works were the comic operas ''The Mighty Dollar'' and ''Westward Ho''. ==Biography== Benjamin Wolf was born on February 16, 1836 in London, England, the first of ten children raised by Edward and Sarah Woolf.〔Edward Woolf, New York City, 1850-1860 US Census Records, Ancestry.com〕 In the late 1830s Woolf’s family immigrated to America 〔Benjamin Woolf, Boston, Massachusetts, 1900 US Census Records, Ancestry.com〕 where his father, a former orchestra conductor at London’s Pavilion Theatre, would lead orchestras in Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans, Louisiana, St. Louis, Missouri and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1841 Woolf’s family had settled in New York where his father would become a noted orchestra leader, artist, novelist and humorist.〔( American Jewish Historical Quarterly, Volume 12 By American Jewish Historical Society; 1904; pg. 173 ) accessed June 25, 2012〕 Woolf was trained on the violin by his father and received his early practical experience performing in theater orchestras.〔(Klauser, Karl – The Universal Library of Music; 1913; pg. 627 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 Woolf later rose to be become first violinist under the direction of Julius Eichberg at the Boston Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Woolf and Eichberg would later collaborate on the comic opera ''Doctor of Alcantara'', that was first produced at the Boston Museum in 1879.〔(Benjamin E. Woolf (book), Julius Eichberg (music) The Doctor of Alcantara: Comic Opera in Two Acts ) accesses June 24, 2012〕 At some point Woolf left Boston to conduct orchestras in Philadelphia and New Orleans, but returned in 1871 to accept the position of music editor for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. Woolf would remain with the Gazette for twenty-three years, where he was eventually elevated to editor and chief. In 1894 he left the Gazette to take charge of the music desk at the Boston Herald, a position Woolf held for the remainder of his life.〔 Woolf worked on some 62 plays over his career. ''The Mighty Dollar'', was written for William J. Florence and debuted at the Park Theatre in New York City on September 6, 1875. The idea of the play, originally titled ''The Almighty Dollar'', came from Malvina Florence’s humorous observations of wealthy Americans abroad. Though much maligned by the critics, by 1886 Florence and his wife had performed the play over 2,500 times 〔The Mighty Dollar.- The Indiana Democrat; February 18, 1886; pg. 4〕 〔(Stadman, Arthur – A library of American Literature; 1892; pg. 418 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 In 1880 Woolf’s comedy, ''Lawn Tennis'', debuted at the Park Theatre in Boston to positive revues. It was with this play that actress Marie Jansen first appeared on the professional stage. 〔(The Nation; October 7, 1880; pg. 255 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 In 1894 Woolf collaborated with Richard Darwin Ware in ''Westward Ho'', a comic opera about an English aristocrat posing as a Wild West gunslinger and a town in Wyoming run by women. The play opened on December 31, 1894 at the Boston Museum where it was well received.〔 〔(Bordman, Gerald, Norton, Richard, American Musical Theatre, 2010; pg 1017 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 〔(Woolf, Benjamin E., Ware, Richard Darwin, An Original Comic Opera in Three Acts Entitled Westward, Ho! 1894 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 Woolf married Josephine Orton (c. 1841–1926) in Boston on March 5, 1862.〔Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 about Josephire A Orton, Ancestry.com〕 Known on the stage as Josie Orton, she was for a number of years a leading actress at the Boston Museum starring in plays such as ''Arrah-na-Pogue'',〔(Boucicault,Dion ''Arrah na Pogue'' 1862 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 ''The Colleen Brawn'' 〔(a play by Dion Boucicault – The Simmons Brand (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 6, Ed. 1, Saturday, October 24, 1931 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 and ''Rosadale''.〔(A play by Lester Wallack, Johnson, Rossiter, Brown, John Howard – The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕〔.Josie Oeton, Actress, New York Times; Jun 2, 1926; pg. 25〕 Woolf died in Boston on February 7, 1901, aged 64.〔(DEATH LIST OF A DAY. New York Times; February 8, 1901; pg. 9;4 ) accessed June 24, 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benjamin Edward Woolf」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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