Mayhew Lester Lake

American composer/arranger of band music, music educator, conductor, and violinist (October 25, 1879 – March 16, 1955). He was born on October 25, 1879, at Southville in Worcester County, MA, and studied piano, violin, harmony, and counterpoint at the New England Conservatory in Boston with among others violinist Julius Vogler. After serving as a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen, he then traveled as conductor of various theater orchestras throughout the United States. From 1900, when he was 21, to 1910 he was chief conductor of the orchestra at the Teatro Payret, one of the largest theaters in the Western world, at Havana, Cuba. In 1910 he moved to New York City, NY, and became conductor and artistic director of a theater in New York. That year he also began arrangements and compositions for concert bands and theaters. Lake became editor-in-chief in 1913 for wind music and orchestral music at the New York music publisher Carl Fischer and remained in this post until 1948, editing numerous classical works for orchestra and concert band. The manuscripts in this collection were used by Lake’s concert band, the Symphony in Gold, which he conducted for NBC radio. Also, he was a prolific composer and wrote numerous works for orchestra, and especially for concert band. As a lover of ragtime, he composed two such works, The Rag Baby (1916) and Toreador Humoresque: A Ragtime Travesty on “Carmen” (1918). While with Fischer in New York, he published his book The American Band Arranger in 1920. In 1924 he became a member of ASCAP. He composed the special symphonic overtures that were performed weekly at 72 theaters across the United States. Much in demand as a guest conductor with orchestras in the country and also a jury member during concert events, Lake was a lecturer for orchestration at the University of New York in New York City and a visiting lecturer at several universities and colleges. Like many contemporaries composers he used pseudonyms, most notably Lester Brockton, but also Alfred Byers, Paul DuLac, Charles Edwards, Robert Hall, and William Lester. He died on March 16, 1955, at Palisades Park, NJ.