Theodore Chanler

Theodore Ward Chanler (April 29, 1902 – July 27, 1961) was an American composer.

Early life Chanler was born on April 29, 1902, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was a son of Major Winthrop Astor Chanler and Margaret Ward (née Terry) Chanler, an author and musician. Theodore's godfather was President Theodore Roosevelt, who attended his christening in Newport in 1902. Though born in Newport, his family shortly moved to Geneseo, New York, where he grew up at the family estate, Sweet Briar Farms. His maternal grandparents were Louisa (née Ward) Crawford Terry and artist Luther Terry (d. 1900).

Chanler studied piano while a youngster in Boston, and then studied piano under Buhling and counterpoint under Goetschius at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City. From 1920 to 1923, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and between 1924 and 1927 in Europe (Oxford, then Paris under Nadia Boulanger). He was also a regular contributor to the American magazine Modern Music. choral pieces, works for chamber ensemble, and piano solo pieces. In 1940, he was awarded the League of Composers Town Hall Award for his song cycle, "Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie" and, in 1944, was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. Chanler was married to Maria Sargent (née de Acosta) (1880–1970), the daughter of Ricardo de Acosta. She was the sister of Aida de Acosta, Mercedes de Acosta, Rita de Acosta, and Mrs. Frederick Shaw of London. Maria previously was married to Andrew Robeson Sargent, the son of Charles Sprague Sargent. Maria and Andrew had a child together, Ignatius Sargent (1914–1999),

Chanler died at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on July 27, 1961.