GEORGE MARTIN

MARTIN--George Whitney, author of the classic The Opera Companion: A Guide for the Casual Operagoer and 11 other books, died in Kennett Square, PA, on June 8, 2023, at age 97. He wrote about opera, Giuseppe Verdi and an eclectic series of historical subjects. In 2005, the Supreme Court Historical Society awarded him its Griswold Book Prize for CCB, The Life and Century of Charles C. Burlingham, New York's First Citizen, 1858-1959. George was beloved by his extended family and friends for his erudition, wit and charm. He was born in New York in 1926 to George Whitney Martin Sr., a lawyer, and Agnes Wharton Hutchinson Martin. He was raised in New York and spent most of his life there. He graduated from Groton School, Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school, he practiced law for five years, but then turned to writing as his life's vocation. The Opera Companion of 1961 became a standard reference and was reprinted in four more editions through 2008. Twentieth Century Opera: A Guide followed in 1999 and Opera at the Bandstand: Then and Now in 2014. His four books and numerous articles about Verdi, beginning with Verdi: His Music, Life and Times in 1963, were notable for including historical context and filling previously unstudied niches in Verdi scholarship. George's love of New York City and knowledge of its musical life and legal milieu led to other histories and biographies. The New York City Bar Association, celebrating its first century in 1970, commissioned him to write its centennial history. He also wrote a history of Italy's Risorgimento, a biography of Labor Secretary Frances Perkins and The Damrosch Dynasty, America's First Family of Music. His retelling in 1962 of an ancient Greek fable, The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, was illustrated by his friend Fred Gwynne. George was predeceased by his sisters Amy Pemberton Chapin, Julia Whitney Cheever, Agnes Whitaker Booher and Fanny Alice Connelly Cracknell. John P. Sweeney, his companion in life, died in 2002. He is survived by 11 nieces and nephews.