Robert Lissauer, 87; Created an Encyclopedia of American Pop Tunes

Robert Lissauer, a composer and theatrical producer who used his experience and knowledge of music to create a 1.2-million word encyclopedia of popular tunes in America, has died. He was 87.

Lissauer, who lived in Manhattan, died Thursday at a hospital in New York City, said his wife, Melinda.

A songwriter himself, Lissauer got the idea for an encyclopedia when he became an unofficial authority on pop music at the Players Club, a New York theatrical society.

“One day while leaving the club, the thought occurred to me that there should be a single-volume reference source containing all of this information,” he wrote in the introduction to Lissauer’s Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America -- 1888 to Present, which was published in 1991 by Paragon House. It was revised and updated in 1996.

In selecting the nearly 20,000 entries listed in nearly 1,700 pages in the original volume, Lissauer focused on songs from 1888 forward to include the beginning of Tin Pan Alley, which he called “the genesis of the soon-to-burgeon popular song industry.” Songs are listed by title, composer, date, performer and genre (blues, pop standards, rock and show tunes).

The encyclopedia, which took him four years to complete, weighs in at more than 6 pounds. In its foreword, Lissauer wrote that popular music was “the most familiar, renowned and popular art form in America.”

“I did not say ‘arguably,’ because in my mind the question is not debatable,” he wrote.

“Songs have seen us off to war, helped us elect presidents, made us laugh and made us cry, pervaded our sleep and, perhaps most important, have given us memories.”

After its publication, he was subjected to second-guessing, often from those who thought their songs or the songs of their favorite composers should have been included. Lissauer welcomed comments, but he accepted that, after he got beyond the obvious choices, some of it was a matter of judgment.

“It was wonderful playing God,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1992.

He included a couple of his own songs, which he cheerfully conceded to the Chronicle were “borderline cases.”

He also included songs that documented the country’s sometimes-shameful history, such as blatantly racist tunes that were popular in the early part of the 20th century.

Lissauer was born May 1, 1917, in New York City and educated at the Juilliard School of Music and New York University.

He served in the Army in World War II and was the noncommissioned officer in charge of the music division of Irving Berlin’s all-soldier show “This Is the Army,” which raised millions of dollars for Army Emergency Relief at the end of the war.

After the war, he was manager of Vincent Youmans Co., which oversaw Youmans standards such as “Tea for Two” and “I Want to Be Happy.” Lissauer later lectured extensively on popular music and taught music at New York University.

Lissauer, who was married five times, is survived by his fifth wife, the former Melinda Dopper; three children; four grandchildren; and a sister.