=Boston Writers=.—The three leading Boston writers of recent years are
Louis C. Elson, Wm. F. Apthorp and Philip Hale. =Louis C. Elson= was
born in Boston, in 1848. He was educated for the musical profession,
at home and at Leipzig. In 1880, he became connected with the New
England Conservatory, and at the present time is head of the theory
department of that institution. His journalistic activity covers a
period of about thirty years and his writings have appeared in Boston
and New York papers, as well as in the leading musical journals. His
works in book form are ten in number, the most valuable to the student
of history being a large volume on the “History of American Music.”
The other works are critical, technical, and biographical. =Wm. F.
Apthorp= was born in Boston, in 1848, graduated at Harvard, and began
his critical work in music in 1872, being connected with several Boston
papers. Mr. Apthorp’s published works are few in number, “Musicians
and Music Lovers” and “The Opera, Past and Present.” In addition to
this he supplied program material for the Boston Symphony Concerts for
a number of years, educational as well as descriptive and critical.
=Philip Hale= was born at Norwich, Vt., in 1854, graduated from Yale
and was admitted to the Bar in New York in 1880. His interest in music
and musical work proved too strong for him and he went abroad to
Germany and France to study. In 1889, he located in Boston and began
work as musical critic on the staff of several of the papers. For a
number of years he was Boston correspondent for the _Musical Courier_
of New York. Two other men whose work in musical literature has been
significant are =Alexander W. Thayer=, born at Natick, Mass., in 1817,
who wrote the standard biography of Beethoven, and =Thomas Tapper=, of
Boston, who has written a number of valuable educational works in music.
=New York Critics=.—New York City has four men of the first rank
as writers on music, not only for critical acumen and technical
knowledge, but also for literary style. =Henry T. Finck= was born in
Missouri, in 1854, graduated from Harvard University, and studied at
German universities for three years. When he returned to the United
States he joined the editorial staff of the _Evening Post_ and the
_Nation_, which places he still holds. His works in musical literature
are “Wagner and His Works,” “Paderewski and His Art,” “Songs and Song
Writers,” and “Chopin and Other Essays.” =Henry E. Krehbiel= was born
at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1854. His first newspaper experience was in
Cincinnati; later he went to New York to the _Tribune_, which place he
still holds. His contributions to musical literature are “Studies in
the Wagnerian Drama,” “How to Listen to Music,” and “Music and Manners
in the Classical Period,” besides contributions to the leading musical
papers and general magazines. =William J. Henderson= was born at
Newark, N. J., in 1855, graduated from Princeton University, afterward
entering journalism in New York City, being connected with the _Times_,
and later with the _Sun_. His books are distinctly educational in tone:
“The Story of Music,” “How Music Developed,” “What is Good Music,”
“The Orchestra and Orchestral Music,” “Richard Wagner: His Life and
Dramas,” and “The Art of the Singer.” A writer on music who has made a
fine reputation in literary and dramatic criticism as well is =James
Huneker=, a native of Philadelphia, whose active work has been done
in New York City. His books of interest to the musician are a “Life
of Chopin,” “Mezzotints in Modern Music,” “Melomaniacs,” “Overtones,”
“Iconoclasts” and “Visionaries.”
=Other Writers= in this field whose work deserves mention are =Edward
Dickinson=, of Oberlin, O., with two works, “History of Music in the
Western Church” and “The Study of the History of Music”; =Philip
Goepp=, of Philadelphia, “Symphonies and their Meanings”; =Daniel
Gregory Mason=, of Boston, “From Grieg to Brahms”; =Lawrence Gilman=,
of New York, “Phases of Modern Music”; Professor =Hugh A. Clarke=, of
the University of Pennsylvania, “Music and the Comrade Arts,” “Highways
and By-ways of Music,” and several excellent theoretical works; =O. B.
Boise=, Peabody Conservatory of Baltimore, with a work of a historical
and critical nature, “Music and Its Masters,” and some theoretical
works; =Rupert Hughes=, “Contemporary American Composers.