John Ashton was a merchant and music publisher in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, in the 19th century. He owned a "music & umbrella store" at no.197
Washington Street which sold "all the new and fashionable music"
[American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1] ca.1819-1844. He manufactured and sold musical instruments; tuned pianos; and published and sold sheet music "of marches,
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...
es,
rondo
The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period.
Etymology
The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round".
Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...
s, variations,
quadrilles
The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six '' contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodie ...
,
gallopades, dances, &c. ... arranged for the band, orchestra, piano forte, guitar, flute, violin, organ &c."
Among the composers represented in Ashton's stock: Comer,
Joseph Haydn, Knight, Paddon, Russell, Shaw, Webb,
Charles Zeuner.
The firm "John Ashton & Co." was dissolved on January 1, 1844 with notice that the business will "be continued at the old stand, 197 Washington Street, by E.H. Wade."
["The business will be continued at the old stand, 197 Washington Street, by E.H. Wade." Daily Atlas (Boston), Jan. 26, 1844]
References
Images
Image:JohnAshton Boston ad engr bySparrow NYPL.jpeg, Advertisement for John Ashton, "importer & manufacturer of musical instruments," ca.1824 (New York Public Library)
Image:1836 Smoke Gear Ashton Boston.png, "On Mortality, Think & Smoke Tobacco. ... With an accompaniment for the piano forte by Joseph Gear, of the Tremont Orchestra, Boston. Respectfully dedicated to Charles Sprague, Esq. Boston, John Ashton, 1836.
Image:Alabama (Boston Public Library).jpg, "March of the First Volunteer Regiment of Alabama. Dedicated to Col. Thos. W. McCoy of Mobile. Composed by John Holloway. Boston. Published by John Ashton & Co." (Boston Public Library)
Further reading
*
* Russell Sanjek. American popular music and its business: the first 400 years; Vol.2: from 1790 to 1909. Oxford University Press, 1988
* Field Drums blog.
Pre-Civil War John Ashton Eagle Drum" 2009
Published by Ashton
Ashton published numerous sheet music titles. For example:
* Nathan Adams. Ruins of Troy. 1826
* John Holloway. Winthrop's quick step. 1835. "As performed by the Boston Band. ... Dedicated to Capt. G.T. Winthrop, the officers and members of the Boston Independent Fusiliers"
* Charles Zeuner. New England Guards quick step. 1835
* George O. Farmer. Gen. Harrison's grand march. 1840. "Dedicated to the Boston & Roxbury Whig Associations"
External links
* WorldCat
John Ashton & Co.* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Double bass 1823, instrument made by
Abraham Prescott (Deerfield, N.H.), sold by Ashton
* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Flute ca.1830, instrument manufactured/sold by Ashton
* Johns Hopkins University, Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
Mechanicks Quick Step 1835.
* Field Drums blog.
" 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, John
Businesspeople from Boston
19th century in Boston
American music publishers (people)
19th-century American businesspeople
Cultural history of Boston
Year of death missing