Stephen Albert Emery (A Hundred Years of Music in America, 1889)

Stephen Albert Emery (October 4, 1841 – 1891) was a 19th-century American music composer and theorist. Many of the younger American composers were indebted to Emery for their instruction in the art of composition, and he stood in the front rank of American

theorists A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

. Emery has a national reputation as a lecturer upon musical subjects, a contributor to musical papers, a composer, a teacher of harmony, counterpoint and piano. As a composer, he wrote about a 150 published pieces, all of which were musicianly, and many of which enjoyed a large share of popular favor.

Early life and education

Stephen Albert Emery was born at

Paris, Maine Paris is a town in and the county seat of Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,179 at the 2020 census. The census-designated place of South Paris is located within the town. Because the U.S. Post Office refers to the entir ...

, October 4, 1841. His father, Hon. Stephen Emery, was a distinguished lawyer and judge. Emery early manifested a strong love for music, and he even composed some little pieces before he was able to read notes, an elder sister showing him how to write them. After a common school education, he entered upon a collegiate course at

Colby University Colby College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the ...

in the fall of 1859, but owing to ill-health and impaired sight, he was compelled to leave after the freshman year. He, then as a pastime, took up the study of the piano and harmony, his teacher being Henry L. Edwards, of Portland, Maine. Acting upon the advice of his teacher, Emery went to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

in 1862, and there for two years, he studied with Richter, Papperitz, Plaidy and Haupt. In

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, he studied under Spindler.

Career

Emery returned to the United States, remaining in Portland until the great fire there in 1866, when he relocated to

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 ...

. He was engaged as teacher of the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and harmony by Eben Tourjee, at the opening of the New England Conservatory of Music, in 1867, and was afterwards appointed professor of harmony, theory and composition in the Boston University College of Music. Emery wrote many piano pieces and songs. His ''Foundation Studies in Pianoforte Playing, Op. 35'' (written for his own children), was a remarkably simple and easy course for beginners, while his ''Elements of Harmony'' was used throughout the U.S. Emery lectured and composed a considerable quantity of music, both vocal and instrumental. He was equally known as a didactic lecturer and as a teacher. He was also associate editor of the ''Boston Musical Herald'' where his editorial contributions exercised a decided influence in elevating the standard of musical taste. His students included:

Horatio Parker Horatio William Parker (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the undergradu ...

, Arthur Foote, Henry Kimball Hadley,

Ethelbert Nevin Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (November 25, 1862February 17, 1901) was an American pianist and composer. Early life Nevin was born on November 25, 1862, at Vineacre, on the banks of the Ohio River, in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania.Mulkearn, Lois, p. 62 ...

, and

Nellie Moyer Budd Nellie Moyer Budd (February 20, 1860 - November 28, 1944) was an American music teacher. Trained at the New England Conservatory of Music, she served for many years as the head of the music department at Windom College, Montevideo, Minnesota. Ea ...

Death and legacy

Stephen Albert Emergy died in 1891. His papers are held by

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Selected piano compositions

* Alma Polka * Among the Islands * At the Castle * Crystal Spring * Petite Fantaisie * Sonatellas * No. 1 in ''E flat'' * No. 2 in ''A''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emery, Stephen Albert 1841 births 1891 deaths People from Paris, Maine 19th-century American composers American music theorists American music educators American musicologists American magazine editors 19th-century musicologists