William Mason (January 24, 1829 – July 14, 1908) was an American composer and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and a member of a musical family. His father was composer

Lowell Mason Lowell Mason (January 8, 1792 – August 11, 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known ...

, a leading figure in American church music, and his younger brother, Henry Mason, was a co-founder of the piano manufacturers Mason & Hamlin.

Career

Mason was born 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 ...

. After a successful debut at the Boston Academy of Music, he went to Europe in 1849; there he was the first American piano student of Franz Liszt and

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the Co ...

. He became the leader of a chamber ensemble based in New York that introduced many works of Robert Schumann and other famous Europeans to Americans during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

era and beyond, at a time when classical music still had little specifically American identity. Mason published numerous pedagogical works for the piano student, but is remembered above all for his Chopinesque compositions for piano. The American composer and pianist

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites '' Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and '' ...

(1860-1908) dedicated his second piano sonata, Op. 50 Sonata Eroica (1895), to William Mason. He died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, aged 79.

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* * * 1829 births 1908 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century American composers 19th-century American pianists 19th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American Romantic composers American male classical composers American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists {{US-composer-19thC-stub

Career

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Further reading

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