
Avery Robinson (January 21, 1878 – May 11, 1965 ) was an American
classical composer who worked with, among others,
Roland Hayes and
Paul Robeson.
Biography
Avery Robinson was born on January 21, 1878, in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. His father was a local mill owner there. After graduating from
MIT, Avery returned to Louisville to work for his father and for another mill owner, W. E. Chess.
In 1907 he married Chess's daughter
Mary, who would later found the Mary Chess Company, a perfume manufacturer. In 1909 their daughter Carley was born.
In 1920 Robinson left Louisville for London where he was employed as treasurer to the
Royal Philharmonic Society. While there his daughter attended the newly founded Montessori School, and later studied musical composition with
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
From a ...
.
After returning to the United States Avery was employed by the Mary Chess Company. Avery Robinson died in Pittsfield, Mass. on May 11, 1965.
Works
Pieces composed by (or in part by) Robinson include:
*"
Waterboy
In the United States, a water boy or water girl (sometimes spelled waterboy or watergirl) was someone who worked in the field, providing water to farm workers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the name is given to those who work on the ...
"
*"
I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain"
Amazon.de
Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall, retrieved July 15, 2007
References
External links
*
* Avery Robinson on Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
: classical jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
Avery Robinson papers
at the University of Oregon
1878 births
1965 deaths
American male classical composers
American classical composers
20th-century classical composers
Musicians from Louisville, Kentucky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
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