''The Etude'' was an American print

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

dedicated to

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

founded by

Theodore Presser The Theodore Presser Company is an American Music publisher (popular music), music publishing and Distribution (business), distribution company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and originally based in Br ...

(1848–1925) at

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

, and first published in October 1883. Presser, who had also founded the

Music Teachers National Association Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) is an American nonprofit professional organization for the support, growth, and development of music-teaching professionals, with more than 17,000 members in 50 states, and more than 500 affiliated loca ...

, moved his publishing headquarters to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1884, and his

Theodore Presser Company The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and originally based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music p ...

continued the magazine until 1957. Aimed at all musicians, from the novice through the serious student to the professional, ''The Etude'' printed articles about both basic (or "popular") and more-involved musical subjects (including history, literature, gossip, and politics), contained write-in advice columns about musical

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

, of all performer ability levels, totaling over 10,000 works. Helen Tretbar edited the magazine in the late 1880s. James Francis Cooke, editor-in-chief from 1909 to 1949, added the phrase "Music Exalts Life!" to the magazine's masthead, and ''The Etude'' became a platform for Cooke's somewhat polemical and militantly optimistic editorials. The sometimes conservative outlook and contents of the magazine may have contributed to a decline in circulation in the 1930s and '40s, but in many respects it moved with the times, unequivocally supporting the phonograph, radio, and eventually television, and, by the late 1930s, fully embracing jazz. By the end,

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serialism, serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the technique after his teenage son died in 1964, saying it had proved inadequate to expres ...

was an editor of ''The Etude'' under Guy McCoy, who had succeeded Cooke as editor-in-chief after over two decades as an assistant, and the magazine's musical content had come more closely in-step with the contemporary world. In 1940, a 12-year-old

Edward Chan Sieg Edward Chan Sieg (November 8, 1928 – March 7, 2007) was an American director, writer, poet and photographer. Early life Sieg was born in 1928 to Edward Augustus Sieg and Gladys Geraldine Chan Sieg. "Gerald" was a member of one of the oldest ...

had published an article on

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's "

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

" in the magazine.

References

External links

The Etude Magazine: 1883-1957
(Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University), offers an interface for searching the contents and makes it possible to download colour scans of entire searchable issues
A tribute site to ''The Etude''
including scans of certain issues and articles, with commentary
''Music Magazines in the early 20th century''
ParlorSongs.com Defunct music magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1883 Magazines disestablished in 1957 Magazines published in Virginia Defunct magazines published in Philadelphia {{music-mag-stub

References

Further reading

External links