Lewis Lane (August 3, 1901 – January 24, 1977) was an American pianist, composer, lecturer, and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

with the

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where he worked from 1928 to 1949.

Early life and education

Charles Lewis Lane was born August 3, 1901, in

Freehold Borough, New Jersey Freehold is a borough in and the county seat of Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey., National Association of Counties. Accessed January 21, 2013. Known for its Victorian era homes and extensive colonial history, the borough is l ...

to August P. and Elizabeth (Cottrell) Lane. At the age of 7, he began his training on the piano and during his teens he studied with Chilion Roselle, organist at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City.Notes on the Contemporary American Composers and their Music Programmed by Lolita Cabrera Gainsborg, Pianist, At her Town Hall, New York Recital on Wednesday Evening, November 23, 1938. He attended Freehold High School, graduating in 1920 before moving to New York to attend the

New York College of Music The New York College of Music was an American conservatory of music located in Manhattan that flourished from 1878 to 1968. The college was incorporated under the laws of New York and was empowered to confer diplomas and degrees ranging from a ...

. During this time he studied with

Edwin Hughes Edwin Hughes may refer to: * Edwin Hughes (footballer) (1885-1949), Welsh footballer * Edwin Hughes (musician) (1884–1965), American pianist, teacher, music editor, and composer * Edwin Hughes (politician) (1832–1904), English solicitor and Con ...

and

Rubin Goldmark Rubin Goldmark (August 15, 1872 – March 6, 1936) was an American composer, pianist, and educator.Perlis, ''New Grove Dictionary of American Music'', v. II, p. 239 Although in his time he was an often-performed American nationalist composer, his ...

Career

Lewis toured as a concert-pianist from 1926 to 1928. His compositions were well known to NBC (NBC-WJZ) radio listeners. Although he did not stop completely, in 1928 Lane interrupted a promising career as a concert pianist to begin his new career at the

. He founded NBC's Department of Musical Research and was responsible for collating more than 80,000 items. His theory was that cataloging all records and documentation of classical masters is essential to ensure convenient access for anyone seeking information about them in the future. In this role, he earned global recognition and enjoyed widespread acclaim within his field on an international scale. According to his obituary in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', he gave lectures and judged for the National Guild of Piano Teachers in New England. Most of his works were written for piano and voice. Two of his most significant compositions were "Green Mountain Sketches" and "Fragments -A Tone Poem." "Fragments" (Opus 6), published in 1938 by the Composers' Press, Inc. is based on four lines from the philosophic writings of

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ; – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is t ...

. as follows: "No single thing abides, but all things flow, Fragment to fragment clings, the things thus grow until we know and name them. By degrees they melt, and are no more the things we know." The "Green Mountain Sketches" (Opus 5) composed in 1927 is a series of compositions based on his experiences when living completely alone in Vermont for one year and then hiking from Massachusetts to Canada. Other works are "Prelude" (Opus 2) "Two Character Sketches" (Allegretto and Scherzo). "In Silent Countryside" (Opus 7, No. 2), "John Peel" (traditional English hunting song). Additionally, he is the author of the book, "On Listening to Music" and "Letting Down the Bars" through the Summit Press.

Personal life and death

Upon retiring in 1949, Lane lived in Boston and his beach home in East Dennis,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. with his partner George Wimberly Drew. Lewis Lane died January 24, 1977, in his Boston apartment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Lewis 1901 births 1977 deaths American musicologists American pianists Freehold High School alumni New York College of Music alumni People from Boston People from Freehold Borough, New Jersey