Kenneth Graber

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Who is William Mason?

William Mason (1829-1908) was a pianist, teacher, and composer. He was the third of Lowell Mason's four sons. Mason studied with American and European music teachers, including Franz Liszt. He performed extensively in the U.S. and Europe from 1846-84. In 1855, Mason and Theodore Thomas initiated a chamber music series, which introduced important nineteenth century works to American audiences until 1868. After that he mainly taught classes and private students. Mason wrote several books (an autobiography and several instructional texts) and numerous periodical articles. He composed a Serenata for Cello and Piano, about fifty virtuoso piano pieces, a small amount of vocal music (solo songs and choral works), and several teacher-student piano duets. He edited or arranged piano and organ works by J. S. Bach, Franz Liszt, Moritz Moskowski, J. J. Raff, Joseph Rheinberger, Carl Maria von Weber, and many others, and harmonized eighty-eight hymn tunes. Nicholas Slonimsky has called William Mason an "esteemed American pianist, pedagogue, and composer," and William E. Boswell (in The New Grove Dictionary of American Music) notes that people in his lifetime regarded Mason as "the dean of American piano teachers."

How teachers and students can use this book and why they should have it in their library.

Kenneth Graber's William Mason (1829-1908): An Annotated Bibliography and Catalog of Works is a thorough compilation of sources on this important nineteenth- and early twentieth-century musician and teacher. Graber has drawn on the resources of the public libraries in Boston, Chicago, Denver New York; university libraries at Maryland, Yale, Columbia; the Library of Congress; and the Broadcast Music Incorporated Archives to create a fine research tool for graduate students in musicology, piano performance and pedagogy, music education, and collateral fields. The book contains listings on the literature on Mason, as well as his own writings and selected performance programs, and a catalog of his compositions and editions, a total of 1,009 items. Teachers and students concerned with the composition, performance, and teaching of traditional Western art music will find Graber's book useful, especially those interested in American music, musicians, and music educators. The book contains several photographs, facsimiles, and musical excerpts which help students see Mason and his works more vividly.

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