Scan 31
Dictionary of music and musicians : American supplement …, 1920
42 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 19. See the scan on archive.org.
1piano-maker, soon becoming prominent in all musical enterprises. With three brothers he constituted the energetic firm of Loud Brothers in 1824, which was broken up in 1837. Thomas C. Loud (b. Philadelphia, 1812), however, upheld the family reputation till about 1855. The Louds, besides being strong inventively, were important promoters of the industry.
3Lucas, George W. (b. Glastonbury, Conn., 1800), from 1816 for over thirty years was active as a teacher of singing-schools, in 1820–35 at Northampton, Mass., later at Troy, N. Y., and farther west, and in Canada.
5Mackay, John (d. 1841, at sea), a Boston ship-merchant, became in 1822 the financial supporter of Babcock in piano-making and in 1829 of Chickering.
7Mason, Lowell (Medfield, Mass., 1792–1872, Orange, N. J.), the distinguished teacher, organizer and tune-composer, was choir-leader in 1808 at Medfield and 1812–27 at Savannah. His Boston activity began in 1827. See Vol. iii. 74, art. and Tune-Books.
9*McPhail, A. M. (d. 1902, Omaha), came to Boston from New Brunswick and began piano-making in 1837, after training from Gilbert. He remained in high repute till his retirement in 1891.
11Meneely, Andrew (West Troy, N. Y., 1801–1851, West Troy), in 1826 founded a famous bell-founding business in West Troy (now Watervliet), continued by his sons and now by his grandson.
13*Meyer, Conrad (d. 1881, Philadelphia), a gifted Hessian piano-maker who came to Baltimore in 1819 and to Philadelphia in 1829. He is noted for making in 1833 one of the earliest pianos with a full iron plate and for general excellence of work, maintained for a half-century.
15Mitchell, Nahum (Bridgewater, Mass., 1769–1853, Bridgewater), collaborated with Brown on the Bridgewater Collection in 1802. See Tune-Books.
17*Montressor, a French opera-singer, brought a good troupe to New York in 1832 and gave thirty-five performances in Italian. With him were the soprano Pedrotti and the bass Fornasari. He was strongly supported by Da Ponte, but the enterprise was financially disastrous. It was useful, however, in bringing several orchestral players to America. See Krehbiel, Chapters of Opera, pp. 17–19.
19*Nunns, Robert and William, English piano-makers, came to New York in 1821 and worked together till 1833, when Robert combined with John Clark as Nunns, Clark & Co., continuing till 1858, and William proceeded, at first alone and in 1839–40 with the Fischers. The Nunns pianos were highly esteemed for about forty years. The brothers were the first in America to use the French 'rocker' action, the excellent scale of Sackmeister (1827) and Kreter's application of felt to hammers (1851). William Nunns was the teacher of William Steinway.
21Oliver, Henry Kemble (Beverly, Mass., 1800–1885, Boston), sang as a boy in Boston, graduated from Dartmouth in 1818, was active as teacher at Salem, starting choral societies in 1823 and '26, and from 1844 at Lawrence. He was mayor of Lawrence in 1859 and of Salem later, and was State Treasurer in 1861–65. See Tune-Books.
23Osborn, John (d. 1835, New York), a pupil of Crehore, was a piano-maker in Boston from 1815, soon becoming known as 'the best in the country,' went to Albany in 1829 and settled in New York in 1830. Erecting a large factory in 1834 led to derangement and suicide. He was the teacher of Chickering. See Spillane, 56–7, 156–7, etc.
25Perkins, Orson (Hartland, Vt., 1802–1882, Taftsville, Vt.), from 1822 for about forty years useful as a leader of choirs and singing-schools. He was the father of several sons later active (see sec. 5).
27Perry, Emory (b. Holliston, Mass., 1799), from 1821 noted as tenor-singer and teacher at Worcester. He is said to have had 20,000 pupils in his singing-classes.
29*Phillips, Thomas (Wales, 1774–1841, England), a fine tenor, visited New York as an opera-singer in 1816 with Incledon (see Vol. ii. 463–4) and again in 1823. He also appeared in concerts and lectured in Boston.
31Pond, Sylvanus Billings (near Worcester, Mass., 1792–1871, New York), a piano-maker at Albany before 1820, moved to New York in 1832 and joined the Firth brothers (see above), beginning the business from 1863 known as Wm. A. Pond & Co. He wrote and compiled tune-music, especially for Sunday-schools.
33Porter, William S., in 1834 published at Boston a Musical Cyclopedia of over 400 pages which was prepared under the supervision of Lowell Mason.
35Prescott, Abraham (b. Deerfield, N. H., 1789), was probably the best-known of early makers of 'cellos and basses. He started in 1809 at his birthplace, but in 1833 went to Concord, N. H., where he worked till 1845, engaging in organ-making as well from 1836. Many later workers were trained in his shop. See Violinist's Guide, 1916, p. 16.
37*Prévost, Eugène Prosper (France, 1809–1872, New Orleans), a popular singing-teacher, opera-conductor and composer at New Orleans from 1838 to 1862. See Vol. iii. 812.
39*Rivafinoli, an Italian singer and manager who in 1833–34, with Da Ponte, attempted a season of Italian opera, including sixty-eight performances in New York and fifteen in Philadelphia. His singers were fairly good and the orchestra decidedly so. But the venture was a failure pecuniarily, the deficit being nearly $30,000. The New York series was given in the first opera-house to be erected in the city, built at the instigation of Da Ponte. See Ritter, Music in America, chap. x., and Krehbiel, Chapters of Opera, pp. 19–22.
41*Russell, Henry (England, 1812–1900, England), famous for his descriptive songs, was in Canada from 1833 and then (till 1841) or-
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.