MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Foote: Piano Quintet / String Quartets

Arthur William Foote was born in Salem, Massachusetts on March 5th, 1853. His father was editor of the Salem Gazette. His mother died when he was four, Foote received his first music lessons at the age of fourteen, eventually studying harmony with Stephen A. Emery at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1870 Foote entered Harvard University. There he conducted the Harvard Glee Club and took music courses from John Knowles Paine, receiving his Bachelor of Music Degree in 1874. That summer he also took organ lessons from Benjamin Lang, who was convinced of Foote's talents and encouraged him to continue his music studies and pursue a music career. Foote did graduate studies at Harvard and became the recipient of the Degree of Master of Arts, the first such degree awarded by an American university. Paine was an excellent teacher. His musical viewpoint was largely influenced by German romanticism as reflected by the compositions of Schumann and Mendelssohn. Foote, despite his American upbringing, continued in his teacher's footsteps, expanding slightly towards the 'newer' German school of Brahms and Wagner.