Born: October 5, 1879 - New York, New York, USA
Died: June 1, 1951 - New York, New York, USA

The American pianist, educator, and writer on music, John Erskine, studied piano with Carl Walter and composition with Edward MacDowell. He then took up an academic and literary career, becoming highly successful as a novelist and essayist. He was educated at Columbia University (BA, 1900; MA, 1901; Ph.D., 1903; LL.D., 1929). He was a professor of English there from 1909 to 1937, earning a reputation as a learned, witty teacher and lecturer specializing in Elizabethan literature. Later he became professor emeritus there.

In 1923 John Erskine resumed piano study under Ernest Hutchinson. He played as soloist with the New York Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Civic Orchestra. He was president of the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1928 to 1937, and president of the Juilliard Music Foundation from 1948 until his death. He was editor of A Musical Companion (1935).

John Erskine published Is There a Career in Music? (New York, 1929); Song without Word: The Story of Felix Mendelssohn (1941); The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Its First Hundred Years (New York, 1943); What Is Music? (Philadelphia, 1944); The Memory of Certain Persons (Philadelphia, 1947); My Life as a Teacher (New York, 1948); My Life in Music (New York, 1950).

Source: Mostly from Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2007)

Bach-Erskine: John Erskine | Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

John Erskine (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

John Erskine (Columbia)

Bibliography