John Knowles Paine was the first American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-born composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 to achieve fame for large-scale orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

l music.

Life

He studied organ, orchestration, and composition in Germany and toured in Europe for three years. After returning to the US and settling in Boston in 1861, he became a member of the faculty of Harvard, a post that he retained for many years. He was one of the dominant musical figures on the musical scene in Boston and together with a group of other composers collectively known as the Boston Six, Paine was one of those responsible for the first significant body of concert music by composers from the United States. The other five were George Chadwick, Horatio Parker

Horatio Parker

Horatio William Parker was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the teacher of Charles Ives....

, Arthur Foote

Arthur Foote

Arthur William Foote was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the...

, Edward MacDowell

Edward MacDowell

Edward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites "Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", and "New England Idylls". "Woodland Sketches" includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose"...

, and Amy Beach

Amy Beach

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Most of her compositions and performances were under the name Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.-Early years:Beach was born Amy Marcy Cheney in Henniker, New Hampshire into...

.

The Grove Music Encyclopedia says of him:

”… Paine served the Harvard community for 43 years. By his presence and by his serious concern with music in a liberal arts college he awakened a regard for music among many generations of Harvard men. His writings testify to his insistence upon the place of music within the liberal arts…”

Principal Works

Opera

• Azara

Orchestral

• Symphony No. 1, op. 23
  Symphony No. 1 (Paine)
  Symphony No. 1 in C minor, is the first symphony by American composer John Knowles Paine.-History:The symphony was composed between 1872 and 1875 and first performed in Boston on the 26th of January 1876.-Instrumentation:*2 flutes*2 oboes...
  
  
• As You Like It, Overture, op. 28
• The Tempest, Symphonic Poem op. 31
• Symphony No. 2 in A Major "In Spring" op. 34
• Prelude from Oedipus Tyrannus op. 35

Chorus and Orchestra

• Domine salvum fac Praesidem nostrum op.8
• Mass in D minor op. 10
• St. Peter: An Oratorio op. 20
• Centennial Hymn op. 27
• Oedipus Tyrannus op. 35
• The Realm of Fancy, op. 36
• Phoebus, Arise! op. 37

Organ

• Concert Variations on the "Star Spangled Banner", [Opus 1] - 1861
• Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn op. 3 #1
• Fantasy on Ein feste Burg op. 13
• Prelude in B minor op. 19 #2
• Fugue in C minor (from Four Pieces)

External links