Brockway, Howard A.

1870-

American pianist and composer. He was born in Brooklyn and received his education at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. From 1881 to 1889 he studied the piano in Brooklyn with H. O. C. Kortheuer. In 1890 he went to Berlin, where for five years he studied composition with O. B. Boise, also an American, and piano with Barth. In 1895 he gave a concert of his own works in Berlin, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, at which his Symphony in D major was produced. The same year he returned to America and lived in New York as pianist and teacher until 1903, when he became a member of the faculty of Peabpdy Institute, Baltimore, which position he still holds. In spite of the fact that his symphony was received with great favor in Berlin, Brockway did not obtain a hearing in this country until 1901, when his Sylvan Suite was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other compositions of Rockaway's are a Nocturne, a Characterstück, a Ballade, a Fantasiostück, a set of variations, a sonata for piano and violin, a Cavatina and a Romanza for violin and orchestra, a Movement Musicale for violin and piano, a Scherzo for orchestra, two part-songs and songs. Hughes says that Brockway may be counted as one of the most fluent, brilliant, and thoroughly equipped of American composers.