Hubbard, William Lines

1867-

William Lines Hubbard was born in 1867 in Farmersville, New York. At an early age he was taken to Southern Illinois, where the town of Kinmundy was his home until 1880, when his parents moved to Chicago. His schooling was begun in the grammar school of Kinmundy, and his study of piano, which commenced early, was with the country "music teacher," until he received instruction from Julia Gould Hall, an English soprano who at one time enjoyed success and popularity in London and throughout this country, and whose musical knowledge was more than ordinarily wide and thorough. In Chicago the Lake View Grammar School and later the Lake View High School were attended. Music study during these years in Chicago had been almost wholly neglected, but in the autumn of 1885, after taking a position at bookkeeper in the business office of the Chicago Evening Journal and later writing reviews of concerts and operas for that paper, the study of piano was resumed, Mrs. Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler being the instructor. For some three years Mr. Hubbard combined the double labors of bookkeeper and critic, but virtually gave up the latter in 1890 and confined himself to clerical work until February of the following year, when the position as music editor of the Chicago Tribune, as successor to the late Frederick Grant Gleason, was offered him. He accepted the position, visited Europe for the first time the following summer, attending the Mozart and Wagner Festivals at Salzburg and Bayreuth, and until July, 1893, devoted himself entirely to musical criticism. From 1893 to 1898 Mr. Hubbard resided in Dresden, giving his whole time and attention to the study of piano, of theory and composition, and of  singing. His piano studies were with Kronke and Scholtz, his theory and composition with Hans Fahrmann and his singing with G. B. Lamperti and Mme. BachiFahrmann. In 1898, some four months were spent in London studying oratorio with Fred Walker. After the return to Chicago in August of 1898  Mr. Hubbard taught theory and composition privately and in the Watson School, and in February of 1899 resumed his positioh as music editor of the Chicago Tribune. In October, 1899, he was sent by the Tribune as special representative and correspondent to Vienna, where he remained for a year, devoting his leisure time to further study of singing under the instruction of Josef Steineder. Returning in November, 1900, he took up his work as critic and also became literary editor of the Tribune. Later he resigned the latter position and began the teaching of singing. In 1902 he accepted the position of dramatic editor as well as musical editor of the Tribune, and continued in this double capacity until December, 1907, when he gave up the dramatic editorship, retaining the musical work, and devoting more of his time to writing on musical subjects and to his work as teacher of singing.