Perry, Edward Baxter

1855-

Noted American pianist; born at Haverhill, Mass. By an accident, when he was about six years old, he became blind, but nevertheless he obtained a literary education at Perkins' Institution for the Blind in South Boston. Later he took up music, studying the piano under Hill, and in 1875 went to Germany, where his teachers were Kullak at Berlin, Pruckner at Stuttgart, and Liszt at Weimar. After making a concert tour of Germany he returned to America. On a later trip abroad he studied for about two years under Clara Schumann at Frankfort. He has toured throughout the United States many times, giving lecture recitals, of which he was the originator, his seasons averaging a hundred recitals each. He has composed some pianomusic, including the fantasia, Loreley; The Lost Island, and The Portent; and songs. Has also contributed to Music and other musical periodicals and written a Descriptive Analysis of Piano Works. For a few years he taught at the Oberlin Conservatory, and in 1885 he became one of the faculty of the Tremont School at Boston, which city is his home.