William Mason

William Mason was an American composer and pianist and a member of a musical family. His father was composer Lowell Mason, a leading figure in American church music, and his younger brother, Henry Mason, was a co-founder of the piano manufacturers Mason & Hamlin.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on William Mason (composer).

From the period sources

William Mason appears in historical records as a figure connected with English music and education across several centuries. A “John Mason” was admitted to a bachelor of music degree in 1508, gaining the privilege of reading any of Boethius’s musical books, which were “almost the only ones from whence any knowledge of the principles of the science could be derived” at that time, according to A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Vol. 1 (1875). Later, a “S. Jo. Mason” is listed among English musicians who flourished before the Reformation in A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Vol. 2 (1875).

In the 18th century, a William Mason is noted as the author of the texts for two dramatic works, Elfrida (1772) and Caractacus (1776), for which Thomas Augustine Arne composed the music (Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886, and Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 1, 1888). The music for Caractacus is recorded as having been lost (Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886). Salomon, the violinist, made his first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre on March 23, 1781, performing pieces including Mason’s Elfrida, set by Dr. Arne (Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (American Supplement), 1922). This William Mason was also an “intimate friend of the poet Gray” and was associated with the “Celestina,” a sostenente instrument invented by Adam Walker in 1772, which Mason played “with great expression.” The invention was even “attributed to him, but probably with no more reason than that of the English square piano,” though he “may have been the patron whose means and liberality made these inventions practicable” (A Description and History of the Pianoforte and of the Older Keyboard Stringed Instruments, 1896).

A different William Mason is identified as a piano teacher in New York in 1866, with Edward Morris Bowman listed as his pupil (A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900). This William Mason was also a fellow-student of Hans von Bülow, Dyonis Pruckner, and Karl Klindworth under Liszt at Weimar (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2, 1889). He was among the “most noted” pupils who received instruction from Liszt in piano playing, conducting, and both literary and musical composition (Famous Composers and Their Works, 1891). Julie Rivé-King, a pianist, also studied pianoforte with William Mason in New York (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 3, 1890). This later William Mason was involved in a contemplated organization of a school of music in New York with Theodore Thomas and Otto Singer, though the project ultimately “fell through” (Famous Composers and Their Works, 1891).