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Ernst Perabo

Wiesbaden, 1845 - 1920, Boston

BiographyJOHN Ernst Perabo was born in Wiesbaden on the 14th of November 1845 he had nine brothers and sisters who have all followed a musical career His father taught him the elements of piano playing when he was five years old He practised a great deal and at the age of nine was able to play Bach's Wohltemperirtes Klavier by heart

In 1852 he went to New York with his parents remaining in that city for two years The family here made the acquaintance of Wilhelm Scharfenberg from Cassel and this friendship was of the greatest importance as regards the development of his talents During the second year of his residence in New York he played for the first time in public at a concert of Professor Heinrich's

Then the family went to Dover New Hampshire where they lived for two years after which they spent one year in Boston where the boy had violin lessons and where he also appeared at a concert at the Music Hall under the direction of Karl Zerrahn the family then lived some time in Chicago The father who had not been so successful in the United States as he could have wished sent his son from Chicago to Washington his mother accompanying him to ask for assistance from the State towards the boy's musical education but President Buchanan explained to her that neither the government nor congress took an interest in the development of the fine arts

Ernst's mother then applied to Scharfenberg in New York who became interested in the boy and prevailed upon a number of wealthy men among others Henry C Timm Robert Goldbeck and Pyschowski to take the entire charge of Ernst's musical development in 1858 he was sent to Hamburg from there he went to school for four years to a Professor Andresen at Eimsbiittel for general education then to the Conservatoire at Leipzig in October 1862 where he became the pupil of Moscheles and Wenzel for harmony Papperitz Hauptmann and Richter and finally Karl Reinecke for composition

Having now become an excellent pianist he returned to New York in 1865 where Scharfenberg shewed him how to advance in his career independently of the aid he had formerly received He gave some concerts in Sandusky Ohio where his parents lived he also played in Lafayette Chicago and Cleveland

In March 1866 he arrived in Boston on the invitation of Sebastion Schlesinger and remaining there soon played at the concerts of the Harvard Musical Association also at the Chickering Hall the Music Hall &c achieving considerable success he also gave lessons The compositions he played were by Chopin Mendelssohn Mozart Thalberg Hummel Schubert Burgmuller Gernsheim Bennett Rubinstein Bargiel Kirchner Richter Volkmann and Raff

He published transcriptions of Loewe's Ballads arrangements of Rubinstein's works two transcriptions of Beethoven's Fidelio as well as a number of his own compositions partly in America and partly in Leipzig

Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present: A Collection of One Hundred and Thirty-nine Biographies, with Portraits
A. Ehrlich
T. Presser, 1894 - Electronic books - 423 pages
https://books.google.com/books?id=NR4QAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA258&ots=--toFJDExG&dq=John%20Ernst%20Perabo&pg=PA258#v=onepage&q=John%20Ernst%20Perabo&f=false I.S. 1/2/2018

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Last Updated8/7/24

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