Originally published in 1900. BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS
COMPILED AND EDITED by THEODORE BAKER, Text extracted from opening
pages of book: PREFACE: CONCISE biogiaphical dictionaries of
musicians are no longer a novelty; but their contents and tendency
are too apt to be influenced by the immediate environment, the
nationality, or the idiosyncrasies of the compilers. In the present
lexicon it has been the editor's endeavor to give an impartial
general view of musical biography, past and piesent, favoring no
nation or period unduly. It has been his especial aim to make up
foi the scant attention which leading English and American
musicians have received at the hands of foreign biographers; in
this point, no other work of similar scope can compaic with this in
completeness, recentness, and accuracy. It will be noticed that
living musicians have, in general, a somewhat larger relative space
allotted them than those whose career is closed. The reasons which
determined this course aie, firstly, that full and correct
information about contemporaries is frequently unavailable for the
general public, being either scattered in numerous periodicals and
books of reference, or not published at all; secondly, that earlier
lexica already contain the life-histories of most musicians of
prominence. It is true, that in such published biographical
sketches many errois of fact occm; in the difficult matter of
dates, especially, much requires rectification. Hundteds of
emendations are contained in the present work, which will, it is
hoped, prove more trustworthy than its predecessors. A careful
collation of the standard works of reference has resulted in a
weeding-out of very many mistakes, due tocarelessness or
inadvertence, in the biographical matter belonging to past epochs.
A laige amount of reliable and valuable information has been
obtained by direct correspondence with musicians and writers of
note, though many inquiries icmained unanswered. The comparative
bievity of sketches of certain prominent contemporaries is due to
the impossibility of gathering sufficient and reliable data. A
feature of j ) eculiar interest and value is presented in the three
hundred accompany ing pen-and-ink vignettes, by the Russian artist
Gribayedoff, after authentic portraits or recent photographs. In
their selection, again, a preponderance of contemporary over
deceased musicians will be observed, the general plan having been,
to portray individuals in whom a personal interest is felt. It was
impossible to make the list as complete as projected, owing to the
difficulty of procuring originals. Despite all vigilance, many of
the statements made in the neaily six thousand biographies given in
the Dictionary doubtless require correction.
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