Birth Of Ethelbert Nevin
Composer Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin was born on November 25, 1862, in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania.
Nevin received most of his education from his father, who edited a Pittsburgh newspaper, and contributed articles to magazines. He even composed songs, including a number of campaign songs such as Our Nominee for James K. Polk. Nevin’s mother played piano; her grand piano was the first to be taken across the Allegheny Mountains.
Nevin showed a joy and talent for music from a young age. He began playing the piano at age four and his father paid for him to have singing and instrument lessons. Nevin’s father even took him to Europe to study music for two years. He went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh for a year.
Nevin spent two years in Boston studying piano with Benjamin Johnson Lang. He returned home to Pittsburgh and spent some time teaching piano himself until he saved enough money to go to Berlin. He spent three years there working with Karl Klindworth, who he said he owed his musical success to. Nevin said that He used to insist that a man does not become a musician by practicing so many hours a day at the piano, but by absorbing an influence from all the arts and all the interests of life, from architecture, painting, and even politics.