Elson

Louis C. Elson was a lecturer and writer on musical subjects, and a successful teacher. He is an American of German descent, and was born in Boston. At six years of age he began the study of music, and was a piano pupil of August Hamann, while his teacher in voice, at a later period, was August Kreissmann, the friend of Franz, and a superior interpreter of his songs. Elson's especial interest in songs, many of which he has translated, is due, no doubt, to his association with Kreissmann. He later went to the Leipsic Conservatory for theoretical study.

As an author, his reputation is fully as wide, and his works in this line comprise The Curiosities on Music; History of German Song; Syllabus of Musical History; The Realm of Music; The Theory of Music; Great Composers and their Works; Our National Music and its Sources; European Reminiscences; German Song and Song-Writers; Shakespeare in Music; A History of American Music, published in 1904; and a Music Dictionary, in 1905; besides contributed articles to the leading music journals of America. Mr. Elson's diction is concise, often humorous, and reveals in every line broad and genuine culture fused with the specialized knowledge of the trained and experienced musician. His distinguished contemporary, W. S. B. Mathews, speaks of it as a "ripe and finished literary style, rarely found outside the ranks of professional authors." (From GrandeMusica.net)