John Rowe Parker and A Musical Biography

Abstract

In early nineteenth-century America the art of music had few champions as ardent and vociferous as John Rowe Parker (1777-1844).' Though an admitted musical amateur, Parker's important role in disseminating music and musical knowledge throughout the country can hardly be overestimated. As proprietor of the wellstocked Franklin Music Warehouse in Boston from 1817 to 1823, he furnished New Englanders with the latest musical paraphernalia from Europe. Of more farreaching significance, however, was his literary contribution. Parker's career as a music journalist apparently began in December 1817 with the commencement of a bimonthly column entitled in the weekly Boston Intelligencer.2 Consisting largely of reviews of local musical events, the column continued until February 1820. Two months later, with the experience thus accrued, Parker assumed editorship of a weekly publication of his own called The Euterpeiad, Or Musical Intelligencer.3 Devoted to the general diffusion of Musical Information and Belles Lettres, The Euterpeiad was designed to: