Daniel Gregory Mason sketchbooks

1900-1939

Daniel Gregory Mason was an American composer and educator.

Mason was born on November 20, 1873 in Brookline, Massachusetts into a musical family. (His grandfather was composer Lowell Mason, his uncle was pianist William Mason, and his father, Henry Mason, was a co-founder of the Mason and Hamlin piano manufacturing firm.) While attending Harvard he studied with John Knowles Paine, graduating in 1895. He continued his studies with Arthur Whiting (in piano), Percy Goetschius (in theory), and George Chadwick (in orchestration). Mason joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1905. In order to perfect his skills at composition Mason went to Paris in 1912 to study briefly with Vincent D'Indy. Mason remained on the faculty of Columbia University until his retirement in 1942, gaining the title MacDowell Professor of Music and becoming chairman of the music department.

Daniel Gregory Mason's compositional style is resolutely conservative based in the Germanic tradition, and somewhat influenced by colorist devices of the French. He was outspoken opponent of corrupting foreign influences in American music, such as music influenced by African-Americans or Jewish-American styles.

A consumate teacher, Mason is credited with being a pioneer in the field of music appreciation, publishing books such as From Grieg to Brahms (1902), The appreciation of music (1907, a textbook), A students' guide to music (1909), Music as a humanity and other essays (1921), and numerous other works.

Mason died at Greenwich, Connecticut, on December 4, 1953.