author
Arthur Elson
1873–1940
A clear, practical guide to music came naturally to a writer who spent his life studying, teaching, and explaining it. Educated in Boston and active as a critic and historian, he wrote to help general readers listen with more understanding and pleasure.
1 Audiobook
Woman's Work in Music
by Arthur Elson
About the author
Born in Boston on November 18, 1873, Arthur Elson was an American writer and critic best known for books about music. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, graduated from Harvard in 1895, and later graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1897.
Elson wrote widely on musical history, opera, composers, and appreciation, aiming his work at readers who loved music but wanted a clearer way into it. He also served as music critic for the Boston Advertiser, continuing a family connection to musical scholarship as the son of writer and historian Louis C. Elson.
He died in New York on February 24, 1940. Today, his books remain of interest for their accessible, early-20th-century way of introducing classical music to a broad audience.