Ethelbert Nevin

[1] There he spent the first sixteen years of his life, and received all his schooling, most of it from his father, Robert Peebles Nevin, editor and proprietor of a Pittsburgh newspaper, and a contributor to many magazines.

(Robert Nevin also composed several campaign songs, among them the popular "Our Nominee," used in the day of James K. Polk's candidacy.)

After two years studying in Boston, in 1882 Nevin moved back to Pittsburgh, where he gave lessons, and saved money enough to take him to Berlin.

He used to insist that a man does not become a musician by practising 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."

In 1885, Hans von Bülow incorporated the best four pupils of his friend, Klindworth, into an artist class, which he drilled personally.

Nevin was one of the honored four, and appeared at the unique public Zuhören of that year, devoted exclusively to the works of Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, and Joachim Raff.

Among the forty or fifty studious listeners at these recitals, Frau Cosima Wagner, the violinist Joseph Joachim, and many other celebrities were frequently present.

His best-remembered compositions are the piano piece "Narcissus" from Water Scenes and the songs "The Rosary" and "Mighty Lak' a Rose" (lyrics of the latter by Frank Lebby Stanton).

[7] Nevin was commemorated by being pictured on a 1940 ten cent U.S. postage stamp,[8] one of the "Famous Americans" series.