The founder of the conservatory system of musical instruction in America, born in Warwick, RI, on the 1st of June 1834. He worked in a calico-mill in his childhood, and sang in the choir of the Methodist Church. At thirteen he became the organist of the church, although he had had no instruction on the instrument; in 1851 opened a music-store in Fall River, MA, and two years later began teaching music in the public schools and organizing private classes. This was the beginning of class-teaching in America. In 1869 he established a conservatory of music in East Greenwich, RI; in 1863 studied in Europe, and, returning, founded, in the following year, a conservatory in Providence, RI. The school was removed to Boston in 1867, and became the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1869 he organized the chorus of the Peace Jubilee; in 1872 became the dean of the new College of Music of Boston University. He died in Boston, MA, on the 12th of April 1891.
