German Concert Pianist Ernst Perabo
Pianist, Composer and Transcriber of Classical Music
Johann Ernst Perabo, one of ten children who all made careers in music, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on November 24,1845. He was taught the basics of piano playing by his father, starting when he was five years old. He was so talented that he was able to perform Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier by memory when he was nine.
Perabo Goes to New York City
The family emigrated to New York City in 1852, and there they stayed for two years. During this time they became friendly with Wilhelm Scharfenberg( 1819-1902), a violinist from Kassel, Germany.
This friendship proved to be most advantageous later for young Ernst, who made his professional debut in New York in 1854 playing at a concert given by Professor Anton Philip Heinrich (1781-1861), a violinist from Bohemia.
Perabo Family in New England
The family moved once again, this time to Dover, New Hampshire, where they stayed for two years and then on to Boston where Ernst began to appear in concerts. He studied the violin at this time but his father was unsuccessful in business and once again moved the family, this time to Chicago
Studies in Europe
While living in Chicago, Perabo was reunited through letters with Wilhelm Scharfenberg, who arranged for a group of wealthy and influential men in New York City to fund his musical studies. Two of these men were the musicians Henry C. Timm (1811-1892, and Robert Goldbeck (1839-1908) . Under their direction Perabo was sent to Hamburg in 1858.
Studies at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music
After Hamburg, he received instruction in general education at Eimsbettel for four years. Finally he was sent to Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) and Karl Reinecke (1824-1910) for study in piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Return to America
In 1865 he returned to New York City as a professional concert artist, and gave give concerts in Sandusky and Cleveland, Ohio, as well as in Chicago, Illinois. In March of 1866 he went to Boston and remained there for the rest of his life. He appeared in concerts at the Harvard Musical Association, the Music Hall and at many other venues.
Perabo composed many original pieces for piano, some of which are still available, and made several piano transcriptions of arias and choruses from operas (Beethoven's Fidelio), etc. He was the piano teacher of the American composer Amy Marcy Cheney Beach.
Perabo had a large repertoire of works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Thalberg, Hummel, Bargiel, Kirchner and Rubinstein, making his programs varied and interesting. He died on October 29, 1920, in Boston.
Source
Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present by A.Ehrlich Theodore Presser, 1894
Johann Ernst Perabo
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