Introduction

Biography

Mathews was edu­cat­ed in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, and at High­land Uni­ver­si­ty in Il­li­nois, and taught mu­sic at the Wes­ley­an Fe­male Col­lege in Ma­con, Geor­gia.

He lat­er moved to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, where he played the or­gan at the Cen­te­na­ry Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church (1867–93), ed­it­ed the Mu­sic­al In­de­pen­dent (1869–71), was mu­sic cri­tic for the Chi­ca­go Rec­ord Herald and Chi­ca­go Tribune (1877–87), and helped found the Groll­er Club in 1884. In 1891, he start­ed the month­ly ma­ga­zine Mu­sic.

Works

• How to Un­der­stand Mu­sic (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Theo­dore Press­er, 1888)
• A Hun­dred Years of Mu­sic in Am­eri­ca (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: G. L. Howe, 1889)
• A Pop­ul­ar His­to­ry of the Art of Mu­sic (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Mu­sic Ma­ga­zine Pub­lish­ing, 1891)
• Pronouncing and De­fin­ing Dic­tion­ary of Mu­sic (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1896)
• Music, Its Ideals and Me­thods (Penn­syl­van­ia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Theo­dore Press­er, 1897)
• The Mas­ters and Their Mu­sic (Penn­syl­van­ia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Theo­dore Press­er, 1898)