By William “Skip” Deegans
In 1899, Lewisburg residents enjoyed a concert by Edward Baxter Perry, a blind classical pianist. An article about the concert in the Greenbrier Independent suggests a classical piano concert may have been a novel event for the community: “Music of this character is not generally speaking enjoyed by the majority of those who hear it, but all agree that Mr. Perry’s recital was an exception.”
Perry was born in 1855 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. An accident at an early age caused him to lose his vision. His mother was a piano instructor, and he may have begun lessons before the accident. After attending public schools in Medford, Massachusetts, he studied piano at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. In 1875, he traveled to Europe where is studied with master composers and pianists, including Theodore Kullak, Carl Haupt, Dionys Pruckner, Clara Schuman and Franz Liszt. In addition, he studied literature, history, and philosophy at the University of Berlin and Polytechnical Institute at Stuttgart.
In order to memorize a piece of music, Perry used a reader who talked and conveyed to him the melodies, chords, rests, etc. Usually, he only had to go through this process one time to memorize it. Perry recognized that music, especially piano music, was held in light esteem by much of the public in the United States. His was one of the first pianist to develop lecture recitals and was considered one of the finest lecturers in the country. In 1885, he undertook an extensive concert tour of the United States and then in Europe in 1897-98. He is attributed with performing at 3,000 recitals. He was a prolific magazine writer and wrote the classic “Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works” which is still in print. Perry died in 1924 of a heart ailment.
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, Boston Globe, The Post-Intelligencer, The Montgomery Advertiser.
