Ebenezer Prout

Ebenezer Prout (1 March 1835 in Oundle – 5 December 1909 in Canterbury), was an English musical theorist, writer, teacher and composer, whose instruction, afterwards embodied in a series of standard works still used today, underpinned the work of many British classical musicians of succeeding generations.

Prout was born in Oundle. He studied piano under Charles Salaman, but was otherwise self-taught. He attended the University of London intended for a career as a scholar, but chose to follow one in music through his love of it. From 1861 to 1873 he was organist of the Union Chapel, Islington. From 1861 to 1885 he was professor of the piano at the Crystal Palace School of Art. He was awarded first prizes for a string quartet (1862) and a pianoforte quartet (1865) by the Society of British Musicians. In 1871–74 he became Editor of the Monthly Musical Record, and in 1874–79 was music critic for the Academy. In 1863 he was one of the first twenty-one members of the Royal College of Organists.

In 1879 he was appointed professor of harmony and composition at Royal Academy of Music in London, and became music critic of the Athenaeum. In 1884 he became professor at the Guildhall School of Music. In 1894 he was appointed Professor of Music in the University of Dublin, being awarded an Honorary Mus.Doc. in the following year. During this period he not only trained his students but delivered memorable public lecture series, notably one on the Bach cantatas illustrated by singers whom he had trained.

It was also to this period that his principal theoretical works belong, which became classics and were translated into many languages. Prout produced editions of many of the classics, not least for the Handel oratorios. He was directly connected with the rediscovery of the original wind parts for Messiah, from which new full and vocal scores were introduced by him to the Royal Society of Musicians in 1902. He was furthermore a composer of concert, church and chamber music.

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