Edward Benjamin Scheve was a German-born American musician, professor at Grinnell College.
Background
Edward Benjamin was born on February 13, 1865 in Herford, Westphalia, Germany, the eldest of six children of Edward and Adelaide (Schineborn) Scheve.
Both parents came from Bonn on the Rhine. The father, a Baptist minister, was for many years director of the Kammerung Mission of West Africa. The mother possessed some poetic ability, and was also musical.
Education
At the age of eight, Edward began the study of piano and organ under a local teacher, continued at the Cologne Gymnasium and the Geisenheim Institut, and then went to Berlin, where he entered Theodor Kullak's academy in 1885, and for three years studied piano with A. Kinig, organ with F. Grunicke, and composition with Albert Becker.
Career
Scheve taught in the Academy from 1886 until 1888, when he came to the United States. He settled in Rochester, New York, as music teacher and organist at the First Baptist Church, and remained until 1892.
At Rochester, New York, where for several months he was organist of the Lake Avenue Baptist Church, he was officially known as the Minister of Music. Among his most important compositions are the following: a piano concerto, "Opus 20"; a violin concerto in E flat, "Opus 35"; an oratorio, "The Death and Resurrection of Christ, Opus 11".
In the year 1890 he made a trip to Berlin. In 1892 he became organist of the First German Baptist Church and director of the German-American Conservatory in Chicago. He remained in Chicago for fourteen years, and gave many organ recitals and concerts of his own compositions. In 1906 he was called to the Grinnell College School of Music, Grinnell, Iowa, as professor of theory and composition and instructor in organ. He remained there until his death, which occurred at Longmont, Colorado, while on an extended vacation.
Achievements
Religion
Scheve was deeply religious and his devotion to his religious convictions was completely intertwined with his music.
Connections
In Berlin Scheve was married to Lina Amelia Grosch, a singer.