(First movement only, arranged for piano solo by Ernst Per...)
First movement only, arranged for piano solo by Ernst Perabo.
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Johann Ernst Perabo was born on November 14, 1845 in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. He was the son of Michael and Christine (Hübner) Perabo. The father was a school teacher and, according to German requirements, also an organist, pianist, and violinist, hence he was well qualified to train his nine children, all of whom became musicians. Ernst, the only child by Michael Perabo's second wife, proved to be the most gifted.
Johann Ernst Perabo began the study of piano with his father when he was five years old. In 1852 the family emigrated to America, settling first in New York, where they remained for two years. Ernst received instruction in violin and piano from several teachers and during his second year in New York appeared at a concert given by a teacher named Heinrich. A great future was predicted for him. His parents removed to Dover, New Hampshire, and then to Boston, where they remained for only one year. In Boston Perabo took violin lessons from William Schultze, of the Mendelssohn Quintet Club, and played at a concert under the direction of Carl Zerrahn.
The next move took the family to Chicago. Soon thereafter they went to Washington, D. C. , solely to obtain an interview with President Buchanan, in the hope that through him they could secure assistance from the government to send the talented child to Europe. They were granted an interview but were not successful in securing funds. They did, however, win the ear of William Scharfenberg, a prominent musician in New York, who formed a committee to defray the expenses of the boy's education in Europe. He sailed for Hamburg in 1858 and spent four years there, but he had to struggle against ill health, which prevented serious music study.
In 1862 Johann Ernst Perabo entered the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied piano with Moscheles and Wenzel, harmony with Papperitz, Hauptmann, and Richter, and later composition with Reinecke.
In 1865 Johann Ernst Perabo won the Helbig prize, and, at the public examination of the Conservatory, he played two movements of the Burgmüller concerto in F# minor, which had just been published. He returned to the United States the same year (1865). He established himself first in New York, as teacher and pianist, and gave a number of concerts that were so successful that he decided to give a series of matinées, at which he performed the sonatas of Schubert. His parents, meantime, had gone to Sandusky, Ohio, to live. He gave several successful concerts there and also at Lafayette, Cleveland, and Chicago.
In 1866 Johann Ernst transferred his residence to Boston and remained there until his death. He never gave concerts on a large scale but devoted himself more particularly to teaching, in which he was most successful. For many years Perabo played annually at the Harvard concerts at which he gave many works unknown at that time in America. He was especially commended for his playing of Beethoven, and for his interpretation of the Schubert pianoforte works. Besides having a fluent technique, he was a remarkable sight-reader. Perabo was a zealous conservative, but he approached new works in a spirit of openmindedness.
Johann Ernst wrote numerous compositions, for the most part forgotten, and many transcriptions, including the first movement of Rubinstein's "Ocean Symphony, " parts of Beethoven's Fidelio, the first movement of Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony, " and several of the Loewe ballads.
Johann Ernst Perabo died in West Roxbury, Massachussets, in the homestead in which his parents had lived, on October 29, 1920.
Johann Ernst Perabo was a distinguished composer and pianist. He became known for his interpretation of the Schubert pianoforte works and such compositions as Moment Musical (opus 1), Scherzo (opus 2), Prelude (opus 3), Waltz (opus 4), Pensées (opus 11), Prelude, Romance and Toccatina (opus 19). As music teacher, he gave private lessons.
(First movement only, arranged for piano solo by Ernst Per...)
Johann Ernst Perabo married Louise Schmidt of Boston from whom he soon separated.
