Etude Magazine was published by Theodore Presser Company between 1883 and 1957. It was a staple for music teachers throughout the country, providing articles related to music history, new developments in music, and practical teaching techniques, as well as musical scores from the classics and new pieces for beginning to advanced students. Begun as an aid for piano teachers, the magazine grew to include information and literature for vocal and instrumental enthusiasts as well. Not only is the series important to the musician, but it provides an insight into the culture itself, including the impact of the development of the car, radio, and television, and expands to world music and the influence of world wars on that culture.
This offering of searchable .pdf scans of the Etude Magazine is made available by Dr. Pam Dennis of Gardner-Webb University. These scans are to be used for research only and are not to be reproduced. Attribution should be given to this website and to its compiler, when using for research. These issues are available under permission from the Theodore Presser Company as they appeared in Etude Magazine.
Dr. Pam Dennis's Index to the articles published in the Etude magazine, 1883-1957: Part 1 and Part 2 are available in the Gardner-Webb Faculty and Staff Book Gallery.
-
Volume 29, Number 07 (July 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Mendelssohn's Ideal Musical Training: Some Interesting Sidelights Upon the Education of the Fortunate Boy Who Was Later to Become One of the Word's Greatest Masters
Great Innovators in the Art of Piano-Playing
Very First Lessons at the Piano
Verdi's Egyptian Opera Aïda
Josef Pischna: The Renowned Writer of Technical Exercises
Brahms' Quick Wit
How to Secure a Legato-Touch
Systematise Your Octave Study
Closing of a Great Career—Gustav Mahler
Old Laws and New Ideas: Important Observations Upon Piano Practice
How the Piano Differs from Its Fore-runners
Characteristic Dance Forms: Short Notes upon Dances Which Have Become Famous Through Their Adoption by the Masters
Well Known Composers of To-Day—Arthur D'Haenens
-
Volume 29, Number 08 (August 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Chopin: Pre-Eminent Genius of the Pianoforte
Getting the Most Out of Five-Finger Exercises
Modern Pioneers in the Art of Piano-Playing
Etude Debate: Shall Music Teachers be Required to Pass an Examination Before They are Permitted to Teach?
Pentatonic Scales in Famous Song
Can Your Pupils Listen?
When the Mother Interferes
Laying the Foundation for Velocity: How Great Speed May be Attained if the Right Beginning is Made
Wagner's Opera Tannhäuser
Mendelssohn the Fortunate
Some Delicate (?) Contemporary Criticisms of Wagner's Early Works
How I Overcame Stage Fright
Encores at Pupils' Recitals
Rossini the Humorist: Epigrams and Wit of the Most Whimsical of the Italian Composers
Left Hand Music
Well-Known Composers of To-Day—Thurlow Lieurance
What is Wrong with the Way Harmony is Taught?
Debussy on Servility to Great Masters
Simplifying Sight Reading at the Pianoforte
Tchaikovski's Extraordinary Marriage
Amusing Performance of Trovatore
Last Hours of Edward MacDowell
Gounod's Visit to Milan
-
Volume 29, Number 09 (September 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Centenary of Franz Liszt—Founder of Modern Pianism: A Recent Analysis of the Technical and Artistic Traits of the Greatest of Piano Masters
What Schubert was Paid for His Songs
How Thinking Ahead Helps Memorizing and Sight Reading
Revealing the Composer's Hidden Meaning (interview with Sigismund Stojowski)
Prime Minister's Tribute to Music
Music Teachers for Piano-Player Owners
Left-Hand Recital
Flotow's Tuneful Opera Martha
How to Gain Muscular Control at the Keyboard
Clara Schumann's Memories of Mendelssohn's Piano Playing
Progress in American Musical Education
Well-Known Composers of To-Day—Richard Ferber
Getting Ready for the Musical Club Season: First Steps in Starting a Musical Club
-
Volume 29, Number 10 (October 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Introductions in Classical Compositions
My Only Meeting with Richard Wagner
Originality in Pianoforte Playing (interview with Vladimir de Pachmann)
Richard Wagner's Great Sacrifices for Success: The Master Composer's Own Description of His Fight Against the Bitterest Povety and Continual Failure
Self-Help, the Foundation of All Permanent Success: A Collection of Letters and Articles from World Famous Men Pertaining to One of the Greatest Elements in Human Progress
Self-Help Course for Piano Students: A Series of Educational Works, Technical Studies, Etudes and Pieces, Selected Especially for this Issue by Well-Known Teachers with Wide Experience in America and in Europe
Some New Views on Octave Playing
Struggles Which Led to Success: Distinguished Musicians Tell of Their Battles for Fame and Prosperity
Puccini's Masterpiece, Madama Butterfly
Mascagni's Bitter Struggle for Success
Well Known Composers of To-Day—J. Frank Frysinger
-
Volume 29, Number 11 (November 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Rubinstein's Meteoric Tour of America: Personal Reminiscences of the Great Russian Master
Pupil's Part in Piano Study
Work, the Secret of Pianistic Success (interview with Vladimir de Pachmann)
Physical Development and Care of the Pianist's Hand: Practical Directions for Gaining Strength, Firmness and Flexibility, Treatment of Strained Muscles and Pianist's Cramp
Developing the Natural Rhythmic Sense of the Child
Graded Course for Piano Students (symposium)
Offenbach's Greatest Opera, Tales of Hoffmann
How The Tales of Hoffmann was Written
Story of The Tales of Hoffmann
Famous Singers in The Tales of Hoffmann
-
Volume 29, Number 12 (December 1911)
James Francis Cooke
Making Regular Progress
Presto Paragraphs
Recollections of My Musical Childhood
Acquiring a Good Touch
Is Woman's Musical Talent Really Limited?
Simplicity of Harmony
How Musical Sounds Come to Us
Glory of Beethoven
Mental Pictures in Music
Chopin's Revolutionary Etude
Do Americans Need More Technic?
Training the Crossing Fingers in scale Playing
Reminders
How Piano Playing Has Progressed (interview with Josef Hofmann)
Posing at the Pianoforte
Mystery of the Lethbridge Strad: A Christmas Story of Musical Life in a Great City
Lisztiana
What Franz Liszt Did for the Music of the Church
Franz Liszt as I Knew Him
Well Known Composers of To-Day—Carlo Minetti
Mozart's Operatic Masterpiece Don Giovanni
Famous Singers in Don Giovanni
Story of Don Giovanni
How Don Giovanni Was Written
-
Volume 28, Number 01 (January 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Short Biographical Notes Upon Italian Musicians
Paris Conservatory of Music
Moritz Moszkowski on Himself
Children of Unmusical Parents
Mme. Teresa Carreño on Individuality in Playing
Personal Recollections of Verdi (interview with Leando Campanari)
Some Striking Pictures of Rossini
Three Notes Against Two
Future of Italian Opera in America
Beginnings of the Oratorio and the Opera
Italian Writers for the Piano
Verdi's Position in Musical Art
Facts About Famous Italian Musicians
Historical Review of Italian Musical Art from the Beginning to the Present Day
Cherubini's Individuality
Some Piano Transcriptions of Numbers from Famous Italian Operas
Liszt on the Playing of His Contemporaries
Italy's Musical Influence on Other Nations
-
Volume 28, Number 02 (February 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Lesson from Brahms
Methods and Customs of the Paris Conservatoire
Franz Joseph Haydn and the Development of the Sonata and the Symphony
Story of Pepito Arriola
Foreign Fingering vs. American Fingering
Some Uses for Old Music
Some Rules for Making Musical Manuscript
Analyses of Three Famous Classic Marches
How to Get the Most Out of Practice
Physiologist's Comments on Piano Playing
-
Volume 28, Number 03 (March 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Ten Important Attributes of Beautiful Pianoforte Playing (interview with S.V. Rachmaninoff)
Lessons with von Bülow (interview with Laura Rappoldi)
Origin and Development of the Suite
Tschaikowsky and Melody
Exercises for Practice of Three Notes Against Two
Much Misunderstood Facts Relating to the Laws of Sound
Lowell Mason, American Educator and Musical Pioneer
Some Composers of Valuable Pianoforte Pieces in Smaller Forms
Rhythm—The Secret of Swing in Music
Music as a Profession
Mother's Influence on Music in the Home
Writing Copy for Musical Advertisements
Beethoven as Others Saw Him
MacDowell at the Lesson
Cost of Running a Great Opera House
-
Volume 28, Number 04 (April 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Musical Faults Americans Must Correct (symposium)
How Tschaikowski Spent His Days
Neglected Details in Pianoforte Study (interview with Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni)
Personal Glimpses of Moszkowski as a Teacher
Weber's Description of Beethoven
Some Familiar Teaching Pieces by Franz Liszt
To the Young Musician Who Would Compose (interview with Liza Lehmann)
Mendelssohn at Work
Diatonic Scale in the Works of the Masters
How Helen Keller Appreciates Music
Common Mistakes in Tempo and Rhythm
What Early England Gave to Music
How to Enjoy a Symphony
Plain Talk on Starting a Teaching Business
Tschaikowski and Rubinstein
-
Volume 28, Number 05 (May 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Influence of Germany's Greatest Masters on the Musicl Art of the World
Giving Lessons in the Country
Weber's Opera, Der Freischutz
Influence of the Folk-Song on German Musical Art (interview with Gustav Mahler)
Predominating Influence in the German Music of To-day
First Finger Exercises at the Keyboard
Some Important Things I Learned in Germany
Germany's Remarkable System of Music Schools: Music Schools of Northern Germany
What is Expected of the Student in the German Music School
Some Facts about Sopranos
Singers Who Lost Their Voices
How to Study a Song
-
Volume 28, Number 06 (June 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Spirit of Life in Music—Rhythm
Real Musical Interest in the Czerny Studies
Pianist and the Tuner
Balfe's Opera The Bohemian Girl
Famous German Conservatories: The Conservatories of Southern Germany
Analysis of Teaching Material: The Rondo Form
Some Sign-Posts on the Road to Success in Music Study
What is Expected of the Student in the German Music School
History and Uses of the Metronome
Finger-Habit in Memorizing
-
Volume 28, Number 07 (July 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Mendelssohn's Ideal Musical Training: Some Interesting Sidelights Upon the Education of the Fortunate Boy Who Was Later to Become One of the Word's Greatest Masters
Great Innovators in the Art of Piano-Playing
Verdi's Egyptian Opera Aïda
Josef Pischna: The Renowned Writer of Technical Exercises
Brahms' Quick Wit
Closing of a Great Career—Gustav Mahler
Old Laws and New Ideas: Important Observations Upon Piano Practice
How the Piano Differs from Its Fore-runners
Characteristic Dance Forms: Short Notes upon Dances Which Have Become Famous Through Their Adoption by the Masters
Well Known Composers of To-Day—Arthur D'Haenens
What is Talent
-
Volume 28, Number 08 (August 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Chopin: Pre-Eminent Genius of the Pianoforte
Modern Pioneers in the Art of Piano-Playing
Etude Debate: Shall Music Teachers be Required to Pass an Examination Before They are Permitted to Teach?
Pentatonic Scales in Famous Song
When the Mother Interferes
Laying the Foundation for Velocity: How Great Speed May be Attained if the Right Beginning is Made
Characteristic Dance Forms: Notes Upon Famous National Dances
Wagner's Opera Tannhäuser
Mendelssohn the Fortunate
Some Delicate (?) Contemporary Criticisms of Wagner's Early Works
How I Overcame Stage Fright
Encores at Pupils' Recitals
Rossini the Humorist: Epigrams and Wit of the Most Whimsical of the Italian Composers
Left Hand Music
Well-Known Composers of To-Day—Thurlow Lieurance
Debussy on Servility to Great Masters
Simplifying Sight Reading at the Pianoforte
Tchaikovski's Extraordinary Marriage
Amusing Performance of Trovatore
Last Hours of Edward MacDowell
Gounod's Visit to Milan
-
Volume 28, Number 09 (September 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Franz Liszt and the Origin of the Symphonic Poem
How Spohr Learned the French Horn in One Day
What is Meant by Interpretation
Forgotten Rivals of Great Composers
Story of the Minuet
How Music Helps the Business Woman
Power of Concentration in Music Study and How to Develop It
Mendelssohn's Versatility
Italy the Land of Music? A German View
Schumann Epigrams
Trip to the Shrine of Beethoven
How Beethoven Found the Theme for His Fifth Symphony
Map of Musical Europe
Well Known Composers of To-Day—George B. Nevin
How Verdi Became a Musician
Comparative Difficulty of Sharp and Flat Keys
Purcell's Business Instinct
-
Volume 28, Number 10 (October 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Music the American People Demand (interview with John Philip Sousa)
Scharwenka on Listening to One's Playing
Failure of Gounod's Faust
Heredity and Music: Remarkable Instances of the Manner in Which Musical Talent Has been Communicated from One Generation to Another
Some Great Virtuosos of the Present Day
Clara Schumann on Ear Training
Talk with Svendsen
Preparing the Hands for Advanced Pianoforte Study
Better Understanding of the Double Bar
Vital Defects of Most Pianists
Some Distinctions in Musical Terms
-
Volume 28, Number 11 (November 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Some Approximate Pronunciations of the Names of French Musicians
How Verdi Preserved His Originality
Lessons with Franz Liszt
Weber's Mistake
Cultivating Musical Taste in the Public Schools
Tschaikowski's Ideals
Triumph of Edward MacDowell
Wagner on Mendelssohn and Schumann
Beware of Fraudulent Publishers
Survival of the Fittest in Music: How the Great Works of the Tonal Art Remain Through the Centuries, While Those of Less Value Are Doomed to More or Less Certain Oblivion
Just Ordinary Miss Brown: The Story of an Old-fashioned Teacher and How She Got Real Results While Others Failed
What to Do at the First Lesson: The Young Teacher's Preparation
Sound-Reproducing Machine in Music Study
How Much Shall I Practice?
Well Known Composers of To-Day—H.W. Petrie
-
Volume 28, Number 12 (December 1910)
James Francis Cooke
Overheard at the Symphony Concert
Developing the Beautiful in Piano Playing
What Daily Practice Means
Difficult Art of Good Pedaling
Lessons from Memorable Piano Recitals
How One Teacher Raised Her Income
My First Composition
How and Why the American Teacher Has Succeeded in Europe
Those Missed Lessons
Patrons and Helpers of Great Composers
Some Wagner Caracatures
Crying Need in American Music
Professor's Christmas Dilemma: A Musical Romance of Xmas
Hand Drill
On Making the Most of a Poor Instrument
Well Known Composers of To-Day—Hermann Necke
Need of Better Sight Reading
Balzac's Interest in Music
Pupils Who Pay by the Lesson
-
Volume 27, Number 01 (January 1909)
James Francis Cooke
Mendelssohn, The Man and the Musician
Franz Liszt on the Chopin Mazurka
Mendelssohn the Fortunate
Songs Without Words
Raising Your Income
Home Life of Mendelssohn
Grown-up Beginner
Advantage of Etudes
Napoleon's Great Love for Music
Mendelssohn, The Poet of Symmetry and Grace
Interesting Stories of Mendelssohn
Important Events in the Life of Mendelssohn
Personal Reminiscence of Mendelssohn
Interesting Extracts from Mendelssohn's Letters
Present Position of Mendelssohn's Music
Mendelssohn's Piano Compositions and Their Availability for the Teacher
Origin of the Waltz
Training of a Concert Pianist
How Helen Keller Enjoys Music
Liszt on the Musical Trinity
Told by Chaminade (interview with Cecile Chaminade)
Story of Chopin's Funeral March
Importance of Five-Finger Exercises
Rubinstein on the Playing of Brahms
-
Volume 27, Number 02 (February 1909)
James Francis Cooke
Review of European Musical Articles
Masters and Their Methods
Mozart's Lack of Commercial Instinct
On the Quantity of Work to be Given a Pupil
Rossini's Remarkable Industry
Opportunities for Young Oratorio Singers
Useless Musical Exercises
Robert Schumann's Carnaval
Optimism in Teaching
What is an Ear for Music?
How Mendelssohn Wrote a Famous Work
Beethoven's Woodland Walks
Young Artist's Treasure Box: Aphorisms by Poets, Philosophers and Artists
-
Volume 27, Number 03 (March 1909)
James Francis Cooke
What Musical Europe is Thinking and Doing
Touch—the Great Essential (interview with M. Ossip Gabrilowitsch)
How to Cultivate Sight-Reading
Sub-conscious Mind in Piano Playing
Musical Europe of Yesterday and Musical America of To-day: Reflections Upon the Study of Music and Pianoforte Playing as Taught in Europe Twenty-Five Years Ago and as Taught in America Now
Scarlatti's Unique Fingering
Interesting Stories of Chopin's Career
Chopin's Taste in Music
Mathematics of Melody
How Music Brightens the Home
Bellini, the Genius of Stricken Sicily
Easy Way to Teach Musical History
Conquering of Fear
Use of the Sound Reproducing Machine in Vocal Instruction and Musical Education (symposium)
Tolstoy as a Musician
General Grant's Repertoire
Pieces Parents Like
-
Volume 27, Number 04 (April 1909)
James Francis Cooke
At the Grave of Beethoven
What Musical Europe is Thinking and Doing
How Fortunes Are Wasted on a Vocal Education (interview with Marcella Sembrich)
Theodore Leschetizsky on Modern Pianoforte Study (interview with Theodore Leschetizsky)
Story of the Waltz: How the Most Fascinating of Dances Has Influenced the Great Composers
Lessons from the Life of Beethoven
How to Study a New Piece (interview with Schelling, Ernest)
Story of Musical Prodigies: How Some Very Remarkable Children Have Afterwards Become Great Musicians and How Others Have Been Injured by Excessive Work in Their Childhood
Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata: Balestrieri's Famous Painting Described
Short Practical Lessons in Theory
Some Aids to Memorizing
How Liszt Played Chopin
Haydn as a Street Musician
How Acoustic Defects Hamper the Singer
-
Volume 27, Number 05 (May 1909)
James Francis Cooke
Wagner and Verdi: The Great Masters of Modern Opera
Garcia the Wonderful: The Story of the Teacher of Jenny Lind
How American Students Differ from European Students
Ten Practice Rules by Robert Schumann
What the Masters Thought of Dance Music
Origin of the Sonata
Fitting the Hand to the Keyboard
Music's Great Debt to Poetry
Short Autobiography of Eduard Schutt
Leschetizky on Piano Playing (interview with Theodor Leschetizky)
How You Might Start Your Teaching Business: Some Practical Letters to a Young Teacher
Study of Sixteenth Notes
Short Practical Lessons in Theory
Some Teaching Principles of Dr. Mason
Pedalling
Needs of the Young Teacher in the South
Beethoven's Great Affliction
-
Volume 27, Number 06 (June 1909)
James Francis Cooke
How to Study a New Piece: Suggestions for Cultivating Strength and Endurance Without Running the Risk of Injuring the Hands in Octave Playing
Schumann and Chopin
Recollections of Franz Liszt
How to Use the Etude Gallery
Carl Czerny: A Short Review of the Life and Work of the Teacher of Liszt and Leschetizky
Cheap Teachers Always Expensive
Von Bülow's Memory
How Verdi Entered the Musical Profession
Chronological Sketch of Joseph Haydn's Life
Card System as a Music Teacher's Aid
Why Class Teaching Sometimes Fails
Securing a Desirable Teaching Location
Story of Ballestrieri's Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata
-
Volume 27, Number 07 (July 1909)
James Francis Cooke
Art of the Coloratura Soprano
Woman's Opportunity in Music (symposium)
Famous Women in Musical History
Music After Marriage and Motherhood: Opinions of Some of the Most Famous Living Women Musicians Upon the Problem of Keeping Up Musical Work Without Neglecting the Home
Successful Memorizing: Some Remarkable Experiments in Memory
What Six Months with Czerny's Studies Did
Who's Who Among Famous Women Musicians
American Woman Pianist of To-day and Yesterday: An Entertaining Account of the Remarkable Advance in Piano Playing Made by the Women of Our Country During the Last Century
Vacation Study Without a Piano
Edward Grieg on Liszt's Playing (interview with Edward Grieg)
Why American Girls Succeed in Opera (interview with Corinne Rider-Kelsey)
Saint Cecilia, the Patron Saint of Music
Influence of Women on Great Composers: How Many Art-works Have Been Inspired by Women
Music for the Business Woman: How Ambitious Young Women May Secure a Musical Education in Their Leisure Hours
When Should Pedal Study be Commenced?
Musical Works by Women: A Classified List
Accompanists
How to Pronounce the Names of Some Well Known Operas
Muscular Control of Touch
Value of a Written Practice Schedule