John Ashton (music publisher)
John Ashton was an American merchant and music publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century.Boston Directory. 1823, 1832Arlan R. Coolidge. "Francis Henry Brown, 1818-1891, American Teacher and Composer." Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring, 1961) He owned a "music & umbrella store" at no.197 Washington Street which sold "all the new and fashionable music"American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1 ca.1819-1844."Musical instruments, umbrellas, parasols, canes, &c. John Ashton, jun." Boston Intelligencer, Jan. 23, 1819John Ashton, jun. "Umbrellas. Large and small size silk umbrellas; gingham, oiled cloth and cotton. ... no.20 Marlboro-street, a few door south of the meeting-house." Columbian Centinel, Nov. 10, 1821 He manufactured and sold musical instruments; tuned pianos; and published and sold sheet music "of marches, waltzes, rondos, variations, quadrilles, gallopades, dances, &c. ... arranged for the band, orchestra, piano forte, guitar, flute, violin, organ &c." Among the composers represented in Ashton's stock: Comer, Joseph Haydn, Knight, Paddon, Russell, Shaw, Webb, Charles Zeuner.In 1825 Ashton took "Mr. G. Graupner's stock of music." Boston Commercial Gazette, Nov. 22, 1825Examples of titles published and sold by Ashton reside in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum, Bostonian Society, and Historic New England. The firm "John Ashton & Co." was dissolved on January 1, 1844 with notice that the business will "be continued at the old stand, 197 Washington Street, by E.H. Wade.""The business will be continued at the old stand, 197 Washington Street, by E.H. Wade." Daily Atlas (Boston), Jan. 26, 1844
References
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Images
Image:JohnAshton Boston ad engr bySparrow NYPL.jpeg|Advertisement for John Ashton, "importer & manufacturer of musical instruments," ca.1824 (New York Public Library)
Image:1836 Smoke Gear Ashton Boston.png|"On Mortality, Think & Smoke Tobacco. ... With an accompaniment for the piano forte by Joseph Gear, of the Tremont Orchestra, Boston. Respectfully dedicated to Charles Sprague, Esq. Boston, John Ashton, 1836." [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1836.361580]
Image:Alabama (Boston Public Library).jpg|"March of the First Volunteer Regiment of Alabama. Dedicated to Col. Thos. W. McCoy of Mobile. Composed by John Holloway. Boston. Published by John Ashton & Co." (Boston Public Library)
Further reading
- {{Citation |publisher = The H.W. Wilson company |location = New York |title = Contributions to the art of music in America by the music industries of Boston, 1640 to 1936 |author = Christine Merrick Ayars |date = 1937 |oclc = 26107160 |ol = 6349676M }}
- Russell Sanjek. American popular music and its business: the first 400 years; Vol.2: from 1790 to 1909. Oxford University Press, 1988
- Field Drums blog. "[http://blog.fielddrums.com/2009/02/early-john-ashton-eagle-drum.html Pre-Civil War John Ashton Eagle Drum]." 2009
=Published by Ashton=
Ashton published numerous sheet music titles. For example:
- Nathan Adams. Ruins of Troy. 1826
- John Holloway. Winthrop's quick step. 1835. "As performed by the Boston Band. ... Dedicated to Capt. G.T. Winthrop, the officers and members of the Boston Independent Fusiliers"
- Charles Zeuner. New England Guards quick step. 1835
- George O. Farmer. Gen. Harrison's grand march. 1840. "Dedicated to the Boston & Roxbury Whig Associations"
External links
{{commons category|John Ashton}}
- WorldCat. [http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nr95-18345 John Ashton & Co.]
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/double-bass-51296 Double bass], 1823, instrument made by Abraham Prescott (Deerfield, N.H.), sold by Ashton
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/flute-50912 Flute], ca.1830, instrument manufactured/sold by Ashton
- Johns Hopkins University, Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music. [https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/22542 Mechanicks Quick Step]. 1835.
- Field Drums blog. "[http://blog.fielddrums.com/2008/11/j-ashton-eagle-drum.html J. Ashton Eagle Drum]." 2008
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Category:Businesspeople from Boston
Category:19th century in Boston
Category:American music publishers (people)
Category:19th-century American publishers (people)
Category:Cultural history of Boston