John Duke

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John Woods Duke (July 30, 1899-October 26, 1984), an American composer and pianist born in Cumberland, Maryland, became arguably best known for his art songs. John Woods Duke was the oldest child in a large musical family. After teaching him to read music at an early age and starting him on piano lessons at age 11, Duke's mother (a talented singer herself) enrolled him in the Cumberland, MD Allegheny Academy. By age 16 he had won a three-year scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. While at Peabody, Duke studied composition and theory under Gustav Strube and piano with Harold Randolph (whose own tutors had included Hans von Bülow, Clara Schumann, and Franz Liszt). He graduated in 1918, and, in the midst of wartime, volunteered his services to the Student Army Training Corps at Columbia University. Duke fell in love with the city of New York and decided to remain there after the war. His maturation as an artist continued as he debuted as a concert pianist in Aeolian Hall and wrote his first art song. Within a few years he began playing as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic. He married Dorothy Macon, who would bear him two children and collaborate with him as a librettist on several art songs. In 1923, Duke accepted a position on the music faculty at Smith College in Northampton, MA. He gained a full professorship at Smith in 1936, and remained at the institution until 1967 when he received the Peabody Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Service i

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