Avery Robinson was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who worked with, among others, Roland Hayes

Roland Hayes

Roland Hayes was a lyric tenor and is considered the first African American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim as well as at home...

 and Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

.

Biography

Avery Robinson was born on January 21, 1878 in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. His father was a local mill owner there. After graduating from MIT, Avery returned to Louisville to work for his father and for another mill owner, W. E. Chess.
In 1907 he married Chess's daughter Mary

Mary Chess

Mary Chess was a perfumer who made fragrances using all natural ingredients. Her company, the eponymous Mary Chess, was owned by Henri Garceau.-Biographical Information:...

, who would later found the Mary Chess Company, a perfume manufacturer. In 1909 their daughter Carley was born.

In 1920 Robinson left Louisville for London where he was employed as treasurer to the Royal Philharmonic Society

Royal Philharmonic Society

The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...

. While there his daughter attended the newly founded Montessori School, and later studied musical composition with Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

.

After returning to the U.S. Avery was employed by the Mary Chess Company. Avery Robinson died in Pittsfield, Mass. on May 11, 1965.

Works

Pieces composed by (or in part by) Robinson include:

• "Waterboy
  Waterboy (song)
  "Waterboy" is an American traditional folk song.Originally a black prison work song composed by Jacques Wolfe, a Romanian immigrant, Waterboy became known as a jazz arrangement by Avery Robinson popularized "Water Boy" in the 1920s...
  
  "
• "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain"

External links

• Avery Robinson on Allmusic: [ classical], [ jazz]