Justin Croft Antiquarian Books - Rare and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts

First edition of a ‘pioneer work in the Spanish language’ on music (New Grove). Jorge W. Price (1853–1953) was the son of London-born composer and painter, Henry Price (1819–1863), who took him from Colombia to New York in 1855. ‘After Henry’s death the boy’s mother took Jorge back to Bogotá in 1864. Having completed his college studies there, Price divided his time between a business career (1869–89) and music. Aided by a grant from President Rafael Núñez he founded on 22 February 1882 the Academia Nacional de Música (Conservatorio Nacional de Música from 1910). While he was its director (1882–99, 1909–10) he translated seven texts by Stainer, Cummings, Pauer and Ridley Prentice, and in 1889 inaugurated the degree of Maestro en Música. After his retirement he published a valuable summary of events leading to the foundation of the national music academy. His 72-page brass instruments method (1882) and 126-page treatise on acoustics (1897) [i.e., the present work] were pioneer works in the Spanish language’ (New Grove).