Arthur (William) Foote

Composer, born in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. A noted organist, he taught at the New York Conservatory (1920–37). He wrote church and chamber music, as well as books on harmony and keyboard technique.

Arthur Foote (1853 – 1937) was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six".

The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the later generation of American composers such as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris and William Schuman, all of whom helped to develop a recognizably American sound in classical music. In some sense, then, he is to music what American poets were to literature before Walt Whitman.

Foote was an early advocate of Brahms and Wagner and promoted performances of their music. Foote was an active music teacher and wrote a number of pedagogical works, including Modern Harmony in Its Theory and Practice (1905), written with Walter R. He contributed many articles to music journals, including "Then and Now, Thirty Years of Musical Advance in America" in Etude (1913) and "A Bostonian Remembers" in Musical Quarterly (1937).

The Grove Music Encylopedia says:

“In his finest works Foote was a memorable composer. He excelled in writing for strings and achieved particular popularity in his lifetime with the Suite in E major op.63 and A Night Piece for flute and strings.