John Alden Carpenter was born in Park Ridge, Illinois, on 28th February, 1876. The son of a successful industrialist and professional singer, he enjoyed a thorough musical education, graduating from Harvard University in 1897, having studied composition with John Knowles Paine. He joined the family firm, becoming its vice-president in 1909 and thereafter, like his very different contemporary Charles Ives, combined business with composition. He had a brief period of study with Elgar in Rome during 1906, and from 1908-12 lessons in theory with Bernhard Ziehn, whose ideas on counterpoint were much admired by Busoni. Carpenter was the recipient of five honorary doctorates, and in 1947 the gold medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He died in Chicago on 26th April, 1951.
