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| | John Knowles Paine -- Biography |
 | | I. Born January 9, 1839, in Portland, Maine, John Knowles Paine, later to become “the Dean of American Composers,” initially inherited his musical inclinations from his Plymouth ancestors who first carried the concert music of the Old World to the wilds of the New England coast. |
 | | John Towers, Paine’s roommate, described him as “a veritable pattern of diligence”: “He was an excellent example to follow, both as to diligence, integrity, and honor…Work was his motto, and he was as faithful to it as any man – not excepting Mendelssohn himself – I ever met.” |
 | | Unfortunately, it is difficult for the scholar to uncover the character of John Knowles Paine due to Elizabeth Paine’s unaccountable request that all of her husband’s personal papers be destroyed upon her death. |
| www.king.edu /musicresearch/Paine/biography.htm (2655 words) |
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