Louis Weber (1851-1931), Kansas City Composer and Publisher
by
Terry L. Baldridge

M.M. in Musicology, University of Kansas, 1979


Abstract

Louis Weber was an important late-nineteenth century composer from Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton, Missouri, and taught in Methodist colleges throughout the state from 1879 to 1895. In 1888 he was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and was later the pastor of churches at Hannibal and Boonville. The apex of Weber’s academic career came in 1889 when he was appointed as president of Lewis College at Glasgow, Missouri. In 1895 he left college teaching, in order to devote his time to composing and publishing in Kansas City, Kansas.

Weber’s first music was published in 1881 at Sedalia, Missouri. He wrote a total of 232 compositions. This music was not written for the concert stage, but rather for the American vernacular tradition, which was apparent in this country as early as the eighteenth century. Missouri was the home of some of the most active publishers of vernacular music in the late nineteenth century, such as A. W. Perry and John Stark in Sedalia, and the Kunkel Brothers in St. Louis.

Weber’s experience in Kansas City as a private music teacher caused him to write much of his music for pupils. This teaching music, as well as his music for the home, formed the bulk of his output. Weber composed music in every genre which was popular during this period. His marches and dance pieces, including waltzes, galops, polkas, and schottisches, were named after prominent individuals, organizations, and cities. Many of his reveries and meditations were descriptive of nature. Two-thirds of his variations were based on hymns and gospel songs; the remainder were on nineteenth-century parlor songs, Civil War songs, and other popular tunes of the day. By 1921 this music had attained a circulation of more than 2,000,000 throughout twelve states. Weber’s music was published by various firms throughout Missouri until 1905, when Louis and his brother Rudolph formed the firm of Weber Brothers which published all his music through 1922.

Weber was actually heading a pioneer effort in the state of Kansas. He published more music and had a greater circulation than any Kansas composer past or present. The musical life of Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas was significantly enriched by Weber’s productivity.