Hare, Maud Cuney

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(b Galveston, TX Feb 16, 1874; d Boston, MA Feb 13, 1936). African American music historian, concert pianist, and playwright. She studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music (1890–95) and privately with Emil Ludwig and Edwin Klabre. After teaching at the Texas Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youths at Austin (1897–8), the settlement house of the Institutional Church of Chicago (1900–01), and Prairie View (Texas) State Normal and Industrial College for Negroes (1903–4), she married lawyer William Hare and resettled in Boston by 1906.

Hare enjoyed a reputation as the leading authority on African American music during her era. A product of the Harlem Renaissance, she was music critic of The Crisis (ca. 1910–19) and contributed articles to the Musical Observer, The Musical Quarterly, and Christian Science Monitor. For about two decades, Hare toured the United States with African Canadian baritone William Richardson, giving lecture-recitals. She also traveled extensively throughout Louisiana, Mexico, and the Caribbean, collecting folk songs and musical instruments. This data provided the foundation for her book ...