CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Ernest G. Eberhard

German-American musician (1839–1910)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ5393093 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ernest G. Eberhard (May 30, 1839 - January 16, 1910) was a German immigrant who founded the Grand Conservatory of New York City, of which he was president for about 40 years. He was also an organist, conductor of choral societies and orchestras, author of musical instruction books and a publisher.

Eberhard founded the Grand Conservatory in 1874, with some help from the New York State Legislature. At a graduation ceremony, Theodore Roosevelt (then a state congressman), admitted to being involved in the legislation which allowed the conservatory to offer a Musical Doctor degree. Ernst Eberhard was the first to receive the doctorate.

Family

Eberhard married Caroline Louise Bogert in New York City, June 1876. Their children were Mrs. Edward Lansing, Mrs. Howard Hyde, Beatrice Eberhard ("well known violin virtuoso"), and Ernest G. Eberhard.

Books

Method for Piano, Course of Studies and Course in Technics (17 books)

Harmony and Counterpoint Simplified

Organist in

St Ann's Church, Brooklyn

Paulist Church, New York City

First Baptist Church, Manhattan

Conductor of

Newark Philharmonic Society

Director of

Parlor Opera Company

Student Concert Company

Newspaper correspondent

The Presto, Chicago

The American Israelite, Cincinnati

Clubs and associations

New York State Historical Association

New York Economic Club

Freemasonry

References

External links

IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, has large photo of him and one of his public domain works to download.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ernest G. Eberhard” is german-American musician (1839–1910). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ernest, Eberhard and German-American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1839, 1910, 1874, 1876—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1839-05-30. For this dossier, Ernest, Eberhard and German-American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “german-American musician (1839–1910)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5393093. VIAF identifies the subject as 9463149619432504010009. The Library of Congress control number is n2019006063. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1839, 1910, 1874 and 1876.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ernest G. Eberhard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ernest G. Eberhard primary sources, Ernest G. Eberhard archive and Ernest research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ernest G. Eberhard”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ernest G. Eberhard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.