Arthur William Foote (1853-1937) was a member of the "Second New England" school of composers, and is known primarily for his work as a composer. This study shows that Foote was also very active in chamber music and that his influence in the musical community was by no means limited to his work as a composer.Several scrapbooks exist containing programs, letters, telegrams, newspaper articles, reviews, and photographs which Foote collected over a twenty-six-year period. These scrapbooks are arranged, for the most part, in chronological order and chronicle Foote's life and musical activity as no other source does.Foote was a very active chamber musician. He established and maintained a series of chamber music concerts where none had existed before; he sought out the best musicians of the time to write for, perform with, and learn from; and he traveled to many regions of the United States, and to parts of Europe, listening, learning, teaching, and performing.All of Foote's chamber music works, except for the works for cello, remain out-of-print or unpublished. Ten chamber works which include piano and that have been assigned opus numbers are examined historically and analytically in this study;TRIO IN C MOLL, fir Pianoforte, Violine and Violoncell, Op. 5DREI CHARAKTERSTUCKE, fair Clavier and Violin, Op. 9 SONATE IN G MOLL, fir Klavier and Violine, Op. 20QUARTETT IN C DUR, fir Klavier, Violine, Bratsche and Violoncell, Op. 23 TROIS PIECES, pour hautbois et piano, Op. 31 / School of Music

Four of the composers of the Second New England School, Amy Cheney Beach (1867-1944), Arthur Foote (1853-1937), George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931), and Horatio Parker (1863-1919), led the flowering of America's art music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This study focused on these composers' partsongs that contain an original piano part and also on one chamber work with piano by each of them. The role of pianism within these works was the primary topic of this study, and the piano's contribution to the partsongs and the chamber works was compared and contrasted.The study centered on the four composers' compositional techniques, and the relationship between the voices or strings to the piano was identified. It also revealed the technical demands placed on the pianist. Each partsong or chamber work movement was first briefly analyzed and then suggestions to the pianist/ensemble were made, which were based on the analysis, and that intended to draw the pianist's attention to the most relevant concerns that he will face while preparing this music. The works that I included in this study are from the first period of American history in which American composers wrote significant pieces of art music. The compositions from this turning point in American history reveal a fascinating mix between German Romantic, Modernist, and "American" elements. I found both the partsongs and chamber pieces to be worthy of study, and the large body of works of these four composers, in my opinion, deserves greater exposure.The piano writing, in both their partsongs and chamber works, is quite accomplished and reveals just how gifted these four composers were as pianists. The varied piano textures and the technical demands for the pianist create challenging, yet enjoyable interesting, piano parts, which serve both the partsongs and chamber pieces very well. The piano writing of these four composers' chamber pieces is more complex than that of their partsongs, but both genres contain effective piano parts. Contemporary audiences of classical music would find the piano writing of these works (not to mention the works in their entirety) to be very worthwhile. / School of Music