Biography:Edward Riley

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Edward Riley


     
 Given name:     Edward
 Middle name:     R.
 Family name:     Riley
 Place of birth:     
 Place of death:     New York
 Year of birth:     1769
 Year of death:     1829
 Profile:     Collector, Composer, Editor, Engraver, Musician, Publisher
 Source of information:     https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1000&context=music faculty
     

Biographical notes


EDWARD RILEY (1769-1829) was an English engraver and publisher who had a business in London from 1795 to 1803, after which he emigrated to the United States. Arriving in New York, he established himself as a teacher of music and singing, advertising lessons on the German flute, patent flagiolet [sic], piano and singing. He also worked for a time as an engraver for established music publishers John Paff and John Appel. However, in 1811 he established his own publishing business. Riley also sold instruments from his premises.

Following his death in 1829 his sons carried one the business until it became J.F. Gould & Co. in 1851. He wrote a treatise on flute playing and a four-volume collection on music entitled “Riley’s Flute Melodies.” His two daughters married John Firth and William Hall, respectively.

For more on Riley, see Wendell Dobbs' article "An Early American Family of Flutists", Faculty Research, Paper 1, 2008, Marshall University [1].