What Emerson was doing instead: he was busy building his career as a public intellectual and growing increasingly comfortable in Boston society (“his set,” as he called it). This chapter looks at how deftly he monetized his lyceum career and how he avoided controversial subjects in the lyceum for fear of alienating his audience. Also examined is his participation in various social clubs, the trend being increasingly toward high status over interesting, even abolitionist, membership. One of the nineteenth century’s greatest letter writers, he avoided discussing slavery within his epistolary habit. All his attention was on social connections and popular success.

Music publishing historian William Arms Fisher asserted in 1933 that “The great music publishers were primarily great music-lovers.” Composer Amy Beach was fortunate to work with a dozen of these music-loving publishers during her career; among them were the leaders of several of America’s greatest houses, including Arthur P. Schmidt Company (Boston), G. Schirmer, Inc. (New York), Theodore Presser Company (Philadelphia), and Oliver Ditson Company (Boston). She knew many of her publishers personally, and their partnerships were rewarding and mutually beneficial. Beach’s compositions gained a wide public and provided a good income, and her publishers benefitted not only from estimable musical additions to their catalogues, but also by the fact that she was a woman and-equally important in the World War I era-an American. “Amy Beach and Her Publishers” examines Beach’s relationships with her publishers, as well as their commitment to publishing her music while also keeping an eye on customers’ wants and changing economic conditions.