John Knowles Paine (1839-1906) was born in Portland Maine to a musical family—his father, uncles, and grandfather were all professional musicians. John studied with a German immigrant musician as a youth, and sailed to Europe at age 19 to continue his training in Germany. He studied there for three years, during which time he completely absorbed the German musical style.  He returned to Boston in 1861 and in 1873 began to teach at Harvard (he remained on the faculty until 1905), where he organized the department of music. Paine was also an organist and was very active in the Boston musical scene; his musical circle included many of the most prominent musicians in the United States at the time.  He was also an influential teacher of composition and music history and had a lasting impact on the next generation of American musicians. Paine was a prolific and prominent composer of music in the Germanic style, including a Mass, an opera, choral music, songs, symphonic works, chamber pieces, and compositions for organ and piano.