Son of the American teacher, organist and composer Lowell Mason, William Mason was taught by his father and at the Boston Academy of Music before study in Europe – first in Leipzig, where his teachers included Moscheles, then in Prague, and finally in 1855 with Liszt in Weimar. In America he won a reputation both as a pianist and as a piano teacher.

Piano Music
Mason wrote pedagogical works on piano playing and composed some 50 piano pieces, ranging from the virtuoso to the simpler in style.