Emerson at­tend­ed the Par­son­field Sem­in­a­ry and Eff­in­gham Acad­e­my. He orig­in­al­ly planned to be a doc­tor, but his love for mu­sic per­suad­ed him to pur­sue a ca­reer as a mu­si­cian. He stu­died un­der Isaac Wood­bu­ry, a pop­u­lar teach­er at the time. Af­ter sev­er­al years of stu­dy in voice, pi­ano, and or­gan, he moved to Sa­lem, Mass­a­chus­etts, be­gan teach­ing, and took charge of his first choir, at the sal­a­ry of $100 per year. By 1853, he felt con­fi­dent enough of his abil­i­ties to show his mu­sic to the pub­lic. The Rom­berg Col­lect­ion was sub­se­quent­ly pub­lished, but found lit­tle mar­ket.

After eight years in Salem, Emerson moved to Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts, ac­cept­ing the po­si­tion of or­gan­ist and mu­sic­al di­rect­or at the Bul­finch Street Church. In 1857, he be­came as­so­ci­at­ed with the Oli­ver Dit­son pub­lish­ers in Bos­ton.

Eventually, Find­lay Coll­ege in Ohio award­ed Em­er­son the de­gree of Doc­tor of Mu­sic. His works in­clude:

• Sabbath Harmony, 1860
• Harp of Judah, 1863
• Jubilate, 1866
• Choral Tribute
• Standard
• Leader
• Saluta­tion
• Voice of Wor­ship
• Herald of Praise

Sources

Music

1. Ar Hyd Y Nos
2. Ascription
3. Malone
4. Redeemer (Emerson)
5. Sessions