Abstract
1890-1966; Wesley College faculty member and music composer
Administrative/Biographical History
Dr. Paolo Conte was born February 29, 1890, in Palermo, Italy, to Gaetano and Clorinda Conte. His musical talents were demonstrated at age four when he was heard improvising on the piano. He received his musical education in Venice, where he was a student of Tagliapietra, Wolf-Ferrari, and Busoni. He earned a master's degree in psychology and his doctorate in musicology from the University of Padua. In August 1914, Dr. Conte came to Grand Forks to teach piano and composition at Wesley College. Here, Conte met his bride. Mary Esther Johnson, who was his first student to enroll for private instruction. They were married August 10, 1915, in Dunseith, ND. Their only child, William R. Conte, was born May 26, 1921. In the fall of 1923, Dr. Conte became dean of Fine Arts at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, OK. He remained there until 1936 when he accepted a position at the University of Wichita in Kansas. He was also minister of music at First Baptist Church in Wichita. In 1952, he moved to his summer home in Colorado Springs, CO, where he was semi-retired. He served as an organist of Audubon Heights Baptist Church in Colorado Springs and taught piano in the Pikes Peak Region. Paolo Conte died September 11, 1966, in Colorado Springs at age seventy-six. His compositions number in the hundreds and have been used in teaching, radio, and movies.
