Ethelbert Nevin came from a large, musically talented family. He began his career as a pianist, studying in Boston and Pittsburgh in this country, and in Dresden and Berlin in Germany. Nevin's major pieces were Little Boy Blue, The Rosary (to a poem by Robert C. Rogers), and "Mighty lak" a Rose (published just following his death). Following years of poor health, he died in 1901 at the age of 38.