George Whitefield Chadwick (1854–1931) was an American composer from the Second New England School. Chadwick began his studies in Boston at New England Conservatory in 1872 after having dropped out of high school the previous year. After studying organ, piano, and theory for several years, he took a position at Olivet College (now University of Olivet) in Olivet, Michigan, where he began composing.

This only lasted for a year before he realized he’d need to spend time studying in Leipzig to further his career. There, he studied with Salomon Jadassohn and Carl Reinecke at the Royal Conservatory of Music (at the same time as Ethel Smyth, but I cannot find evidence that they met) and then in Munich with Josef Rheinberger.

Following his return to Boston, Chadwick was appointed in 1897 as director of the New England Conservatory where he transformed the institution into a leading school of music. During his tenure, his students included William Grant Still, Florence Price, and Edith Noyes Porter.