John Alden Carpenter (February 28, 1876 - April 26, 1951) was a U.S. composer.
Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, Carpenter was raised in a musical household. He was educated at Harvard, where he studied under John Knowles Paine , and was president of the Glee Club, and wrote music for the Hasty-Pudding Club. Showing great promise as a composer, he journeyed to London to study under Elgar, later returning to the United States to study under Bernhard Ziehn in Chicago. It was there he earned a comfortable living as vice-president of the family business, a mill supply company.
Carpenter composed many works meant to encompass the spirit of America, including several jazz inspired works. He compsed several ballets, including one based on the Krazy Kat comics, and one entitled Skyscrapers, inspired by his city of residence. One of his most famous works was 1914's impressionistic orchestral suite Adventures in a Perambulator. In 1932 he completed The Song of Faith for the George Washington bicentennial.
He died in Chicago in 1951.
