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Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Composer of "HARWELL" in American Lutheran Hymnal Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man. Lowell Mason was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. From childhood he had manifested an intense love for music, and had devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself according to such opportunities as were available to him. At the age of twenty he found himself filling a clerkship in a banking house in Savannah, Ga. Here he lost no opportunity of gratifying his passion for musical advancement, and was fortunate to meet for the first time a thoroughly qualified instructor, in the person of F. L. Abel. Applying his spare hours assiduously to the cultivation of the pursuit to which his passion inclined him, he soon acquired a proficiency that enabled him to enter the field of original composition, and his first work of this kind was embodied in the compilation of a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was offered unavailingly to publishers in Philadelphia and in Boston. Fortunately for our musical advancement it finally secured the attention of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and by its committee was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the severest critic in Boston. Dr. Jackson approved most heartily of the work, and added a few of his own compositions to it. Thus enlarged, it was finally published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." President Winchester, of the Handel and Haydn Society, sold the copyright for the young man. Mr. Mason went back to Savannah with probably $500 in his pocket as the preliminary result of his Boston visit. The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England, and through this means entering into the church choirs, to whom it opened up a higher field of harmonic beauty. Its career of success ran through some seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. This was in 1826. He was made an honorary member of the Handel and Haydn Society, but declined to accept this, and entered the ranks as an active member. He had been invited to come to Boston by President Winchester and other musical friends and was guaranteed an income of $2,000 a year. He was also appointed, by the influence of these friends, director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. Finally he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, and gave up the guarantee, but again friendly influence stepped in and procured for him the position of teller at the American Bank. In 1827 Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mr. Mason might have been in the average ranks of musicianship had he lived in Europe; in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Dr. Mason resided in Boston from 1826 to 1851, when he removed to New York. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, but he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. He had a notable class at North Reading, Mass., and he went in his later years as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810 he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. As a composer of solid, enduring church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful this country has introduced. He was a deeply pious man, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mason in 1817 married Miss Abigail Gregory, of Leesborough, Mass. The family consisted of four sons, Daniel Gregory, Lowell, William and Henry. The two former founded the publishing house of Mason Bros., dissolved by the death of the former in 19G9. Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin. Dr. William Mason was one of the most eminent musicians that America has yet produced. Dr. Lowell Mason died at "Silverspring," a beautiful residence on the side of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, August 11, 1872, bequeathing his great musical library, much of which had been collected abroad, to Yale College. --Hall, J. H. (c1914). Biographies of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

E. Cronenwett

1841 - 1931 Author of "Lo, In Zion A Foundation" in American Lutheran Hymnal Cronenwett, Emmanuel, a Lutheran Pastor at Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., contributed to the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, Published by Order of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and other States, 1880, in addition to 20 translations from the German, the following original hymns, some of which rank with the best in the collection:— 1. A holy state is wedded life. Domestic Worship. 2. Faith is wisdom from on high. Faith. 3. Heavenly Father, Jesus taught us. Prayer. 4. Lord, Thine omniscience I adore. Omniscience. 5. O Triune God, Thy blessing great. Domestic Worship. 6. Of omniscient grace I sing. Omniscience. 7. Of Zion's honour angels sing. Ordination. 8. The precepts of the word are pure. Holy Scripture. 9. The Spirit's fruits are peace and love. Fruits of the Spirit. 10. 'Tis a marvel in our eyes. Foundation Stone laying of a Church. 11. To Thee, our fathers' God, we bow. Domestic Worship. 12. Unto Caesar let us render. National Thanksgiving. 13. We have a sure, prophetic word. Holy Scripture. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John H. Spielman

Arranger of "WINTHROP" in Evangelical Lutheran hymnal John Henry Spielman, b. 1840, Lancaster, Ohio. Professor at Capital University, 1864-72. Editor of "Sunday-School Hymnal," "Psalterlust," and "Cantica Sacra." Public School Librarian, Columbus, Ohio; d. Columbus, Ohio, 1896

Johann G. Naumann

1741 - 1801 Person Name: Johann Gottlieb Naumann, 1741-1801 Composer of "WINTHROP" in Evangelical Lutheran hymnal Johann Gottlieb Naumann; b. near Dresden, 1741; d. Dresden, 1801 Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, 1908 ========================== Born: April 7, 1741, Blasewitz, Dresden, Germany. Died: October 23, 1801, Dresden, Germany. Buried: Eliasfriedhof, Dresden, Germany. Naumann received his musical training in his town school, where he learned piano and organ. Later, he studied at the Kreuzschule in Dresden and was a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor. In Dresden, he learned from the organist and cantor of the Kreuzschule, Gottfried August Homilius, a student of Bach. In May 1757, he traveled to Italy with Swedish violinist Anders Wesström. Composer Giuseppe Tartini encountered Naumann in 1762 and took an interest in his work. Later that year, Naumann made his debut as an opera composer in Venice with Il Tesoro Insidiato. After his successful 1764 production of Li Creduti Spiriti, he was engaged as the second church composer at the Dresden court, on the recommendation of composer Johann Adolf Hasse. In 1777, as a result of negotiations by Swedish diplomat Count Löwenhjelm, Naumann was appointed to reform the Stockholm Hovkapell and help King Gustavus III in his opera plans. His work in Sweden led to the 1782 production of his opera Cora och Alonzo at the inauguration of the new opera house in Stockholm, and the 1786 production of Gustaf Wasa, based on an idea of the king for a Royal Swedish Opera. After a period as guest composer in Copenhagen (1785-56), he returned to Dresden, where he became Oberkapellmeister. In 1792, Naumann married Catarina von Grodtschilling, daughter of a Danish vice-admiral. His grandson was composer Ernst Naumann (1832–1910). http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/n/a/u/naumann_jg.htm ============================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Naumann

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