Lowell Mason

Life

Born: 8 January 1792

Died: 11 August 1872

Biography

(abridged) Lowell Mason was born in in Medfield, Massachusetts, and at age 17 became the Music Director of First Parish Church. For a time, he lived in Savannah, Georgia, where he worked a dry-goods store, then became a banker. Showing talent since a youth, he had very strong amateur musical interests. He was choir director and organist at the Independent Presbyterian Church and initiated the first Sunday school for black children in America. He moved to Boston and was choirmaster and organist at Park Street Church. He became a music director for three churches, in a six-month rotation. He served as president of the Handel and Haydn Society, taught music in the public schools, was co-founder of the Boston Academy of Music, and was appointed music superintendent for the Boston school system. After retiring from Boston musical activity, he moved to New York City where his sons, Daniel and Lowell, Jr. had established a music business. He developed a great interest for congregational singing after a trip to Europe and accepted the position as music director at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He was an active leader in music his entire life. He composed many pieces following a more European tradition. He compiled and published many books for musical and singing training. His influence has been enduring and he is oft called the father of American music education. He was the father of Henry Mason (founder of the Mason and Hamlin piano company) and composer William Mason. He was the grandfather of music critic and composer Daniel Gregory Mason, and John B. Mason, a popular late nineteenth and early twentieth-century stage actor.

View the Wikipedia article on Lowell Mason.

List of choral works

Sacred music

Anthems As the hart panteth I will extol thee The Lord bless thee Now unto him Our soul waiteth for the Lord

Introits Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Search me, O God Other sacred works No works currently available

Hymns & hymn settings Boston From Greenland's icy mountains Joy to the world My faith looks up to Thee Nain Nearer, my God, to thee Star of peace Work, for the night is coming!

Secular music

• The evening sail
• The Fox and the Grapes
• Io! the snow!
• Laura
• Mary had a little lamb (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Arrangements by Lowell Mason

• Blest is the man, who shuns the place (Friedrich Ernst Fesca)
• Come, gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove (Anonymous)
• Come, let us lift our joyful eyes (Karl Gotthelf Gläser)
• How precious, Lord, thy sacred word (Friedrich Schneider)
• Lord of all being, throned afar (Anonymous)

 
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Publications

1821 – The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music 1824 – Select Chants, Doxologies 1830 – Choral Harmony 1831 – Church Psalmody 1831-1837 – Spiritual Songs for Social Worship (4 vols.; first author: Thomas Hastings) 1832 – Lyra Sacra 1832-1833 – The Choir, or Union Collection 1833 – Sacred Melodies 1834 – The Boston Collection of Anthems 1834 – Sentences, or Short Anthems, Hymn Tunes, and Chants 1834-1835 – The Sacred Harp, or Eclectic Harmony 1835 – The Boston Academy's Collection of Church Music 1836 – Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes 1838-1840 – The Seraph: A Monthly Publication of Church Music 1839 – The Boston Anthem Book 1839 – The Modern Psalmist 1840-1841 – The Sacred Harp, or Beauties of Church Music 1841 – Carmina Sacra 1841 – The Harp 1842 – Book of Chants

1842 – Chapel Hymns 1843 – Musical Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church 1843 – Songs of Asaph 1845 – The Psaltery 1847 – The Choralist 1848 – The Congregational Tune Book 1848 – The National Psalmist 1849 – Fifty-Nine Select Psalm and Hymn Tunes 1849-1850 – The Hymnist 1850 – Cantica Laudis 1850 – The New Carmina Sacra 1852 – Mason's Hand-book of Psalmody 1853 – Congregational Church Music 1854 – The Hallelujah 1859 – The Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book 1860 – The People's Tune Book 1866 – The New Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book 1867 – The New Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book: Baptist Ed. 1869 – Carmina Sacra Enlarged: The American Tune Book 1869 – Congregational Church Music

References

• Mason, Henry L. 1944. Hymn-Tunes of Lowell Mason: A Bibliography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The University Press.

External websites:

• More complete list of Mason's publications