Benjamin Dwight Allen (February 16, 1831 in

Sturbridge, Massachusetts Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques. The population was 9,867 at the 2020 census, with mo ...

; died March 4, 1914 in Wellesley, Massachusetts) was a composer and organist. His parents were natives of Massachusetts named Alvan and Lucy. He was an organist for Congregational Churches and gained attention in the nineteenth century. He was from 1845 teacher and organist, and from 1857 to 1894 organist and choir director, of the Union Congregational Church. In 1858 he founded the

Worcester Music Festival Worcester Music Festival is an annual music festival held in more than 20 venues throughout the city centre of Worcester, England every September. It was founded in 2008 by Chris Bennion as a platform to encourage live, local and original mu ...

. From 1871 to 1876 he taught at the Boston Conservatory. After 1894 he led the music department at a college in Wisconsin and from 1902 to 1905 he worked as an organist at the Manhattan Congregational Church in New York City.

References

1831 births 1914 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century organists 19th-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century organists American classical organists American male organists American Congregationalists American male classical composers American Romantic composers People from Sturbridge, Massachusetts People from Wellesley, Massachusetts Classical musicians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male musicians 19th-century American male musicians Male classical organists {{US-composer-19thC-stub