John Sullivan Dwight
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John Sullivan Dwight (May 13, 1813 – September 5, 1893) was a transcendentalist, America's first influential classical music critic, and a school director.


Biography

Dwight was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Dwight, M.D. (1773–1852), and Mary Corey. He was a member of the
New England Dwight family The Dwight family of New England had many members who were military leaders, educators, jurists, authors, businessmen and clergy. Around 1634, John Dwight came with his wife Hannah, daughter Hannah, and sons Timothy (1629–1718) and John (d. 163 ...
through his paternal grandfather, John Dwight, Jr. (1740–1816). He graduated from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1832 and then prepared for the Unitarian ministry at
Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...
, from which he graduated in 1836. Dwight was ordained a minister in 1840, but ministry proved not to be his vocation. Instead it was incredibly brief and tumultuous. Instead he developed a deep interest in music, in particular that of
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
. Dwight served as director of the school at the
Brook Farm Brook Farm, also called the Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and EducationFelton, 124 or the Brook Farm Association for Industry and Education,Rose, 140 was a utopian experiment in communal living in the United States in the 1840s. It was fo ...
commune, the farm being a utopian communal living experiment, where he also taught music and organized musical and theatrical events. About this time he began writing a regular column on music. Brook Farm collapsed financially in 1847, but Dwight set up a cooperative house in Boston and began a career in musical journalism. He married singer Mary Bullard (daughter of Silas Bullard and Mary Ann Barrett) on February 11, 1851. In 1852, he founded ''
Dwight's Journal of Music ''Dwight's Journal of Music'' (1852–1881, ''DJM'') was an American music journal, one of the most respected and influential such periodicals in the country in the mid-19th century. John Sullivan Dwight created the Journal, and published it in B ...
'', which became one of the most respected and influential such periodicals in the country in the mid-19th century. Among the early writers was
Alexander Wheelock Thayer Alexander Wheelock Thayer (October 22, 1817 – July 15, 1897) was an American librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of refer ...
, who would become one of the first major music historians in the country. Other contributors included
John Knowles Paine John Knowles Paine (January 9, 1839 – April 25, 1906) was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music. The senior member of a group of composers collectively known as the Boston Six, Paine was one of those ...
, William F. Apthorp, W. S. B. Mathews and C. H. Brittan. In 1855, Dwight translated the carol "
O Holy Night "O Holy Night" (original title: ) is a well-known sacred song for Christmas performance. Originally based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau, written in 1843, with the first line (Midnight, Christian, is the solemn hour) that co ...
" from the French. Together with his friend and colleague Otto Dresel, who emigrated from
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in 1848 and settled in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1852, the two "contributed singly and jointly to the shaping of American taste for the European classical tradition in music". In his criticism of the contemporary American pianist
Louis Moreau Gottschalk Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States. Life and ca ...
, Dwight stepped into a trap. At a concert, Gottschalk claimed a Beethoven work as his own and identified one of his own as a Beethoven. When a hostile Dwight praised the wrong piece, the composer sent a note apologizing for the "printer’s error" in the program, but wryly thanking him for the praise. His wife died September 6, 1860; they had no children. He died in Boston on September 5, 1893, and is buried at
Forest Hills Cemetery Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum and sculpture garden located in the Forest Hills section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a public ...
.


References


Further reading

* *Horowitz, Joseph. Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. * "Dwight, John Sullivan." Brainard's Biographies of American Musicians. 1999. Biography Reference Bank. H. W. Wilson


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwight, John Sullivan American music critics Harvard College alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni 1813 births 1893 deaths Clergy from Boston 19th-century American people Cultural history of Boston 19th century in Boston American Unitarians 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American clergy