Daniel Read

16 November 1757—4 December 1836

One of the early composers whose tunes have been retained in the hymnals of the present day is DANIEL READ—Masachusetts-born, but most of whose business activities were carried on in the Nutmeg State. He was born November 16, 1757, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, the son of Daniel and Mary Read. He had hardly reached his majority when he was called out as a soldier in 1777 and 1778 during the Revolutionary War in three short expeditions into Rhode Island. Each of these services lasted about a month. Before the close of the war he had removed to New Haven and entered into a partnership with Amos Doolittle, an engraver, and engaged in the business of book publishing and selling. About 1785 he married Jerusha Sherman in New Haven, and four children were born to them. Their second son was a graduate of Yale, class of 1811, and was a clergyman. He died at sea near Cape Cod in August, 1821, and was buried at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard.

A daughter, Mary White Read, married Jonathan Nicholson, lived in New Haven, and is buried there. After her death, the oil portraits of Daniel and Jerusha Read were presented to the New Haven Colony Historical Society. This society also possesses a volume of manuscript music which belonged to “Daniel Read. Saturday, July 9, 1777.” This was endorsed by his son, George Frederick Handel Read, whose name suggests the famous composer, as follows: “Whether any of the tunes were of his composition I do not know. February 9, 1855.” One of Mr. Read’s journals, or letter-books, also belongs to this society. It contains items covering the period from 1796 to 1812, and indicates that he took an active part in public affairs. Besides his book business, he was a manufacturer of ivory combs, was a stockholder in one of the New Haven banks, a director of the Library, and he assisted Elisha Munson in the preparation of the catalogue of the Mechanic Library.

Upon the death of his wife’s father he writes, “Her father would not consent to her marriage with me, because I was guilty of the unpardonable crime of poverty.” On January 15, 1797, he “attended singing meeting in the State House, it being the second time of meeting there for the purpose of singing this season.” In March, 1793, he wrote to Oliver Holden subscribing for the periodical issues of music that might be made by the latter.

Daniel Read’s first book was called The American Singing Book. This was intended as a new and easy guide to the art of psalmody, designed for the use of singing schools in America, and it was printed in New Haven in 1785. It had seventy-three pages, and the contents were composed by “Daniel Read. Philo Musico.” The copy of this book in the Library of Congress was Silas Hough’s book, bought February 7, 1789, for seven shillings six pence. So extensive was the sale in New England that a fourth edition was issued in January 1792. A copy of this edition is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It has a supplement containing five tunes that were not in the original work, which had forty-seven. A supplement to The American Singing Book was issued separately in 1787 containing twenty-five tunes from different composers. About the time that the fourth edition was issued, he wrote in his journal under date of January 9, 1793, that he was proposing to Richard Atwell, of Huntington, that he go to Alexandria as agent for his books. For he says: “A young man made in six months by one school only $300,” and that “books of the size of The American Singing Book, without the Supplement, sell for one dollar per piece,” and advises sending ten or twelve books to Alexandria immediately. The cost of binding his books he states in 1798 as “nine pence each.”

In 1786, he began to publish The American Musical Magazine monthly. In the first volume (Yale Library) he says it is “intended to contain a great variety of approved music carefully selected from the works of the best American and European masters.” This contained both sacred and secular music and was published and sold by Amos Doolittle and Daniel Read in New Haven.

His next book was An Introduction to Psalmody, or, The Childs Instructor in Vocal Music (New Haven, 1790). This was followed in 1793 by The Columbian Harmonist, which reached its fourth edition in 1810. There were three numbers which were issued separately, and also bound together in a single volume of 112 pages. The author explains the three parts by saying that “those who object to purchasing this book (No. 2) because it contains tunes before published, are requested to make use of the First Number, which contains a collection of tunes never before published. And those who think anthems a necessary part of a collection of music are desired to peruse the Third Number, which contains anthems and set pieces, suitable for Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Fasts, Thanksgiving, Funerals, &c.”

In 1817, in connection with Eleazer T. Fitch, professor of divinity at Yale, and other men of musical taste and ability, he was requested to compile and arrange a collection of music for the use of the United Society of New Haven. In this work the labor of arranging and preparing for the press devolved entirely on Mr. Read, and he entered into it with his usual zeal and success. This was his last published work. It met with favor, and was used in that society for many years, and was also used in many other churches in different parts of the country.

The book referred to in the preceding paragraph was called The New Haven Collection of Sacred Music (1818). The book is a narrow oblong, and it contained 149 pages.

His last work, which occupied his attention for some years, was completed in 1832, when he was in his seventy-fifth year, but it was never published. It is neat in execution, methodical in arrangement, and well exhibits the character of the man. It contains nearly three hundred pages and over four hundred tunes. The manuscript he presented to the American Home Missionary Society, for them to publish, with the request that the avails which may arise from its publication be applied, under their direction, to the cause of missions in the United States. This donation, under the request to publish the work, was declined by the Board, feeling they were not authorized to take such a responsibility.

Some of Mr. Read’s tunes have been in common use in the hymnals of this country down to the present time. “Lisbon” and “Windham” are the most popular, and have been found in seven of the recent books examined. One book contained three of his tunes, and the Methodist hymnal of 1878 has no less than five—one of them, “Sherburne,” belonging to that class so frequently used years ago known as fugue tunes.

by FRANK J. METCALF
American Writers and Compilers of Sacred Music (1925)

Featured Tunes:

SHERBURNE

Published Works:

The American Singing Book

1st ed. (1785)
2nd ed. (1786): Archive.org
3rd ed. with Suppl. (1787)
4th ed. (1793)
5th (1796)

The American Musical Magazine

Vol. 1 (1786): HathiTrust

Supplement to the American Singing Book (1787)

An Introduction to Psalmody (1790)

The Columbian Harmonist

MS entries (1793): Archive.org
No. 1 (1793)
No. 2 (1794): Archive.org
No. 3 (1795): Archive.org
Nos. 1–3 (1795): Archive.org
No. 2 [2nd ed.] (1798)
No. 2 [3rd ed.] (1801)
2nd ed. (1805)
2nd ed. with Suppl. (1805)
3rd ed. (H. Mann, 1806):
3rd ed. (Manning & Loring, 1807): Archive.org

New Haven Collection of Sacred Music (1818): Archive.org

Manuscripts:

New Haven Museum (New Haven, CT): https://www.newhavenmuseum.org

Editions:

Musica Ecclesiae, 3 vols. (Edited from his last MSS): A-R

Collected Works, ed. Karl Kroeger (1995): A-R

Related Resources:

Irving Lowens, “Daniel Read’s World,” Music and Musicians in Early America (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1964).

V. C. Bushnell, Daniel Read of New Haven, 1757–1836: The Man and His Musical Activities, dissertation (Harvard University, 1979).

Karl Kroeger, “Daniel Read,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: CDH

Daniel Read: Hymnary.org

Hymn Tune Index: https://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/

Early American Sacred Music: https://earlyamericansacredmusic.org/