Timothy Swan (1758–1842)[1] was a Yankee tunesmith and hatmaker born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. The son of goldsmith William Swan,[2] Swan lived in small towns along the Connecticut River in Connecticut and Massachusetts for most of his life. Swan's compositional output consisted mostly of psalm and hymn settings, referred to as psalmody. These tunes and settings were produced for choirs and singing schools located in Congregationalist communities of New England. Swan is unique as an early American composer in that he composed secular vocal duets and songs in addition to sacred tunebook music. The tunebook, New England Harmony[3] is a collection of his sacred music compositions, while The Songster's Assistant[4] is a collection of his secular music.[3] Swan was also a poet and teacher of singing.[5]
- ^ American Composer Timeline.
- ^ The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass., Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, New York, 1874.
- ^ a b Cooke, Nym, ed. Timothy Swan: Psalmody And Secular Songs. Music of the United States of America, Vol. 6. The American Musicological Society. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, Inc. (1997), p. xiii.
- ^ Cooke, Nym, ed. Timothy Swan: Psalmody And Secular Songs. Music of the United States of America, Vol. 6. The American Musicological Society. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, Inc. (1997), p. xviii.
- ^ "Timothy Swan", Early American Composers, The Yankee Tunesmiths.