MASON, LOWELL

Mason, Lowell: translation

(8 January 1792, Medfield, Mass. – 11 August 1872, Orange, N. J.)

Hymnologist and influential educator whose collections, arrangements, and original compositions ofhymnsbased on European models and sources competed directly with the less learnedshape-notehymns andgospeltunes. He worked chiefly in Savannah, Georgia, from 1813, where he opened North America’s first Sunday school for black children in 1826, in Boston from 1827 to 1851, and finally in New York. HisThe Boston Handel and Haydn{}Society Collection of Church Musicappeared in 1822 and ran to 22 editions by 1858. Three of his best knownhymntunes areAntioch("Joy to the World"),Bethany("Nearer My God to Thee"), and {}Hamburg("When I Survey the Wondrous Cross").