Composer, educator; born in Medfield, Mass. He had been a church organist/choir director when he published a successful hymn collection in 1822, some of its melodies adopted from classical composers. In 1832 he cofounded the Boston Academy of Music, which gave instruction to adults and children. A pedagogue of great influence and importance for American music, he remained a prolific arranger and composer of hymns, his familiar tunes including "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and "From Greenland's Icy Mountains."