Hans Gram (composer)
Hans Gram (1754-1804) was a Danish composer and musician who emigrated to the United States in the early 1780s. In Boston, Massachusetts, he served as organist of the Brattle Street Church, and as a music teacher.One of his students, "born blind and but 15 years of age," played organ at the Universal Meeting House. Columbian Centinel, 05-02-1792 He lived in Charlestown;Columbian Centinel, 02-18-1795 and in Boston on Belknap's LaneBoston Directory. 1798 and Common Street.Boston Directory. 1800, 1803 His music "was performed at the funeral of John Hancock.""According to a manuscript note by Oscar Sonneck at the Library of Congress." Gillian B. Anderson. "The Funeral of Samuel Cooper." New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Dec., 1977) He died in Boston in 1804."Died, in this town, after a lingering illness, Hans Gram, Esq. formerly of Copenhagen..." The Repertory (Boston), 05-08-1804"...Though he possessed a peculiar eccentricity of character, yet he had virtues to imitate, and talents to admire ... his ambitions, usefulness, and talents, became obscured -- and, as monuments erected to human honor and glory decay by the violence of storms ... he gradually mouldered away. Alas! how unstable is human knowledge and worth!" Boston Centinel, reprinted in: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, 05-11-1804 In 1810 a "Hans Gram Musical Society" formed in Fryeburg, Maine.Bray, Oliver. An Oration on Music pronounced at Fryeburg, before the Hans Gram Musical Society on their First Anniversary, October 10, 1811. Portland, 1812.Massachusetts Register. 1813, 1816, 1817
Works
- Death Song of a Cherokee Indian. 1791
- (Compositions published in Massachusetts Magazine, ca.1791)
- Sacred Lines, for Thanksgiving Day"For singing schools & societies. Thomas and Andrews, Faust's statue, no.45 Newbury-street, Boston." Salem Gazette 11-18-1794
- Bind Kings with Chains, an anthem for Easter SundaySalem Gazette 11-18-1794
- {{Citation |publisher = Printed by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews |location = Boston |author = Hans Gram |title = The Massachusetts compiler of theoretical and practical elements of sacred vocal music, together with a musical dictionary and a variety of psalm tunes, chorusses, &c., chiefly selected or adapted from modern European publications |date = 1795 |ol = 18824084M }} (Compiled and edited by Hans Gram, Samuel Holyoke and Oliver Holden).The Massachusetts Compiler "was largely influential in establishing the custom of using seven syllables in the scale (do, re, me, fa, sol, la, si) in place of the four syllables (fa, sol, la, mi)." Robert G. McCutchan. "American Church Music Composers of the Early Nineteenth Century." Church History, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Sep., 1933)
- Hymn to Sleep. (Gram translated lyrics from German and added his verses)Boston Evening Gazette, reprinted in: Hallowell Gazette, 02-15-1815
References
{{reflist|2}}
Further reading
- "A Digraceful Practice." Boston Post; reprinted in: New Hampshire Gazette, 09-08-1846. Describes Gram drunk.
- Samuel Kirkland Lothrop. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YnFJzIq8fysC A history of the church in Brattle street, Boston]. W. Crosby and H. P. Nichols, 1851. (Sermon #4, about Peter Thacher, describes the drama in 1790 of getting an organ).
- "Hans Gram." In: {{Citation |publisher = The Abingdon Press |location = New York |author = Frank Johnson Metcalf |title = American writers and compilers of sacred music |date = 1925 |ol = 24637369M }}
External links
- WorldCat. [http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n85-28426 Gram, Hans 1754-1804]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gram, Hans}}
Category:Musicians from Boston
Category:18th century in Boston
Category:Composers from Copenhagen
Category:American male organists
Category:American male composers