Hans Gram (1754-1804) was a Danish composer and musician who emigrated to the United States in the early 1780s. In
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, he served as organist of the
Brattle Street Church
The Brattle Street Church (1698–1876) was a Congregational (1698 – c. 1805) and Unitarian (c. 1805–1876) church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts.
History
In January 1698, " Thomas Brattle conveyed the land on which the meet ...
, and as a music teacher. He lived in
Charlestown; and in Boston on
Belknap's Lane and
Common Street. His music "was performed at the funeral of John Hancock." He died in Boston in 1804. In 1810 a "Hans Gram Musical Society" formed in
Fryeburg, Maine.
Works
* Death Song of a Cherokee Indian. 1791
* (Compositions published in
Massachusetts Magazine
The ''Massachusetts Magazine'' was published in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1789 through 1796. Also called the ''Monthly Museum of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment'', it specialized in "poetry, music, biography, history, physics, geography, m ...
, ca.1791)
* Sacred Lines, for Thanksgiving Day
* Bind Kings with Chains, an anthem for Easter Sunday
* (Compiled and edited by Hans Gram,
Samuel Holyoke and
Oliver Holden).
* Hymn to Sleep. (Gram translated lyrics from German and added his verses)
[Boston Evening Gazette, reprinted in: Hallowell Gazette, 02-15-1815]
References
Further reading
* "A Digraceful Practice." Boston Post; reprinted in: New Hampshire Gazette, 09-08-1846. Describes Gram drunk.
* Samuel Kirkland Lothrop
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:
External links
* WorldCat
Gram, Hans 1754-1804
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gram, Hans
1754 births
1804 deaths
Musicians from Boston
18th century in Boston
Composers from Copenhagen
American male organists
American male composers
American composers
Cultural history of Boston
American organists