Oliver Holden

Oliver Holden (September 18, 1765 – September 4, 1844) was an American composer and compiler of hymns.

Biography He was born in Shirley, Massachusetts. During the American Revolutionary War, he was a marine for a year (1782–1783) on the USS Deane, which returned to Boston with at least one British prize while he was in the crew. For his service, he received an annual pension. A carpenter by trade, in 1786 he moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, to help rebuild it after the war. A carpenter and real estate dealer in his professional life, he also organized many music schools, and served as legislator and pastor.

He was a Baptist. In 1791 he joined the First Baptist Church in Boston and became leader of the choir. In 1801, he and some others started the First Baptist Church in Charlestown. He was in a group that left that church in 1809, due to what they perceived as lax discipline, and started a Second Baptist Church in Charlestown. He was in the Massachusetts House of Representatives on behalf of his town in 1818, 1825, 1826, and 1828 to 1833. His mansion, which he built around 1800, later became the Oliver Holden School, a kindergarten of Boston.

When George Washington visited Boston in 1789, Holden wrote the lyrics and score of an ode, and trained the choir which sang the music that greeted Washington at the Old State House. This chorus was performed again by the Stoughton Musical Society in their concerts at the Chicago World's Exposition in 1893 His popular tune "Coronation", to Edward Perronet's hymn "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name", is said to be the earliest American hymn tune still in general use. Also of note is his hymn "Confidence".