Introduction

Biography

Holden lived most of his life in Charles­town, Mas­sa­chu­setts, near Bos­ton. Though a car­pen­ter and real es­tate deal­er in his pro­fess­ion­al life, he al­so or­gan­ized ma­ny mu­sic schools, and served as le­gis­lat­or and pas­tor.

When Am­eri­can pre­si­dent George Wash­ing­ton vis­it­ed Bos­ton in 1789, Hol­den wrote the lyrics and score and trained the choir which sang the mu­sic that greet­ed Wash­ing­ton at the Old State House.

Works

• American Har­mo­ny (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1792)
• Mas­sa­chu­setts Com­pil­er of Theo­re­tic­al Prin­ci­ples, co-author (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1795)
• Union Har­mony or Uni­vers­al Col­lect­ion of Sac­red Mu­sic (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1793 & 1801)
• Worcester Col­lect­ion (Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1797–1803)
• Charlestown Col­lect­ion (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1803)