Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Holden, Oliver

HOLDEN, Oliver, psalmist, b. in Shirley, Mass., 18 Sept., 1765; d. in Charlestown, Mass., in 1831. While engaged in the carpenter's trade he published his first book of sacred music, arranged in three and four parts, entitled “The American Harmony ” (1793). Most of this was original. Soon afterward he published the “Union Harmony, or a Universal Collection of Sacred Music”; “The Massachusetts Compiler,” with Hans Gram and Samuel Holyoke (1795); and edited “The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony” (1797). The last was a sixth edition, altered, revised, and corrected, with an appendix containing new psalm-tunes. It was printed upon movable types that had been procured from England in 1786, by Isaac Thomas, of Worcester, and is the oldest music-book that was thus printed. Holden was the author of several hymn-tunes, including “Confidence” and “Coronation,” which are still popular.