Oliver Shaw was one of the first American composers.

Shaw was born at Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

. A childhood accident and later yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

 caused him to go totally blind. He studied with organist John Berkenhead and later with Gottlieb Graupner

Gottlieb Graupner

Johann Christian Gottlieb Graupner was a musician, composer, educator and publisher. Born in Hanover, Germany, he played oboe in Joseph Haydn's orchestra in London...

. After studies, he started his musical career in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and in Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

 where he remained an important musical figure until his death.

One of his students was Lowell Mason

Lowell Mason

Lowell Mason was a leading figure in American church music, the composer of over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His most well-known tunes include Mary Had A Little Lamb and the arrangement of Joy to the World...

. In 1810, Shaw together with his friends founded Psallonian Society "for the purpose of improving themselves in the knowledge and practice of sacred music and inculcating a more correct taste in the choice and performance of it" based in Providence.

His publications include five volumes of his own music and contributions to others. Many compositions, he wrote, were based on poems by Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...

.

He died at Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

.

List of works

• Taunton
• Bristol March
• "All Things Bright and Fair"
• The Bird Let Loose
• Arrayed in Clouds of Golden Light
• The Missionary Angel
• Air
• Gov. Arnold's March
• Mary's Tears (1817)
• There's Nothing True But Heaven (1829)

External links

• As down in the sunless retreats : a song from Moore's sacred melodies at Indian University Sheet Music Collections