Artist Info: Daniel Read

Daniel Read (November 16, 1757 – December 4, 1836) was an American composer of the First New England School, and one of the primary figures in early American classical music.

Read, along with his contemporaries William Billings, Supply Belcher, and Justin Morgan, was one of the primary members of a group of American composers known as the First New England School. While the classical music era was in its heyday in Europe, American composers of "serious" music were setting hymn tunes in three- and four-part a cappella style [read more...]