After preparatory training at
Phillips Academy,
Andover, Holyoke matriculated at
Harvard College in 1786. The source of his musical training is unknown, but he was composing music before he graduated from Harvard in 1789. In 1789–1790, he contributed four secular compositions to
Isaiah Thomas's Massachusetts Magazine. A prolific composer, he composed some 700 pieces, including
psalm tunes and
anthems and occasional pieces, some with instrumental accompaniment.
After his death, his music was largely forgotten. His importance to American music was summed up by music historian George Hood: "There was no man of his day that did more for the cause of music than Samuel Holyoke."
"Hark from the Tombs" and "Beneath the Honors" (Exeter, NH, 1800, in honor of George Washington)
The Instrumental Assistant (Exeter, NH, 1800)
A Dedication Service (Exeter, NH, 1801)
Occasional Music (Exeter, NH, 1802)
The Columbian Repository (Exeter, NH, 1803)
Masonic Music (Exeter, NH, 1803)
A Dedication Service (Salem, MA, 1804; different music from the 1801 publication)
The Christian Harmonist (Salem, MA, 1804)
The Occasional Companion, nos. 1–7 (Exeter, NH, Dedham, MA, and Boston, 1806-after 1810)
The Instrumental Assistant II (Exeter, NH, 1807)
The Vocal Companion (Exeter, NH, 1807)
References
^Sanderson, George A., ed. A General Catalogue of the trustees, teachers, and students Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts, from the time of its Incorporation, 1793–1893. Lawrence Academy, 1893
Bibliography
Eskew, Harry, and Karl Kroeger (ed), Samuel Holyoke and
Jacob Kimball: Selected Works (New York, 1998).
Metcalf, Frank J., American Writers and Compilers of Sacred Music (New York, 1925), 114–120.
Nichols, Andrew, "Genealogy of the Holyoke Family", Historical Collections of the Essex Institute 3 (1861): 57–61.
Perley, Sidney, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts (Boxford, MA, 1880.)
Willhide, J. Lawrence, "Samuel Holyoke: American Music Educator" (PhD diss., University of Southern California, 1954).