John Sullivan Dwight

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John Sullivan Dwight (13 May 1813 - 5 September 1893) was a Unitarian minister, transcendentalist and was America's first influential classical music critic.

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1832. He then prepared for for the Unitarian ministry at Harvard Divinity School graduating in 1836. Dwight was ordained as minister in 1840, but this was not his vocation. Instead he developed a deep interest in music in particular studying Ludwig van Beethoven's music closely.

Dwight served as director of the school at the Brook Farm commune where he also taught music and organised musical and theatrical events. About this time he began writing a regular column on music.

Brook Farm collapsed financially in 1847, but Dwight set up a cooperative house in Boston and began a career in musical journalism. He married in 1851 a singer called Mary Bullard. In 1852 he founded Dwight's Journal of Music which became the most influential musical publication of 19th century America. In 1855 he translated from the French, the carol O Holy Night.