Thomas Hastings

HASTINGS, Thomas. b. Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 15 October 1784; d. New York, 15 May 1872. Hastings was a singing-school master, composer, and author who was active, along with Lowell Mason*, in the ‘Better Music’ movement of the 19th century. He composed over 600 hymns, 1,000 tunes, and 50 collections of music. Hastings was the third of eleven children born to Seth Hastings, Sr. (1845-1830), a doctor, and Eunice Parmele Hastings (1763-1821). The family moved to Clinton, New York, in 1797 where Dr Hastings served as a trustee of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, which Thomas probably attended. The Hastings family was very musical, but most of Thomas’s theoretical understanding...