A Lineage So Grandly Historic

Abstract John Sullivan Dwight, born in Boston the midst of the War of 1812, was the scion of an old and respected New England family. The first Dwights arrived in the mid-1630s; John Sullivan Dwight belonged to the branch that settled in Shirley, Massachusetts, a musically advanced town. His parents’ early exposure to music deeply affected him and his siblings, and a passion for music was a hallmark of the Dwight family. Although they were nominally religious, Dwight was born and raised on Court Street, a cultural beehive that gave him ample contact with music in a secular setting. He was ideally positioned to experience music—which was generally employed for worship, for dancing, and for social gatherings—as it emerged in America as a vehicle for artistic expression and intellectual and emotional engagement.