Hastings, Thomas

Thomas Hastings (October 15, 1784 - May 15, 1872) was an American composer, primarily the author of hymn tunes, the best known of which is "Toplady" for the hymn Rock of Ages. He was born in Washington, Connecticut, the son of Dr. Seth and Eunice (Parmele) Hastings. He was a third great-grandson of Thomas Hastings , who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from the East Anglia region of England in 1634. Hastings moved to Clinton, New York as a teenager and began his career as a singing teacher, although he was largely self-taught. Hastings compiled the hymnal "Spiritual Songs" with Lowell Mason in 1831 , which included his best-known hymn "Rock of Ages". He then moved to New York City , where he worked as a choirmaster for 40 years, from 1832 to 1872. Hastings was a prolific composer, writing some 1000 hymns over the course of his career, and what Mason describes as "simple, plain and ..." The solemn style of his music remains a major influence on hymnody in Protestant churches today.

Hastings's 1822 ''Dissertation on Musical Taste'', the first complete musical treatise by an American author, was a notable voice in the shift of American music toward models of German rather than British music; as "one of the first spokesmen for the cultivated tradition of American music," he emphasized the scientific and philosophical mission of music over the looser and more vernacular music of his predecessors. While Hastings' first compilation still showed clear evidence of adherence to the British tradition, later works included many German songs, and the older hymns and other settings he included had the harmonies completely rewritten to conform to the German ideals of classical music.
In addition to his composition and compilation of tune books for use in the singing schools, Hastings founded the ''Musical Magazine'', a periodical he published from 1835 to 1837; his early writings on church music for the ''Western Recorder'' which he began publishing in 1823 had provided him with the necessary experience and established his musical and professional credibility around his home base of Utica, New York and surrounding areas.
Hastings died in New York in 1872.