John R. Sweney
Musician · 1837–1899 · West Chester, Pennsylvania
Best known for
Composer
John R. Sweney was a Pennsylvania gospel composer and music professor who, with William J. Kirkpatrick, produced and published more than a thousand gospel hymn songs over the second half of the nineteenth century. His “Sunshine in the Soul,” “Beulah Land,” and “More About Jesus” entered the standard American congregational repertoire, and he provided tunes for more than twenty of Fanny Crosby’s lyrics.
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- Born John Robson Sweney on December 31, 1837, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
- Was leading a choir and glee club and studying with a German music teacher by nineteen.
- Led the band of the Third Delaware Regiment of the Union Army through the Civil War.
- Joined the Pennsylvania Military Academy as professor of music after the war; held the post for twenty-five years.
- Received a Bachelor of Music in 1876 and a Doctor of Music in 1886 from the Pennsylvania Military Academy.
- Partnered with William J. Kirkpatrick on more than a thousand gospel hymn songs and more than sixty hymnbooks.
- Composed the tunes to “Sunshine in the Soul,” “More About Jesus,” “Tell Me How,” “Light After Darkness,” “The New Song,” and “Beulah Land,” among many others.
- Set more than twenty Fanny Crosby lyrics to music across their long collaboration.
- Died April 10, 1899.
