Charles Crozat Converse (October 7, 1832 - October 18, 1918) was a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 attorney

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 who also worked as a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 of church songs. He was born in Warren, Massachusetts

Warren, Massachusetts

Warren is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,135 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Warren, please see the article Warren , Massachusetts.- History :...

. He is notable for setting to music the words of Joseph Scriven to become the hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 "What a Friend We Have in Jesus

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is a Christian hymn originally written by Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, and only received full credit for it in the 1880s. The tune to...

". Converse also published an arrangement of "The Death of Minnehaha

The Death of Minnehaha

"The Death of Minnehaha" was a part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha.It was later arranged by Charles Crozat Converse into a popular song. It was the second part of the cantata trilogy The Song of Hiawatha by the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.-External links:*...

", with words by Longfellow

Longfellow

Longfellow may refer to:* Longfellow, Minneapolis, United States** Longfellow , Minneapolis, United States* Longfellow, Oakland, California, United States* Longfellow , one of America's first great thoroughbred racehorses...

. He studied law and music in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, returned home in 1857, and was graduated at the Albany Law School

Albany Law School

Albany Law School is an ABA accredited law school based in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 by Amos Dean , Amasa Parker, Ira Harris and others....

 in 1861. Many of his musical compositions appeared under the anagrammatic pen-names “C. O. Nevers,” “Karl Reden,” and “E. C. Revons.” He published a cantata (1855), New Method for the Guitar (1855), Musical Bouquet (1859), The One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Psalm (1860), Sweet Singer (1863), Church Singer (1863) and Sayings of Sages (1863).
Converse proposed the use of the gender-neutral pronoun, "Thon".

External Links

• Sheet music for "The Rock Beside the Sea", by Charles C. Converse, Lee & Walker, 1857.