Isaac Baker Woodbury

Isaac Baker Woodbury (1819–1858) was an American composer, teacher, editor, and compiler whose work belonged to the expanding culture of nineteenth-century church and singing-school music. Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, on October 23, 1819, he studied music in Boston and, while still young, continued his training in London and Paris. He later taught in Boston and traveled in New England with the Bay State Glee Club, combining musical instruction with public performance.

Woodbury subsequently lived in Bellows Falls, Vermont, where he helped organize the New Hampshire and Vermont Musical Association. In 1849 he moved to New York City and directed music at Rutgers Street Church until ill health led him to resign in 1851. He also edited the New York Musical Review and returned to Europe in 1852 to gather material for the periodical. His career joined composition, music education, publishing, and the practical needs of congregational song.

Among his publications were Elements of Musical Composition, issued in 1844, and The Dulcimer, a collection first published in 1850. The latter is associated with the six-line long-meter tune SELENA, one of Woodbury's durable contributions to American hymnody. He also assisted in the preparation of Methodist musical resources during the 1850s. Woodbury died in Columbia, South Carolina, on October 26, 1858. His legacy rests less on a single denominational identity than on his broad work as a music educator, editor, tune writer, and compiler serving nineteenth-century Protestant congregational music.