to 1831. He eventually became a music director for three churches, in a six-month rotation, including the Hanover Street church, whose pastor was the prominent abolitionist Lyman Beecher. Mason became an important figure on the Boston musical scene: He served as president of the Handel and Haydn Society, taught music in the public schools, was co-founder of the Boston Academy of Music (1833). In 1838 he was appointed music superintendent for the Boston school system. In the 1830s, Mason set to music the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". In 1845 political machinations in the Boston school committee led to the termination of his services. In 1851, at the age of 59, Mason retired from Boston musical activity and moved to New York City, where his sons, Daniel and Lowell, Jr. had established a music business. On December 20, 1851, he set sail to Europe. During his tour of Europe in 1852, he developed a great interest and enthusiasm for congregational singing, especially that of German churches, such as the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig or the Kreuzkirche in Dresden. Following his return to New York City, Mason accepted the position as music director in 1853 for the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. It had just completed construction of a new church building on Nineteenth Street. He immediately disbanded its choir and orchestra, and installed an organ with his son, William, serving as organist. During his tenure, which lasted until 1860, he developed congregational singing to the point where the church was known as having the finest congregational singing in the city. In 1859 Mason, along with Edwards A. Parks and Austin Phelps, published the "Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book". This part of his career probably had the most enduring effects on American church music. Mason personally changed his view from imagining that church congregations were reluctant to sing to vigorously promoting congregational singing. He eliminated all professional musicians save the organist. In 1855 the University of New York awarded Mason the degree of doctor of music, which was the first musical degree awarded by any American college. In 1860 Mason retired to his estate in Orange, New Jersey, where he helped found Valley Congregational Church (renamed Highland Avenue Congregational Church in 1916). He was buried in Orange's Rosedale Cemetery. Assessment The editors of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians criticize Mason for his focus on European classical music as a