James Hewitt (musician)

James Hewitt ( * June 4, 1770 in Dartmore, England; † August 2, 1827 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States) was an American composer of English origin.

Hewitt, who was probably a pupil of Giovanni Battista Viotti, was a violinist in the court orchestra in London. In 1792 he moved to New York, where he emerged as a violin virtuoso and composer of operas.

His work Tammany, or The Indian Chief is one of the first original American operas. He also led several military bands and was a music publisher and organist. From 1812 to 1818 he worked at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. In addition to the opera he composed Tammany still a comic opera, several programmatic overtures, incidental music, piano pieces, violin duets and songs.

His son John Hill Hewitt was known as a composer.