Elkanah Kelsey Dare (15 January 1782 – 26 August 1826) was a Mid-Atlantic schoolteacher, composer of music, and Presbyterian minister.
Dare joined the Presbyterian church in Greenwich, Cumberland County, New Jersey, at age 23.
[17] This was not necessary for the original Repository of 1810, which modeled itself on successful tunebooks by other publishers, using their most popular songs, and was designed to appeal to moderate evangelical Christians.
The market for the Second Part three years later comprised Methodists and Baptists who were caught up in the enthusiastic revivalism of the time,[18] and this required a real musician who could collect folk tunes, folk hymns, and camp meeting songs, transcribe them, and write harmonies.
[19] The introductory essay to Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Second Part is prefaced by an acknowledgement to Dare's editorial approach.