Reviews
"The prolific Bostonian, William
Billings (1746-1800), was the first American-born composer of
consequence. Many of his pieces were popular in New England 200
years ago, and a few are still to bound in shape-note tune-books.
To mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, ten of his hymn-tunes
and two canons have been arranged by David Music for use by present-day
congregations.
Billings was untutored in the properties of
European harmony and his work abounds in parallel fifths, octaves,
open fifths and so on. These have not been edited out for they
contribute much to the characteristic rustic vigour of the music.
Dr. Music has restricted himself to transferring the melody from
the tenor to the top voice and making some adjustments in other
parts necessitated by downward transposition and the avoidance
of voices crossing. Although Billings often favoured tunes of
the 'fuguing' type the present collection contains only straightforward
settings.
For tunes originally published without words,
or with texts unsuited for modern use, Dr. Music has supplied
verses from sources (such as Watts and Tate & Brady) with
which Billings would have been familiar.
This welcome booklet provides in practical
form an excellent taste of music that is an important part of
American heritage." Bulletin, The Hymn Society
of Great Britain and Ireland, April, 1996
"In honor of the 250th anniversary of
the birth of William Billings, David W. Music has selected and
arranged twelve of the composer's hymns and canons in a small
collection called "Sing to the Lord with Cheerful Voice" (Selah,
410-314) The 'arranging' involved the placing of the melody
in the soprano voice, transposing, and making other smaller adaptations
all for the purpose of encouraging the use of these tunes for
congregational singing. Several of the tunes are paired with
texts originally found with them; others have a different but
specially selected text. This small collection can be purchased
and placed in the pews for continued use, utilized as a choir
resource, or, by paying a fee and using the form included for
one-time license, individual hymns can be copied. A fine way
to revive and keep alive these treasures!" The Hymn,
July 1996
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