Karl Kroeger – författare

William Billings (1746-1800) was the most important native-born composer of the American colonial and Federal eras. He wrote hundreds of choral compositions, which were set to sacred or devotional texts for use by church choirs, singing schools, and musical societies. Extremely popular in his own time, Billings's music was denigrated during the nineteenth century when European styles governed American musical tastes. In the twentieth century his genius was recognized, and his music is widely sung and studied. Originally published in six tunebooks, the 338 extant pieces were issued in a scholarly edition by the American Musicological Society and The Colonial Society of Massachusetts as The Complete Works of William Billings (4 vols., 1977-1990). The present catalog complements the Complete Works by serving as a guide to its contents and providing a wealth of additional data.Included for each composition are exact title; text source; first line; technical information on length, meter, key, and melody; manuscript sources and contemporaneous reprints; bibliography and modern recordings. An extensive list of works cited is followed by five indexes providing access to the material in the catalog by first line of text, Billings's anthem titles, text sources, musical form (tune types), and musical incipits. The catalog provides for Billings's music information similar to that found in Schmeider's listings for Bach and Koechel's listings for Mozart.

The fuging-tune has long been associated with American music. Indeed, it was once thought to have been an American innovation, but research has shown that, like much else in 18th-century America, the fuging-tune had its origins in England. The American composer adopted and developed it, added his own expressive touches, and made it a primary vehicle for his musical creativity. The almost 1300 fuging-tunes by American composers published between 1770 and 1820 testify to their widespread popularity and musical impact. They represent about a quarter of all the pieces composed by American psalmodists, and are by far the most imaginative musical settings for religious poetry.

Part of a series of sixteen volumes that provides for the first time ever a comprehensive set of works from a full century of musical theater in the United States of America. Many of the volumes contain musical scores and librettos that have never before been published. The work that leads off this volume, The Voice of Nature, is generally considered the first melodrama to be performed in America, and the earliest surviving complete work composed for American professional theater. It is also the first to be written by a playwright boom in America.

This volume brings together 79 sacred tunes by two Connecticut composers: Eliakim Doolittle, who wrote psalm and fuging tunes in an unpretentious, familiar idiom, and Timothy Olmsted, who wrote psalm tunes in a more sophisticated, florid musical style. This final edition in the Music of the New American Nation series includes a comprehensive index of tune names and first lines for all fifteen volumes.

First Published in 1997. This series presents the music of early American composers of sacred music—psalmody, as it was called—in collected critical editions. Each volume has been prepared by a scholar who has studied the musical history of the period and the stylistic qualities of the composer. The purpose of the series is to present the music of important early American com posers in accurate editions for both performance and study. This volume presents the music of three composers who were active and influential in northwestern Connecticut during the 1780s and 1790s: Oliver Brownson, Alexander Gillet, and Solomon Chandler.

Part of the Music of the NEW AMERICAN NATION Sacred Music From 1780 To 1820 series. The collected works of Lewis Edson (1748-1820) Lewis Edson Jr. (1771-1845) and Nathaniel Billings (fl. 1794-1795

First Published in 1996. This series presents the music of early American composers of sacred music—psalmody, as it was called—in collected critical editions. The purpose of the series is to present the music of important early American composers in accurate editions for both performance and study. This volume comprises the music of one of the most highly regarded and widely published of early American psalmodists: Abraham Wood.