Related Research Articles
Kapellmeister from German Kapelle (chapel) and meister (master), literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in its meaning and is today used for denoting the leader of a musical ensemble, often smaller ones used for TV, radio, and theatres.
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff.
William Billings is regarded as the first American choral composer, and leading member of the First New England School.
The William Clarke Hauser was an American minister, medical doctor, teacher, composer, and music publisher.
Samuel Adams Holyoke was an American composer and teacher of vocal and instrumental music.
Philip Phile (c.1734–1793) was a German-American composer and violinist. His year of birth is uncertain, but believed to be approximately 1734. His works include a lost Violin Concerto (1787), but he is best known for "The President's March", written and performed at the inauguration of President George Washington.
Oliver Holden was an American composer and compiler of hymns.
Nehemiah Shumway was an American composer of sacred music, teacher, and farmer.
Benjamin Carr was an American composer, singer, teacher, and music publisher.
Jacob French was a singing master and one of the first American composers, sometimes called Yankee tunesmiths. "A student of William Billings, French adopted Billings' innovative approach to psalmody ... His music tends to be more complex in its structure, rhythm, and counterpoint than most of his contemporaries." "Along with William Billings, he is regarded as one of the finest composer of anthems in the New England tradition." French's Farewell Anthem appears in Southern Harmony, 1835, as well as The Sacred Harp from 1844 to the present. He was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts. His brother, Edward, also composed a few tunes.
Ebenezer Child was born in Union, Connecticut, and died in Brandon, Vermont.
Daniel Belknap was a farmer, mechanic, militia captain, poet and singing teacher. Belknap was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, and was an American composer of the First New England School. He compiled four sacred tunebooks in the years 1797–1806, and also issued a book of secular songs with music. He died in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Jonathan Huntington was born in Windham, Connecticut February 9, 1771 and died in St. Louis, Missouri July 29, 1838. He was a tenor and one of the first American composers.
Elkanah Kelsey Dare was a New England Methodist minister and composer of music. He was among the first American composers who published music in shape notes.
The Hesperian Harp is a shape note tunebook published in 1848 by Dr William Hauser, with reprintings issued in 1852, 1853, and 1874. Subtitled A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes and Anthems, it is named after Hauser's plantation, Hesperia, in Jefferson County, Georgia. The word "harp" is often found in the titles of such tunebooks, most famously The Sacred Harp. The Hesperian Harp was probably the largest shape note tune book of its day, containing 552 pages of music, including 36 songs composed by Hauser. It uses the four-note system of notation pioneered by William Little and William Smith.
The following is a chronological list of American composers of classical music.
"What Wondrous Love Is This" is a Christian folk hymn from the American South. Its text was first published in 1811, during the Second Great Awakening, and its melody derived from a popular English ballad. Today it is a widely known hymn included in hymnals of many Christian denominations.
The Shenandoah Harmony is a 2013 republication of the works of Ananias Davisson (1780–1857) and other composers of his era, in the format used by modern shape note singing groups. Although a number of new shape note tune books were compiled and published in the two decades leading up to the publication of the Shenandoah Harmony, this volume is notable as "the largest new four-shape tunebook published for more than 150 years." The importance of the Shenandoah Valley for the emergence of a distinctive Southern shape-note singing tradition has been noted by many musicologists. Authentic South reporter Kelley Libby of WFAE, attending an all-day singing in Cross Keys, felt "transported to the Shenandoah Valley of the 1800s."
Yankee tunesmiths were self-taught composers active in New England from 1770 until about 1810. Their music was largely forgotten when the Better Music Movement turned musical tastes towards Europe, as in Thomas Hastings's 1822 Dissertation on Musical Taste and other works. The principal tunesmiths were William Billings, Supply Belcher, Daniel Read, Oliver Holden, Justin Morgan, Andrew Law, Timothy Swan, Jacob Kimball Jr., Lewis Edson, and Jeremiah Ingalls. They composed primarily psalm tunes and fuging tunes, which differ enough from European fugues to warrant the spelling "fuge".
References
- ↑ Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music By W. K. McNeil
- ↑ http://www.voxnovus.com/resources/American_Composer_Timeline.htm American Composer Timeline
- ↑ http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/1829/Jacob_Kimball_Woburn Presto Classical Music
