An Introduction to America’s Music

38 PART 1 | FROM COLONIZATION THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR

second phrase is “clank,” the stanza’s least euphonious word. And then there are

the parallel fi fths between voices, forbidden by European “Rules of Composi-

tion” because they work against the lines’ melodic independence. Billings, hav-

ing sworn to follow “Nature” over “hard dry studied Rules,” makes good on his

pledge in the very fi rst phrase, where treble and tenor move in a chain of four

such intervals. We can imagine him weighing the alternatives—the sound of the

whole versus the melodic integrity of individual voices—and choosing the fi rst,

perhaps because nothing better expressed the infl exibility of Britain’s “iron rod”

than the ring of those descending fi fths.

Chester suggests how the method of composition Billings describes in one

of his tunebooks worked in practice. He began by writing the tenor, or “fi rst part,”

which he called “nothing more than a fl ight of fancy” to which other voices were

“forced to comply and conform”—by forming harmonious consonances with the

tenor rather than clashing dissonances. Billings then composed the rest of the voices

so that they would partake “of the same air, or, at least, as much of it as they can

get.” In other words, Billings tried to infuse the other voices with melodic interest.

But because they were composed after the tenor, “the last parts are seldom so good

as the fi rst; for the second part [the bass] is subservient to the fi rst, the third part

[the treble] must conform to the fi rst and second, and the fourth part [the counter]

must conform to the other three.” By writing voice parts that kept singers musically

engaged while still following accepted harmonic practice, Billings strove to reconcile

the claims of nature and art—of inspiration and technique.

In his second tunebook, The Singing Master’s Assistant (1778), Billings composed

anthems paraphrasing Scripture to link the plight of present-day Bostonians

with that of the ancient Israelites. The Old Testament Psalm 137 begins: “By the

rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”

In his Lamentation over Boston, Billings changed those words to “By the Rivers of

Watertown we sat down & wept when we remember’d thee, O Boston.” And later

in the same piece, he took off from the Lamentations of Jeremiah:

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the

children of Israel. (Jer. 3:21)

A voice was heard in Roxbury which ecchoed thru the continent weeping for

Boston because of their danger. (Billings)

Texts like these treated Scripture not only as God’s word and a guide to spiritual

inspiration but also as a historical epic that offered timeless parallels to current

events.

PROTESTANT MUSIC OUTSIDE

THE CALVINIST ORBIT

Although Calvinism dominated New England, the other former British colo-

nies sustained a more diverse religious culture. Pennsylvania, founded by

Quakers, cultivated a particularly high level of religious tolerance. Of the many

groups practicing different faiths in the early republic, three developed espe-

cially distinctive musical traditions: the Anglicans, the Ephrata Cloister, and the

Moravians.

composing in parts

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