JOSIAH FLAGG (1738–1794)
1.
Hallelujah 00:26
OLD INDIAN HYMN
2. My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord (tenors and basses) 01:09
JOHN ANTES (1741-1811)
3. Christ the Lord, The Lord Most Glorious (Moravian Chorale, chorus and organ) 01:31
WINCHESTER (tune)
4. Song of the Angels (chorus and organ) 02:31
WILLIAM BILLINGS (1746-1800)
5. Dedham (Rejoice ye shining worlds) 01:24
6. Hark! Hear You Not a Cheerful Voice (An Anthem for Christmas) 06:39
7. A Virgin unspotted 02:37
8. Boston and Shiloh (Methinks I See a Heavenly Host) 01:29
9. When Jesus Wept (canon) 01:37
10. What Wondrous Love Is This 03:12
OLIVER HOLDEN (1765-1844)
11. Coronation (All Hail The Power) 02:31
JOHN PALMA (unknown dates)
12. While The Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (Christmas Hymn, soprano and organ) 01:07
WILLIAM TANS’UR (????-1783)
13. An Hymn: On Christ's Nativity (Behold! The Grace Appears, soprano, tenor and organ) 02:55
JOSEPH STEVENSON (1723-1810)
14. Behold I Bring You Glad Tidings (An Anthem Out of the 2nd Chapter of Luke) 04:23
SAMUEL HOLYOKE (1762-1820)
15. Arnheim (Now For a Tune of Lofty Praise) 01:15
ABRAHAM WOOD (1752-1804)
16. Worcester (How Beauteous Are Their Feet, SATB quartet and organ) 01:43
CHARLES THEODORE PACHELBEL (1690-1750)
17. Magnificat (My sould doth magnify the Lord) 05:55
Berkeley Chamber Singers
Alden GILCHRIST, Director and Organ
NOTES by IDA TOBIAS
Until recently it has been generally assumed that except for psalm singing and hymn singing by the congregations of the time, New England was bare of musical art until the beginning of the 19th century. This supposition is not borne out by the record of musical life, imported and native, enjoyed by the early colonists. Perhaps the more cultivated Americans did not believe that this new country could produce overnight musicians the equal of European favorites, yet the record shows that they were more than ready to listen to and perform the works of their local lights. There seems to have been room for all professionals and amateurs, immigrants and native-born alike.
Secular music and the giving of concerts was, with a few exceptions, largely in the hands of foreign residents, but the New England singing school, which had its beginnings in the first decades of the 18th century, was developed by talented native born amateurs who, while they use some materials of their English counterparts, were mostly self-taught and highly innovative. Most of these men had limited formal education and few were college graduates. Most were engaged in a trade for their livelihood and their singing schools were held in taverns, schools and churches. They both composed and compiled and their tune books, of which 370 were published before 1811, included psalm-tunes hymns, fuging tunes, anthems and set pieces and were “designed for the use of singing schools, musical societies and churches”.
The tunebooks contained extensive explanations covering music theory, tone production and interpretive suggestions. A detailed explanation of the balance of voices in the chorus was often included in the vocal music of the period, the principal melody was always placed in the tenor voice when written for four parts, and this effect was often varied by having a few treble voices sing the tenor part an octave higher than the men and a few tenors sing the treble part an octave lower than the women. The fuging section might be sung without doubling the voices some tunes were sung throughout in four-part harmony and at times the sopranos and tenors may have exchanged parts or the tenor could be doubled by a few sopranos. None of these rules was followed strictly as it was customary to sing the tunes with any combination of singers that was available.
The effectiveness of the Colonial singing masters’ instructions may be observed in this recording, as the Berkeley Chamber Singers have followed, to the best of their understanding, the directions for performance given in Colonial New England. For example, in Billings’ “What wondrous love is this”, the first verse is sung as written; tenors and sopranos exchange parts in the second verse; in the third, half of the tenors sing the soprano line and half of the sopranos sing the tenor line; in the fourth verse: the three sopranos double the tenor.
Dynamic level has been varied in many of the anthems by the use of only half the chorus, or in some cases, solo voices or solo quartet. In the “Song of the Angels”, set to the Winchester Tune out of the Bay Psalm Book, New Version, the old psalm-singing practice of “lining out” is used by the singers. This is accomplished by the bass section singing the tune of one phrase, whereupon the other parts repeat the phrase in unison.
In the early years of the singing school tradition, the composers were strongly influenced by the English church music in collections of Josiah Flagg, Joseph Stevenson and William Tans’ur, but gradually there emerged a characteristically American idiom, with elements of folk music and harmonic variety not found in the English music. Trades of style in this strong and highly original American Music include irregular phrase lengths, natural minor (Aeolian) and gapped scales, and viral rhythms. Unconventional harmonic progressions, parallel fifths and octaves are common. One of the most noticeable traits is the lack of suspensions. This could have been attributable to their ignorance of counterpoint, but even if they could have done so, the hearty, bluff tread of their product left no room for enervating suspensions, colorful chromaticisms, subtle modulations and the like.
The melodic lines are the result of horizontal part writing, and these are quite singable, in spite of the dissonant clashes resulting from the meeting of independent melodic strands. The voice parts other than tenor (which carries the principle tune accepting fuging sections) are varied in melodic interest the alto or counter, often serves only to complete the harmony. The soprano, treble, may serve as a descant with the tenor. The base part is sometimes doubled in octaves, and it may be that a cello was used to play the lower notes. There were few organs in the churches of New England, so it was not uncommon to double voices parts with cello, bassoon, flute and clarinet.
Although they did not originate the fuging tune, which was known in England and had earlier antecedents in the old song tunes called “Rapports”, the colonial composers had great success in exploiting this musical form. Irving Lowens had described the fuging tune as follows:
The typical American fuging tune usually begins with a homophonic section in the course of which a definite cadence is reached, frequently, but not always on the tonic of the key. A fresh start is then made, in which each individual voice makes its entrance in succession, the order varying according to the inclination of the composer. In this second section --which was customarily referred to as the "fuge" -- some form of imitation in most cases quite free, was utilized for a measure or two. Normally the fugue was then repeated, thus making the whole a small, rather tightly organized AABB form.
Abraham Wood’s fuging tune “Worcester” is somewhat atypical, in that it begins with fuging, and then proceeds into homophony, with the sequence repeated in the second section.
The Colonial composer’s anthem may have either a religious or a secular text, although Billings defines it as “a divine song, generally in prose”. It is more extended than the psalm-tune and hymn, and consists of several sections that are unrelated thematically. Quickly changing moods and irregular meters are characteristically employed. “Set piece” is a term for which was used to describe music composed especially for a particular text, and which in contrast to Psalm tunes in hymns, could not be properly song with another text.