Sacred Harp hymnwriters and composers
Encyclopedia
The Sacred Harp
is a shape note
tunebook, originally compiled in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White
and Elisha J. King
in Georgia and used to this day in revised form by Sacred Harp singers throughout America and overseas. This article is a historical overview and listing of the composers and poets who wrote the songs and texts of The Sacred Harp.
In the examples listed below, songs are identified by the page number in the two most prominent modern versions of The Sacred Harp; the so-called "Denson edition" and the "Cooper edition". Thus, "D,C 49" means "found on page 49 of both the Denson and Cooper editions".
The different historical eras used different modes of composition. While the New England composers wrote mostly in four parts (treble, alto, tenor, bass), their Southern successor in the 19th century typically wrote in just three (treble, tenor, and bass). Their work was altered around the turn of the 20th century, when alto parts were added, first in the new Cooper edition
(1902) and later to what ultimately became the modern "Denson" edition; the latter were written mostly by Seaborn Denson.
were used for this purpose more than any other.
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
is a shape note
Shape note
Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools...
tunebook, originally compiled in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White
Benjamin Franklin White
Benjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.-Musical career:White and Elisha J...
and Elisha J. King
Elisha J. King
Elisha James King was, with B. F. White, the compiler of The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnbook that came to be used widely in the rural South. In revised form, the book continues to be popular among singers to this day....
in Georgia and used to this day in revised form by Sacred Harp singers throughout America and overseas. This article is a historical overview and listing of the composers and poets who wrote the songs and texts of The Sacred Harp.
Music
The music of The Sacred Harp is eclectic in origin, and can be roughly grouped into the following categories of songs (listed chronologically).In the examples listed below, songs are identified by the page number in the two most prominent modern versions of The Sacred Harp; the so-called "Denson edition" and the "Cooper edition". Thus, "D,C 49" means "found on page 49 of both the Denson and Cooper editions".
- A few very old songs of European origin, such as "Old HundredOld 100th"Old 100th" or "Old Hundredth" is a hymn tune from Pseaumes Octante Trois de David , and is one of the best known melodies in all Christian musical traditions...
" (D,C 49), which in its original version dates to 1551. These oldest songs also include a few from a remote ancestor of Sacred Harp singing, the tradition of religious choral music that flourished in rural England in the mid 18th century, for example "Milford" by Joseph Stephenson (D 273).
- Songs by the New England composers of ca. 1770-1810, sometimes referred to as the "First New England School". These composers included William BillingsWilliam BillingsWilliam Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
, Daniel ReadDaniel ReadDaniel Read was an American composer of the First New England School, and one of the primary figures in early American classical music.-Life and work:...
, Nehemiah ShumwayNehemiah ShumwayNehemiah Shumway was an American composer of sacred music. He is best remembered today for two fuguing tunes, "Schenectady" and "Ballstown," though others, including "Pennsylvania," "Westminster" and "Judgment," are still found in shape note books in print as of 2009...
, Stephen JenksStephen JenksStephen Jenks was an American composer, teacher, and tunebook compiler. He was born in Glocester, Rhode Island and raised in Ellington, Connecticut. During his life he moved from town to town, living in Ridgefield and New Canaan, Connecticut, Pound Ridge, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island,...
, and Supply BelcherSupply BelcherSupply Belcher was an American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books. He was one of the members of the so-called First New England School, a group of mostly self-taught composers who created sacred vocal music for local choirs. He was active first in Lexington, Massachusetts, then...
. Of these, the best represented is Billings, with 14 songs in the Denson edition.
- Songs from the period 1811-1844, written as the center of participatory sacred music shifted geographically from New England to the rural South. A well-known song from this period is "Idumea", by Ananias DavissonAnanias DavissonAnanias Davisson was a singing school teacher, printer and compiler of shape note tunebooks. Davisson was born February 2, 1780 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He spent his last years living on a farm at Weyer's Cave, about 14 miles from Dayton, Virginia, and died October 21, 1857. He is buried in...
; D,C 47.
- From roughly the same period, a group of folk tunesFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
converted to multipart hymns, a practice at which William WalkerWilliam Walker (composer)William Walker was an American Baptist song leader, shape note "singing master", and compiler of four shape note tunebooks, most notable of which was The Southern Harmony.-Life:...
excelled. The folk song scholar Bertrand Bronson identified the song "Wondrous Love" (D,C 159) as one such instance of folk song adaptation. It is not generally easy to locate the folk song ancestor of a Sacred Harp song, but the existence of the practice is fairly certain. One Sacred Harp composer, John Gordon McCurry, sometimes actually acknowledged the folk singers from whom he learned a song, as when he wrote "This Tune is arranged as sung by William Bowers, Eagle Grove, Georgia."
- Camp meetingCamp meetingThe camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in Britain and once common in some parts of the United States, wherein people would travel from a large area to a particular site to camp out, listen to itinerant preachers, and pray...
songs. Buell Cobb notes that these can often be identified by their extensive refrains, reflecting their origin in hymns that were often memorized or learned on the spot without a hymnal. He gives as a possible example the song "Traveling Pilgrim" (H. S. Reese, 1850; D,C 278). Daniel Patterson draws a contrast between the camp meeting songs and the folksong-based hymns:
-
- [Whereas in] "folk hymnody" ... [the] worshipers used ballad and dance tunes when singing the hymn texts of 18th-century writers like Isaac WattsIsaac WattsIsaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
and the Wesleys,' ... the campmeeting songs were folksy in text as well as tune. They are simple in diction and syntax. Their stanzas have many repeated lines and formulas and close with familiar choruses. They were designed to be caught by ear in gatherings where many people could not read or had no books.
- [Whereas in] "folk hymnody" ... [the] worshipers used ballad and dance tunes when singing the hymn texts of 18th-century writers like Isaac Watts
- Songs by Southern composers from White and King's own singing community, centered in Georgia and Alabama. B. F. WhiteBenjamin Franklin WhiteBenjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.-Musical career:White and Elisha J...
himself is represented by 32 songs.
- New songs: The practice of composing new Sacred Harp tunes was never abandoned, and many of the songs in current editions date from the 20th and 21st centuries. They are written in the style of earlier work. 148 songs in the Denson edition were composed after 1900, and a number of these are very often sung.
The different historical eras used different modes of composition. While the New England composers wrote mostly in four parts (treble, alto, tenor, bass), their Southern successor in the 19th century typically wrote in just three (treble, tenor, and bass). Their work was altered around the turn of the 20th century, when alto parts were added, first in the new Cooper edition
Wilson Marion Cooper
Wilson Marion Cooper of Dothan, Alabama, was a notable musician and music teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. Marion Cooper was born in Henry County, Alabama, the son of W. S. and Elizabeth Ann Cooper. He was a cousin of Alabama governor William C. Oates.- Overview :W. M. Cooper prepared a...
(1902) and later to what ultimately became the modern "Denson" edition; the latter were written mostly by Seaborn Denson.
Words
The words of Sacred Harp music tend to be older than the music. While some composers wrote both tune and lyrics for their songs, a very frequent practice was (and is) to rely for words on the work of earlier, mostly English, hymnodists. The composer would select hymn lyrics that metrically fit the tune. The lyrics of Isaac WattsIsaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
were used for this purpose more than any other.
Chronological list of hymn writers
The following is a selected list of the hymnwriters of The Sacred Harp, arranged chronologically by date of birth.- Samuel CrossmanSamuel CrossmanSamuel Crossman was a minister of the Church of England and a hymnwriter. He was born at Bradfield Monachorum, Suffolk, England....
(1623–1683) - Isaac WattsIsaac WattsIsaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
(1674–1748) - Philip DoddridgePhilip DoddridgePhilip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
(1702–1751) - Charles WesleyCharles WesleyCharles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
(1707–1788) - Joseph HartJoseph HartJoseph Hart was an 18th-century Calvinist minister in London. His works include "Hart's Hymns", a much-loved hymn book amongst evangelical Christians throughout its lifetime of over 200 years, which includes the well-known hymn, "Come ye sinners, poor and needy".One of Joseph Hart's early...
(1712–1768) - Benjamin BeddomeBenjamin BeddomeBenjamin Beddome was an English Baptist minister and hymnist. He was born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England.He was the son of Baptist minister John Beddome...
(1717–1795) - Anne SteeleAnne SteeleAnne Steele , English hymn writer, was born at Broughton, Hampshire.The drowning of her betrothed, a Mr. Elscourt, a few hours before the time fixed for her marriage deeply affected an otherwise quiet life, and her hymns rather emphasize the less optimistic phases of Christian experience...
(1717–1778) - John CennickJohn CennickJohn Cennick was an early Methodist and Moravian evangelist and hymnwriter. He was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to an Anglican family and raised in the Church of England....
(1718–1755) - William Hammond (1719–1783)
- John NewtonJohn NewtonJohn Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
(1725–1807) - Edward PerronetEdward PerronetEdward Perronet was the son of an Anglican priest, who worked closely with Anglican priest John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley for many years in England's eighteenth century revival....
(1726–1792) - Samuel StennettSamuel StennettSamuel Stennett was a Baptist minister and hymnwriter.-Pastor and hymnwriter:He was born in Exeter, but at the age of 10 his family moved to London, where his father served as the minister of the Baptist church in Little Wild Street. Samuel succeeded his father as minister in 1758, a position...
(1727–1795) - William CowperWilliam CowperWilliam Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
(1731–1800) - Augustus Montague TopladyAugustus Montague TopladyAugustus Montague Toplady was an Anglican cleric and hymn writer. He was a major Calvinist opponent of John Wesley. He is best remembered as the author of the hymn "Rock of Ages"...
(1740–1778) - John RipponJohn RipponJohn Rippon was an English Baptist minister and in 1787 published an important hymnal, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, commonly known as Rippon's Selection, which was very successful, and was reprinted 27 times in over 200,000...
(1751–1836) - John LelandJohn Leland (Baptist)John Leland was a Baptist minister in Massachusetts and Virginia. He was an important figure in the struggle for religious liberty in the United States. Leland was also an outspoken critic of slavery...
(1754–1841) - John Adam Granade (1763–1807)
Chronological list of composers
The following is a selected list of composers represented in The Sacred Harp, arranged chronologically by date of birth.- William BillingsWilliam BillingsWilliam Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
(1746–1800) - Supply BelcherSupply BelcherSupply Belcher was an American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books. He was one of the members of the so-called First New England School, a group of mostly self-taught composers who created sacred vocal music for local choirs. He was active first in Lexington, Massachusetts, then...
(1751–1836) - Daniel ReadDaniel ReadDaniel Read was an American composer of the First New England School, and one of the primary figures in early American classical music.-Life and work:...
(1757–1836) - Nehemiah ShumwayNehemiah ShumwayNehemiah Shumway was an American composer of sacred music. He is best remembered today for two fuguing tunes, "Schenectady" and "Ballstown," though others, including "Pennsylvania," "Westminster" and "Judgment," are still found in shape note books in print as of 2009...
(1761–1843) - Samuel Holyoke (1762–1820)
- Jeremiah IngallsJeremiah IngallsJeremiah Ingalls was born Andover, Massachusetts March 1, 1764 and died in Hancock, Vermont, April 6, 1838. He was one of the first American composers, and is considered among the First New England School.-Biography:...
(1764–1838) - Oliver HoldenOliver HoldenOliver Holden was an American composer and compiler of hymns.Born in Shirley, Massachusetts, he served a year as a marine, for which he received a small annual pension. He lived most of his life in Charles Town, Boston, Massachusetts, after he moved with his parents in 1786. He was known to be a...
(1765–1844) - Stephen JenksStephen JenksStephen Jenks was an American composer, teacher, and tunebook compiler. He was born in Glocester, Rhode Island and raised in Ellington, Connecticut. During his life he moved from town to town, living in Ridgefield and New Canaan, Connecticut, Pound Ridge, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island,...
(1772–1856) - Ananias DavissonAnanias DavissonAnanias Davisson was a singing school teacher, printer and compiler of shape note tunebooks. Davisson was born February 2, 1780 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He spent his last years living on a farm at Weyer's Cave, about 14 miles from Dayton, Virginia, and died October 21, 1857. He is buried in...
(1780–1857) - Lowell MasonLowell MasonLowell Mason was a leading figure in American church music, the composer of over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His most well-known tunes include Mary Had A Little Lamb and the arrangement of Joy to the World...
(1792–1872) - B. F. WhiteBenjamin Franklin WhiteBenjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.-Musical career:White and Elisha J...
(1800–1879) - William WalkerWilliam Walker (composer)William Walker was an American Baptist song leader, shape note "singing master", and compiler of four shape note tunebooks, most notable of which was The Southern Harmony.-Life:...
(1809–1875) - Elisha J. KingElisha J. KingElisha James King was, with B. F. White, the compiler of The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnbook that came to be used widely in the rural South. In revised form, the book continues to be popular among singers to this day....
(1821–1844) - John Palmer Rees (1828–1900)
- Henry Smith Rees (1828–1922)
- Seaborn McDaniel DensonSeaborn McDaniel DensonSeaborn McDaniel Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was a son of The Rev. Levi Phillips Denson, a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Seaborn Denson was born April 9, 1854 in Arbacoochee, Alabama. He married Sidney...
(1854–1936) - Thomas Jackson DensonThomas Jackson DensonThomas Jackson Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was the youngest of the four sons of the Levi Phillip Denson, a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Thomas J. Denson was born in 1863 in Arbacoochee, Cleburne County. He...
(1863–1935) - Alfred Marcus Cagle (1884–1968)
- Hugh McGrawHugh McGrawHugh McGraw is a leading figure in contemporary Sacred Harp singing. He was the General Chairman of the committee that created the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp and played an important role in promoting the spread of Sacred Harp singing...
(born 1931) - Neely BruceNeely BruceNeely Bruce , Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University, is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music....
(born 1944) - Richard DeLongRichard DeLongRichard Lee DeLong is a leading figure in contemporary Sacred Harp singing. He has taught frequently in singing schools and served as the youngest member of the editorial board that created the 1991 Revision of The Sacred Harp, the most widely used book for Sacred Harp singing.Born in Atlanta,...
(born 1963)
Books and scholarly articles
- Bronson, Bertrand H. (1942) "Samuel Hall's Family Tree," California Folklore Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1. (Jan.), pp. 47–64. Available on JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
. - Cobb, Buell E. (2001) The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-2371-3
- Jackson, George Pullen (1933) White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-486-21425-7
- Patterson, Daniel W. (1977) Liner notes to the recording The Social Harp: Early American Shape-Note Songs, sung by Hugh McGrawHugh McGrawHugh McGraw is a leading figure in contemporary Sacred Harp singing. He was the General Chairman of the committee that created the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp and played an important role in promoting the spread of Sacred Harp singing...
and fellow traditional singers. Reissued 1994, Rounder Records CD 0094. - Steel, David Warren with Richard H. Hulan (2010) The Makers of the Sacred Harp. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07760-9
External links
- Index: composers represented in The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition ("Denson edition"), from fasola.org.
- Index: hymnwriters represented in The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition, from fasola.org.
- http://www.risingdove.com/cgi-bin/pgname.pl: composers and hymnwriters represented in the Cooper edition
- http://resources.texasfasola.org/tunecomparisonindex.html A detailed comparison of the contents of the Denson and Cooper editions of The Sacred Harp, prepared by Gaylon L. Powell.