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William Billings is a quintessentially American figure. A first-generation American living in colonial Boston, he was a tanner by trade and described as a man "with a short leg, one eye, a withered arm, a stentorian voice, a habit of taking enormous amounts of snuff,"1 and had a staunch upbringing in the colonial Congregational churches. Little is known about his musical education, though it is thought he was "self-taught in composition,"2 only receiving a semblance of formal musical training in the Bostonian Singing Schools. Singing Schools were an important form of music education in the early American colonies that were simply group "instructional sessions devoted to teaching singing and note reading."3 The repertoire in the sessions consisted primarily of hymn tunes and Psalmic settings. It is here that it is thought Billings honed his craft; by studying the Psalm books of "William Tans'ur, Aaron Williams, John Arnold and Uriah Davenport."4 The influences of these hymnbooks would profoundly impact Billings's compositional output; during his lifetime he only composed choral music, almost exclusively sacred music, with no solo songs or instrumental music. Most of his compositional work consisted of hymn tunes, however, he is also known for composing "51 fuging tunes, 4 canons and 52 anthems and set-pieces."5
This new idea of a quintessentially "American" nationalism is present in the first publication of Billings' music. Published in 1770, the New England Psalm Singer was simplistic and utterly groundbreaking in its approach. From the forward:
Altho' this composition hath cost me much Time and Pains; yet I little thought of exposing it to the public verily: But having being repeatedly importuned by my Friends, I was at last prevailed to commit it to the Press. I now offer it to the Public, from whom, should it meet with a favorable reception, it would compensate for all the Trouble I have been at, and the Time I have spent in the Profecution of it. Perhaps there may appear in the eyes of the Accurate much Incorrectness that I was not able to discern: therefore would beg the Critic to be tender, and rectify those Errors which through Inexperience may happen to have escaped the Notice of the Youth, in the course of so large a volume.6
This supposed...