American Music

American Music, the folk, popular, and classical music of the United Statescreated by American-born or American-trained composers, or originating in American culture, or written primarily for American audiences. The colonial roots of American music are British. The first book printed in the American colonies was the Bay Psalm Book. Its ninth edition (1698) contained 13 psalm tunes, all of them from Europe; some, including Old Hundred, are still sung. After 1750 native-born composers in New England established a distinctive religious music. Spread through singing schools (informal courses of musical instruction), Yankee hymnodywith its angular melodies and open-fifth chordswas unconventional by European standards. A favorite form was the fuguing tune, a four-part piece that began like a hymn and ended like a round. The most famous of the New England tunesmiths was William Billings, whose collection The New England Psalm Singer (1770) marked the appearance of the new style. His colleagues included Oliver Holden and Daniel Read.

Some early American religious sectssuch as the Ephrata Cloister, the Shakers, and the Moraviansalso produced original music, but it had little influence beyond their communities. One Shaker melody ('Tis the Gift to Be Simple) became famous when it was used by the composer Aaron Copland in his ballet Appalachian Spring (1944). The Moravians, who were musically the most prolific and sophisticated of these sects, re-created in their chamber and church music the instrumental music of their Old World German culture. The three string trios written about 1780 by the Moravian composer John Antes were the first chamber works composed in the colonies.

Political songs, broadsides (one-page song sheets), dance music, and piano musiclargely reflecting British models or imported from Englandwere also published during this era. Among such tunes of English origin are The Star-Spangled Banner (1814), with words by the American lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key; Yankee Doodle (published about 1780); and America (1831), with words by the American clergyman and poet Samuel F. Smith. The lawyer, author, and politician Francis Hopkinson was one of the first Americans to compose secular music; he is best known for his Seven Songs for the Harpsichord (1788). Professional European-born musicians resided in several of the larger American cities. Among them were the English-born James Hewitt in New York City and the German-born Alexander Reinagle, a composer of ballad operas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Virginia planter and politician Thomas Jefferson was an avid amateur musician, and his collection of music scores became the basis of the music holdings in the Library of Congress.