Billings, William

(7 October 1746, Boston – 26 September 1800, Boston)

   Influential composer of early American sacred music, almost all written for unaccompanied choir of four voices. His pieces exploit three contrasting vocal textures: unison singing by one or more voices; "plain," whereby all four voices make chords in homorhythm; and canonic "fuguing." His harmonic language, while vigorous in harmonic rhythm, is untutored by European standards of the time, with unusual dissonances, parallelisms in voice-leading, and open fourths and fifths in the harmonies, particularly at cadences. All but one of his publications are devoted exclusively to his own music. The first was The New-England Psalm-Singer (Boston, 1770), with frontispiece engraved by Paul Revere, the first collection printed in America containing only American music and only a single composer’s work. His most popular songbook, The Singing Master’s Assistant (Boston, 1778), went through four editions by the late 1780s and made him famous.

   As Americans matured in their musical sophistication, Billings’ music fell out of fashion. Interest in him revived with academic appreciation of American music in the 20th century, and certain works—Shiloh, The Rose of Sharon, and David’s Lamentation— have become popular with choruses.