[Music]. Billings, W[illiam]. Music in Miniature. 1779. Bound with: Andrew Law. A Select number of plain Tunes. 1781

[MUSIC]

WILLIAM BILLINGS. MUSIC IN MINIATURE, CONTAINING A COLLECTION OF PSALM TUNES OF VARIOUS METRES. SET IN SCORE BY W. BILLINGS. BOSTON: PRINTED AND SOLD BY THE AUTHOR, 1779 — BOUND WITH: ANDREW LAW. A SELECT NUMBER OF PLAIN TUNES ADAPTED TO CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. [CHESHIRE, CONNECTICUT: PRINTED BY WILLIAM LAW, 1781]

2 volumes in one, 16mo (5 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.; 140 x 95 mm). Billings 32 pp. with engraved plates by Benjamin Johnston, Law 16 pp. with engraved plates by Joel Allen; some browning and soiling. Contemporary calf, spine dry, chipped and splitting, free endpapers missing, pastedowns heavily annotated. 

A scarce Revolutionary War era pocket music book. The book also includes 33 pages of manuscript music, some with lyrics, having New England place names such as Newport, Norwich, Hartford, Milford, Springfield, etc. The pastedowns are covered with manuscript notes from Newport, 1806 and 1807.

William Billings (1746–1800) was a noted musician and the first professional composer in America. An unschooled genius with perfect pitch, he taught singing and was choirmaster of some of the best churches in Boston, despite his unprepossessing appearance — "one leg was shorter than the other and one arm withered, he was blind in one eye … slovenly, and his voice loud and rasping" (DAB). He composed tunes that inspired people to express themselves musically, by replacing crudeness and dullness with counterpoint and entertainment. Still, the most important composer in the colonies could not live on music alone and had to settle for less lofty positions such as scavenger (street cleaner) and hogreeve (remover of roving swine) to survive. He died poor in 1800.

Andrew Law (1749–1821) never achieved Billings's popularity—his music was slow, solemn and simple. A Select number of plain Tunes contains the first printing of Law's "Bunker Hill," with lyrics from Nathaniel Niles's poem "The American Hero."

LITERATURE:

Billings: Britton, American Sacred Music Imprints 105; Evans 16205; Metcalf, American Psalmody p. 15; Sabin 5416. Law: Bates, Supplementary List of Books Printed in Connecticut 2338; Wegelin, Early American Poetry 283