Choral music in the United States before 1800 was almost exclusively composed by tunesmiths who also worked as singing masters. William Billings (1746-1800) was the most prolific of these composers, and, in 1770, he was the first individual in North America to publish a collection composed entirely of his own works. This collection was known as a tunebook, and was designed to assist in the teaching of musical fundamentals and vocal performance in the singing schools. Five additional tunebooks followed; three of these six contained lengthy prose introductions in which Billings addressed pedagogy, music theory, and sight singing. This prose provides important information about the performance practice of the period, including the issues of accompaniment, articulation and text, dynamics, balance and voicing, ornamentation, and vocal timbre. Previous researchers have often mistakenly grouped the music of the tunesmiths with the later southern hymnists. This has distorted many general notions of historically informed performance practice for the pre-1800 tunesmiths. An examination of what Billings specifically says regarding issues of performance practice in his tunebook introductions, as well as inferences from additional prose material, will help to guide modern conductors to more historically appropriate performance practice. A comparison of this information to prior research will isolate approaches that have previously been considered accurate performance practice, but may, in fact, be inappropriate for choral music of this genre. Finally, an understanding of the intended purpose of the compositions, as well as the historical context, will help to inform performance practice.

The manner in which Billings’s music contrasts with the Puritan musical ideal clearly demonstrates his role in the transition from ritual to art in the music of eighteenth-century New England. The tenets of Puritan worship included the restriction that music should serve primarily as a form of communal prayer for the congregation and in a secondary capacity to assist in biblical instruction. Billings’s stylistic independence from Puritan orthodoxy began with a differing ideology concerning the purpose of music: whereas Calvin believed music merely provided a means for the communal deliverance of biblical text, Billings recognized music for its inherent aesthetic worth. Billings’s shift away from the Puritan musical heritage occurred simultaneously with considerable change in New England in the last three decades of the eighteenth century. A number of Billings’s works depict the events of the Revolutionary War, frequently adapting scriptural texts for nationalistic purposes. The composition of occasional works to commemorate religious and civic events reflects both the increase in society’s approval of choral music beyond its nominal use in worship, both in singing schools and in choirs. With his newfound independence from Puritan ritual, Billings seems to have declared himself one of the United States of America’s first musical artists.