William Billings (1746-1800) - Father of American Choral Music

Born:  Boston, Massachusetts, October 7, 1746
Died:  Boston, Massachusetts. September 28, 1800

Married:  Lucy Swan in Stoughton, Massachusetts on July 26, 1774.
Lucy had been a pupil in the Billings singing school taught in Stoughton in 1774, which consisted of 49 pupils [not 48 --as written in most books]. Lucy was born in 1751 and died in Boston in 1795.

Children: Rachel (born: 1775/ died: 1776); Abigail Adams Billings (born: 1777); Elizabeth Adams (borh: 1779); William and Lucy (twins, born: 1781/ William died: 1781, Lucy died: 1784); Sarah (born: 1783); William (born: 1786/ died: 1858); Peggy Dawes (born: 1788/ died: 1862);  Lucy Billings (born: 1792/ died: 1869).

Billings Bicentennial in Boston:
On a rain soaked Tuesday, a day and evening "sing" was held at King's Chapel (built in 1749) at the corner of Tremont and School Streets in Boston, Massachusetts.  The date was September 26  - the actual date when Billings died in 1800.    

In observance of the 200th anniversary of his death, an exuberant chorus from points far and wide, including England, sang selected hymns and anthems of William Billings.  The singing was organized by Billings 2000 (Sheila Beardslee Bosworth, King's Chapel Tuesday Recitals; Gina Balestracci and Roland Hutchinson from Garden State Sacred Harp Singers).  A large volume of music was prepared by Roland Hutchinson titled:  "William Billings 2000 - The book of his bicentennial commemoration at Boston."

In typical Sacred Harp fashion, various singers offered to lead the individual Billings pieces. Neely Bruce came with his group of Sacred Harp singers from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  
Also Roger Hall represented the Old Stoughton Musical Society and led two Billings tunes (STOUGHTON and MAJESTY) plus an original canon , "Come Let Us Sing," which Hall had composed on words from the last Billings tunebook of 1794.   All three of these pieces led by Roger Hall are included in a monograph titled, MAJESTY, about William Billings and The Stoughton Musical Society.

A CD is available: Best of William Billings.
For more Billings music, go to: New England Music Archive