New England Composers

The New England Music Archive (NEMA) Presents...

A Survey of New Englander Composers

Two CDs with music by twelve composers from 18th, 19th and early 20th century:

"Make A Joyful Noise" - The New England Harmony (AMRC 0002)

"Praise Ye The Lord" - Music by Six New England Composers (AMRC 0003)

Please help support the preservation mission of the

Center for American Musc Preservation

Order this limited edition CD

CD: "Make A Joyful Noise"
The New England Harmony (AMRC 0002)

What is believed to the first original choral music tradition in the U.S. originated with New England composers, known as The First New England School.

They often titled their music collections with titles such as "The Continental Harmony" (William Billings), "The Harmony of Harmony" (Jacob French), and "American Harmony" (Oliver Holden).

Their tunes followed structures based on English and Scottish music models, such as: fuging tunes, occasional tunes, psalm tunes, hymn tunes and anthems.

This special CD collection contains choral music by six early composers in New England:
Supply Belcher, William Billings, Jacob French, Daniel Read, Jeremiah Ingalls, and Oliver Holden.

Many of these tunes were performed by the chorus from The Old Stoughton Musical Society,
the oldest exisiting choral society in the U.S.A., founded in 1786.

The music on this CD was edited and produced by musicologist, Roger Hall,
Director of the Center for American Music Preservation

Click the links below to listen to sample music samples:

Supply Belcher

born: Stoughton, Massachusetts, 1751
died: Farmington, Maine,1836
music collection: The Harmony of Maine, 1794

1. MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE (1794)

William Billings, 1746-1800

born: Boston, Massachusetts, 1746
died: Boston, Massachusetts, 1800
6 music collections, 1770-1794,
including Singing Master's Assistant, 1778/ Psalm Singers Assistant, 1781

2. CHESTER (1778)
3.MAJESTY (1778)
4.DAVID'S LAMENTATION (1778)
5.CHARITY ANTHEM (1781)

Jacob French

born: Stoughton, Massachusetts, 1754
died: Farmington, Connecticut,1817
3 music collections, including The Harmony of Harmony, 1802

6. THE HEAVENLY VISION (1786)
7. DORMANT (1802)

Oliver Holden

born: Shirley, Massachusetts, 1765
died: Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1844
6 music collections, including American Harmony, 1792
and Charlestown Collection, 1803

8. CONFIDENCE (1792)
9. CORONATION (1792)
10. MOUNT VERNON (1803)

Daniel Read

born: Attleborough, Massachusetts, 1757
died: New Haven, Connecticut, 1836
4 collections, 1785-1818
including American Singing Book, 1785
and Columbian Harmonist, 1793

11. WINDHAM (1793)
12. SHERBURNE (1785)
13. GREENWICH (1793)

Commemorative monument in Newbury, Vermont

Jeremiah Ingalls

born: Andover, massachusetts, 1764
died: Hancock, Vermont, 1838
music collection: Christian Harmony, or Songster's Companion, 1805

14. NORTHFIELD (1801)
15. THE YOUNG CONVERT (1805)

To order this CD (AMRC 0002), click this link to the

American Music Recordings Collection

Many of these tunes are found in one of the largest collections of early music in New England:

Stoughton Musical Society's Centennial Collection of Sacred Music (Boston, 1878/ Reprint, 1980)

Fall Music Festival: "Musick in Old Boston" (1980)

CD: "Praise Ye The Lord"
Music by Six New England Composers (AMRC 0003)

Music by the Second New England School of Composers features the 1872 Peace Jubilee Festival Hymn and the official U.S. Centennial Cantata (1876) by Dudley Buck, also a beautiful alto aria from the World Premiere performance of a cantata by Edwin Arthur Jones in 1992; an Easter Carol by Charles Ives; and a rousing World War I era patriotic chorus by George Whitefield Chadwick.
All of these works by the six composers are First Recordings
and were performed by soloists and chorus of The Old Stoughton Musical Society, founded in 1786.

I. Oliver Shaw
born: Newport, Rhode Island, 1779
died: Providence, Rhode Island, 1848

1. Hymn for the New Year (1819)
2. Stoughton Waltz (1839)

II. Lowell Mason
born: Medfield, Massachusetts, 1792
died: Orange, New Jersey,1872

3. Jerusalem, My Glorious Home (1849)

III. Dudley Buck
born: Hartford, Connecticut, 1839
died: West Orange, new jersey,1909

4. Festival Hymn: Peace and Music (1872) -- words and music by Dudley Buck, composed for
the World's Peace Jubilee in Boston.

5. Centennial Meditation of Columbia (1876) -- a cantata for the United States Centennial based on a poem by Sidney Lanier - complete piano-vocal score.

IV. Edwin A. Jones
born: Stoughton, Massachusetts,1854
died: Stoughton, Massachusetts,1911

6. Organ: Prelude and Fugue in G minor (1878)

7. Dartmout Glee Club Chorus: "Praise Ye The Lord" (1874)

8. Alto Aria: "How Beautiful Upon The Mountains" from Song Of Our Saviour cantata (1881) -
From the World Premiere performance of the cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra in 1992

9. Chorus: "The Lord is King" from Easter Concert (1890)

V. George W. Chadwick
born: Lowell, Massachusetts, 1854
died: Boston, Massachusetts,1931

10. Organ Prelude: "The Star" from Noel (1909)

11. Chorale: "How Lovely Shines The Morning Star" from Noel (1909)

12. Chorus: Land of Our Hearts (1918)

VI. Charles E. Ives
born: Danbury, Connecticut,1874
died: New York, New York, 1954

13. Chorus: "Turn Ye, Turn Ye" (1890)

14. Chorus & Soloist: "Easter Carol" (1892)

15. Chorus & Soloist: "The Collection" (1920)

To order this CD (AMRC 0003), click this link to the

American Music Recordings Collection