Amos Pilsbury

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Life

Born: 15 October 1772, Newbury, Massachusetts

Died: 19 October 1812, Charleston, South Carolina

Biography

Amos Pilsbury was a silversmith, schoolteacher, and a clerk in the Presbyterian Church. In 1799 he compiled The United States Sacred Harmony. David Music (1995) found that Pilsbury's influence was significant on early nineteenth century music, especially on such works as Wyeth's Repository, Kentucky Harmony, Tennessee Harmony, and Western Harmony. It also had an influence on William Walker's Southern Harmony (1835) and The Sacred Harp (1844). There is no Wikipedia page yet.

List of choral works at CPDL

A. BY TITLE

1. Compositions of Amos Pilsbury

1a. Psalm-tunes
1b. Set pieces

2. Arrangements by Amos Pilsbury

3. Arrangements by others of Amos Pilsbury works

  B. BY FIRST LINE


Click here to search for this composer on CPDL

List of all choral works by Amos Pilsbury (all written for four voices, all published in The United States Sacred Harmony, 1799)

HTI* Title Meter Key Comment
7873 Autumn 6.6.7.7.7.7 f Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music.
7874 Cambridge 6.6.8.6.6.8.0 a
7875 Canaan 7.7.4.4.7.0 A
7876a Charleston 8.7.8.7 F Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Charlestown in Carden's Western Harmony (1825), Southern Harmony (1835), and The Sacred Harp (1844). Bartimaeus in Hesperian Harp (1848).
7878 Dartmouth 6.6.6.6.6.6 e
7879 Dover 8.6.8.6.8.6.8.6 b Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Later Pilgrim (James P. Carrell), (1821), and Child of Grace in The Sacred Harp, p. 77a from 1844 to the present.
7880 Edson 8.6.10.8.0 e
7881 Franklin 7.6.7.6.7.6.7.6.0 d
7883 Hadley 8.7.8.7.0 d
7884 Hamburgh 7.7.4.4.7.0 a
7886 Haverhill 7.7.7.7.8.8 D
7887 Judea 6.6.6.6.8.8 G
7888a Kedron 8.8.8.8 e Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Southern Harmony (1835), p. 3; The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 48.
7889a Kingston 8.7.8.7.4.0.7 a Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music.
7890 Madison 6.6.6.0.6 a
7891 Massachusetts 6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6.0.0.0 b Set-piece or short anthem.
7892 Middlesex 8.7.8.7.7.7.0 F Words by unknown author.
7893 Moment's Thought 6.6.8.6 B
7894 Morning 8.8.8.8 e Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Three-part arrangement in The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 163.
7895 Mount Calvary 6.8.6.8.4.4.6.4.4.6 b Set-piece or short anthem. Words by unknown author.
7896 Mount Moriah 6.6.6.6.8.8 e Words by unknown author.
7898 New Hampshire 8.8.8.8.8.8.0.0.0.8.8 E
7899 Orangeburgh 8.8.6.6.8.8.6.6 a
7901 Pinckney Street 8.8.7.8.8.7 g
7903 Potomac 6.6.6.6.6.6.6.0.6.6 G
7905 Rhode Island 8.8.6.8.8.6 c Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Also in Southern Harmony (1835), p. 145, and The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 70.
7906 Rockingham 8.3.3.6.0 b
7907 Salem 7.7.0.7.7.0 a
7908 South Carolina 7.6.7.6.0 D
7909 Trenton 6.6.6.6.0 e
*The Hymn Tune Index

Works first published by Amos Pilsbury in 1799 but not attributed to him

Not counted as "New" in 1799, not claimed by Pilsbury, of unknown composer except as noted below
HTI* Title Meter Key Comment
7877a Chesterfield 10.10.10.10 B Composer unknown, author of words unknown.
7882 Guilford 6.6.8.6 g
7897 Musicians 8.8.6.8.8.6.0 G
7900 Petition 7.7.7.7.7.7 a Composer unknown.
7902 Portland 8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8 d Composer unknown; first published in Uranian Harmony, 1791.
7904 Psalm 112 8.8.8.8.8.8 d
7910 Triumph 5.6.9.6.6.9.0 d Likely a folk hymn.
7912 Wales 6.6.8.6 A

Publications

  • Pilsbury, Amos. 1799. The United States’ Sacred Harmony. Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews 224 pp.

References

  • Music, David W. 1995. Seven "New" Tunes in Amos Pilsbury's United States' Sacred Harmony (1799) and Their Use in Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks of the Southern United States before 1860. American Music 13(4):403-447.

External links