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52 The National Music of America.
"The Massachusetts Harmony," "The Suffolk Harmony," and " Laus Deo," all followed in quick succession,1 the last named being especially interesting, from the fact that it was the first book printed from music type in this country, all its predecessors being engraved works. Naturally, with such a musical activity going on
1 In order that the list of eighteenth century music-books may be reasonably complete, we append the following table of dates and titles: Rev. John Tufts's " Easy introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm tunes," Newbury, 1712 (?); " An Introduction to the singing of Psalm tunes," by the same author, Boston, 1714; " Psalterium Americanum," Dr. Cotton Mather, 1718 ; " Grounds and Rules of Musick explained," Dr. Thomas Walter, 1721; " Watts' Psalms," Boston, 1741 ; " Tate and Brady's Psalms," 1741 (?); " Barnard's Psalms," Boston, 1752; Prince's revision of the "Bay Psalm-book," 1758; "A Collection of the best Psalm tunes," Josiah Flagg, Boston, 1764 (engraved by Paul Revere; the largest collection up to this time in New England, and, for the first time, we find light music intermingled with the psalm-tunes); " Grounds and Rules of Music," Bayley, Newburyport, 1764 ; " The New England Psalm-singer, or American Chorister," Billings, Boston, 1770; after these (between 1770 and 1800) there appeared nearly forty different volumes devoted to music, almost invariably of the sacred order. |
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