Ananias Davisson (February 2, 1780 – October 21, 1857) was a

singing school A singing school is a school in which students are taught to sightread vocal music. Singing schools are a long-standing cultural institution in the Southern United States. While some singing schools are offered for credit, most are informal program ...

teacher, printer and compiler of

shape note Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteh ...

tunebooks. He is best known for his 1816 compilation ''

Kentucky Harmony The ''Kentucky Harmony'' is a shape note tunebook, published in 1816 by Ananias Davisson. It is the first Southern shape-note tunebook. The first edition of the ''Kentucky Harmony'' was 140 pages and contained 143 tunes. Davisson released four m ...

'', which is the first Southern shape-note tunebook. According to musicologist

George Pullen Jackson George Pullen Jackson (1874–1953) was an American educator and musicologist. He was a pioneer in the field of Southern (U.S.) hymnody. He was responsible for popularizing the term "white spirituals" to describe the "fasola" singing. Early l ...

, Davisson's compilations are "pioneer repositories of a sort of song that the rural South really liked."

Life and career

Davisson was born February 2, 1780, in

Shenandoah County, Virginia Shenandoah County (formerly Dunmore County) is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 44,186. Its county seat is Woodstock. It is part of the Shenandoah Valley region of Virgini ...

. His wife was named Ann (surname unknown); they had no children. In 1804 he bought land in Rockingham County, supplementing his income as a farmer by conducting singing classes in the Shenandoah Valley. He established a printing shop in Harrisonburg in 1816, and in that year published the

, the first Southern

tunebook. As a printer, he cultivated a network of singing school teachers and composers in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky who sold his tunebooks and sent him their own compositions.David W. Music, "Ananias Davisson, Robert Boyd, Reubin Monday, John Martin, and Archibald Rhea in East Tennessee, 1816-26", ''American Music'' Vol. 1, No. 3 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 72-84. He spent his last years living on a farm at Weyer's Cave, about 14 miles from Dayton, Virginia, and died October 21, 1857. He is buried in the Massanutten-Cross Keys Cemetery,

Rockingham County, Virginia Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,757. Its county seat is the independent city of Harrisonburg. Along with Harrisonburg, Rockingham County forms the Harrisonbur ...

. Davisson was a member and ruling elder of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church, active in the Presbytery of Winchester and the Synod of Virginia.

The ''Kentucky Harmony'' and early printing activities

There are records of a printing firm in Harrisburg called Davidson and Bourne active 1812-1816; there are reasons for believing that ''Davidson'' is a variant spelling of ''Davisson'', who obtained shape note fonts and began a separate enterprise for publishing music in 1816. The ''Kentucky Harmony'' was printed early in 1816, and the same fonts were used later in the year to publish

Joseph Funk Joseph Funk (1778–1862) was a pioneer American music teacher, publisher, and an early American composer. He invented a shape note system in 1851 for the Harmonia Sacra. Funk was born April 6, 1778 (though his gravestone states March 9, 1777) ...

's "Allgemein nützliche Choral-Music", a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

tunebook in German, so it is believed that Davisson was the printer of Funk's tune book. The invention of shape notes in Philadelphia in 1801 had greatly enlarged the market for printed music. Even during the Davidson and Bourne days, Davisson traveled extensively to supplement his income by teaching singing schools. Sometime during 1815-1816 he acquired shape note fonts and began to print music. Following the pattern of

John Wyeth John Wyeth (1770–1858) was a printer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania who is best-known for printing ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'' (Harrisburg, PA: 1813), which marks an important transition in American music. Like the original ...

, who targeted his ''Repository of Sacred Music'' (1810,

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

) to Calvinists, and the Part Second of the ''Repository'' (1813) to Methodists and Baptists, Davisson targeted the ''Kentucky Harmony'' to his fellow Presbyterians, and the ''Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony'' to Methodists. However, the idea, first used in the ''Repository, Part Second'' of 1813, of collecting folk tunes, harmonizing them, and using them as vehicles for hymn texts, was followed by Davisson from the very first. In contrast, the music advocated in New England and the Midwest by the "Better Music Boys" (e.g.

Lowell Mason Lowell Mason (January 8, 1792 – August 11, 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known ...

, Thomas Hastings, and others) sought to emulate European styles, while denigrating

William Billings William Billings (October 7, 1746 – September 26, 1800) is regarded as the first American choral composer and leading member of the First New England School. Life William Billings was born in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 14, t ...

and other composers of the

First New England School Yankee tunesmiths (also called the First New England School) were self-taught composers active in New England from 1770 until about 1810. Their music was largely forgotten when the Better Music Movement turned musical tastes towards Europe, as in ...

. The 1816 ''Kentucky Harmony'' has no European compositions, retains the best of the New England fuging tunes, makes extensive use of regional folk tunes, and has 60% of its songs in the minor key.

''A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony''

''A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony'' (Harrisonburg, Virginia: 1820) went through three editions. It was notable for its inclusion of English, Scottish and Irish folk tunes pared with spiritual texts. It included very little New England hymnody or church hymns. Davisson specifically dedicated it to his "Methodist friends" for use in their

camp meetings The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...

The author's principle design in offering his Supplement is, that his Methodist friends may be furnished with a suitable and proper arrangement of such pieces as may seem best to animate a zealous Christian in his acts of devotion; and while they sing with the spirit, let them learn to sing with the understanding also.

The folk tunes themselves would have been familiar to the participants, making it easier to pair the religious texts. This was at a time when the Methodists were a much smaller, out of the mainstream religion.

Other publications

Other books published by Davisson were ''Introduction to Sacred Music, Extracted from the Kentucky Harmony and Chiefly Intended for the Benefit of Young Scholars'', (Harrisonburg, Virginia: 1821), and ''A Small Collection of Sacred Music'' (Harrisonburg, Virginia: 1825). In addition to his own tunebooks, Davisson also printed ''Songs of Zion'' by James P. Carrell (1821) and Mennonite tunebooks for Joseph Funk.

''Idumea''

Davisson's iconic tune first appeared in the

in 1816, based on a folk song, with treble and bass voices composed by Davisson, as a setting for

Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the ...

's "My God, my life, my love" (93 in ''Horae Lyricae: Poems, Chiefly of the Lyric Kind'', 1707). Following the convention of using a toponym for the tune name, he called it "

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east. ...

" (the name of Biblical Edom during the Roman period), pronounced "Eye-DEW-mee-a" or "Eye-DEW-mee" by traditional singers. The first appearance of the tune with the present words ("And am I born to die?";

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...

1763, Hymn 59) is in the

Southern Harmony The ''Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion'' is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker, first published in 1835. The book is notable for having originated or popularized several hymn tunes found in modern hymnals and s ...

(1835) by William Walker, who omitted the alto. When he again published the song in

Christian Harmony ''The Christian Harmony'' is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker. The book was released in 1866 (1867 according to some sources). It is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing. Origin William Walker was born i ...

(1867), Walker composed a new alto part, the one that is used today. The song has a

Roud Number The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

of 6678. It has been covered by numerous folk music groups, such as

The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous fam ...

and

The Young Tradition The Young Tradition were an English folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices. ...

. The tune is also featured in the motion picture '' Cold Mountain'' (2003), during the scene depicting the

Battle of the Crater The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the siege of Petersburg. It took place on Saturday, July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Arm ...

; (the other shape song in the film, led in a church by Reverend Monroe (

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...

) is "I'm Going Home," page 282 in the

Sacred Harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...

). The 1996 album ''

Black Ships Ate the Sky ''Black Ships Ate the Sky'' is a 2006 album by the UK-based musical ensemble Current 93. The album features numerous guest vocalists, such as Anohni, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Marc Almond, and Shirley Collins. It features nine versions of the 1816 ...

'' by British experimental group

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet, who has been Current 93's only constant member. Background Tibet has been the only const ...

features nine versions of "Idumea", each by a different vocalist. The tune has been arranged for SSATB choir and two violins by Richard Bjella, and during 1993–1996 Larry Bell composed an "Idumea Symphony" (Symphony No. 2, op. 40).

Davisson's songs today

Davisson's songs and the tunes he collected are in continuous use both in small group singings and at all-day shape note singing events. The

Shenandoah Harmony The Shenandoah Harmony is a 2013 republication of the works of Ananias Davisson (1780–1857) and other composers of his era, in the format used by modern shape note singing groups. Although a number of new shape note tune books were compiled an ...

(2013) contains 24 compositions by Davisson, 52 other songs from the ''Kentucky Harmony'', and 46 songs from ''Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony'', and is used in over a dozen all-day singings worldwide. The Missouri Harmony (2005 edition) contains 7 compositions and 8 arrangements, and the

contains Idumea, Imandra, and "The Lord's Supper." The

only has "Idumea," but it has been sung 2667 times at all-day singings during the period 1995-2019, and was the second most popular song in 2019, sung at 140 different all-day singings held around the world. In small-group singings, where novices are given a turn to choose a song that will then be led by an experienced singer, the new singer often apologizes for the choice, as though everyone else must be sick of this song by now. Modern popular culture may thrive on novelty, but old time singing is not that way; Davisson's songs have a remarkable staying power, and the words he set to music deserve new consideration every day.