Aaron Williams (1731–1776) was a Welsh teacher, composer, and compiler of

West Gallery music West gallery music, also known as Georgian psalmody, refers to the sacred music ( metrical psalms, with a few hymns and anthems) sung and played in Church of England parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850. I ...

, active in Britain during the 18th century.

Life

Williams was probably born in

Caldicot, Monmouthshire Caldicot () is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. The town is located between Chepstow and the city of Newport, Wales, Newport. The site adjoins the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels, Caldicot Levels, on the nor ...

, the son of William Morgan.Nicholas Temperley. "Williams, Aaron." In ''Grove Music Online'

(accessed February 3, 2012). He served as clerk of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Scots Church, London Wall.D. W. Steel, ''The Makers of the Sacred Harp'', University of Illinois Press, 2010, p. 168.

Publications

Williams's publications include:
Nicholas Temperley, ''The Hymn Tune Index'' * ''The Universal Psalmodist'', 1763 (2nd ed., 1764; 3rd ed., 1765; 4th ed., 1770) * aniel Bayley ''The Royal Melody Complete'', 3d ed., Boston, 1767 (an unauthorized compilation of music from William Tans'ur's ''Royal Melody Complete'' and Williams's ''Universal Psalmodist''; subsequent editions, entitled ''The American Harmony, or Universal Psalmodist'', were issued by Bayley in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes p ...

in 1769, 1771, 1773 and 1774). * ''Royal Harmony; or, The Beauties of Church Music'', ca. 1765 * ''Psalmody in Miniature'', 1769 (2nd ed., in 3 books, 1778; supplements added in 1778 and 1780; 3rd ed., in 5 books, 1783) * ''The New Universal Psalmodist'', 1770 (6th ed., 1775) * ''An Ode or

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

for the New Year'', 1770 * ''Two New Anthems for Christmas-Day'', 1770 * ''Comfort ye, my people: A new Christmas anthem'', 1775 * ''British Psalmody'', London, ca. 1785 These publications included several

fuguing tune The fuguing tune (often spelled fuging tune) is a variety of Anglo-American vernacular choral music. Fuguing tunes form a significant number of the songs found in the American Sacred Harp singing tradition. They first flourished in the mid-18th ce ...

s. Six of his anthems were included in Thomas Williams's ''Harmonia Coelestis'' (1780).

Influence on early American sacred music

Harmonic idiom

The unorthodox harmonic idiom of the Yankee tunesmiths (the "First New England School" of choral composers) shows the influence of English composers such as Williams and William Tans'ur:

For the most part the Yankee composer's source of information about harmonic practices derived from the music and writings on music of such comparatively unskilled English composers as William Tans'ur (1796–1783) and Aaron Williams (1731–1776), who were themselves somewhat outside the mainstream of European sacred music. Many of the traits that may be thought unique to American psalmodists in fact characterize the compositions of their British cousins too.

In particular, "it is clear that /nowiki>William Billings">William_Billings.html" ;"title="/nowiki>William Billings">/nowiki>William Billings/nowiki> had studied the works of English psalmodists such as William Tansur and Aaron Williams."Steel, pp. 42f.

St. Thomas

Williams's tune "St. Thomas" was originally the second quarter of his longer "Holborn," published in his ''Universal Psalmodist'' (1763) and attributed to him based on the statement there, "never before printed."R.F. Glover (ed.), ''The Hymnal 1982: Companion'', vol. 3A, 1994
pp. 979f.
/ref> It was first published in its shortened form in Thomas Knibb's ''The Psalm-Singer's Help'' (c. 1769), included by Williams in his 1770 ''New Universal Psalmodist'', and printed again in Isaac Smith's ''A Collection of Psalm Tunes'' (c. 1780). In the United States, "St. Thomas" was published in several shape note tunebooks, including the following: * William Little and William Smith
''The Easy Instructor''
(1801), p. 101 * David Clayton and James Carrell, '' The Virginia Harmony'' (1831)
p. 79
(attributed to "Handel") * ''The Methodist Harmonist'' (1833), no. 119
p. 93
* Allen D. Carden
''The Missouri Harmony'' (1834)
p. 33 * W. L. Chappell,
The Western Lyre
', new edition, 1835, no. 80 *

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 1,600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-know ...

and T. H. Mason
Sacred Harp or Eclectic Harmony'', new edition, 1835
p. 89 * B. F. White and E. J. King, '' The Sacred Harp'', appendix to the 1860 edition
p. 293
(also in the 1911 edition of J. S. James
p. 293
misattributed to "William Towser, 1768"; retained in the current 1991 edition
p. 34
.

Notes

External links

Hymnary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Aaron 1731 births 1776 deaths Welsh composers Welsh male composers People from Caldicot, Monmouthshire Shape note 18th-century British composers 18th-century British male musicians Welsh nonconformist hymnwriters 18th-century Welsh musicians