Catalog of the Musical Works of William Billings

Subjects:

• The Arts » Classical Music

Reviews:

• William Billings (1746-1800) was a significant Boston music teacher/composer who published six major collections and various miscellaneous smaller volumes totaling no fewer than 338 works. His collections are reprinted in the four-volume Complete Works of William Billings. This catalog serves as an excellent supplement and facilitating aid, with appropriate indexes, to The Complete Works and provides important information taken from the commentaries therein, as well as additional information on reprints, recordings, and selected literature. Kroeger divides Billings's works into two principal types: psalm- and hymn-tunes and anthems, with typical entries noting location, source of text, tune type (with numerically coded incipit), reprints, manuscripts, and literature. In the section headed "Books and Articles," however, Kroeger does not cite the most recent editions of Edith Borroff's Music in Europe and the United States (2nd ed., 1990), H. Wiley Hitchcock's Music in the United States (3rd ed., 1988) and Daniel Kingman's American Music (2nd ed., 1990); page numbers cited do not necessarily correspond with these later editions. In the catalog, "Canon of 4 in 1" (no. 45, p.. 16), Chase 143 does not appear in the 1987 edition (cited on p.. 126). Also, Chase 119 (f) should be added to "Connection" in the "Literature" section (no. 58, p.. 21). Despite these minor oversights, Kroeger has compiled a thorough, well-organized work that is recommended for all libraries holding collections on early American music.
  —Choice
• This is a handy little compendium and Karl Kroeger is to be thanked for putting it together.
  —Fontes Artis Musicae
• Eulogized as someone who ``spake and sung and thought as a man above the common abilities,'' Billings benefits from the bibliographical skills of Kroeger in this catalog. . . . Expectations of precise and extensive bibliographical data are fulfilled beyond the nth, complemented by five indices--the whole expanding on the Works critical commentary and in a highly approachable format.
  —Sonneck Society Bulletin

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Guide to Catalog
• Billings Works Catalog
• Psalm- and Hymn-tunes
• Anthems
• List of Works Cited
• American Tunebooks
• British Tunebooks
• Collections of Hymns and Poems
• Books and Articles
• Manuscripts
• Recordings
• First Lines Index
• Anthem Titles Index
• Text Sources Index
• Tune Types Index
• Incipits Index