The Sounds of New England Congregationalism in the 18th Century

The "sound of Congregationalism"—the musical sound, at any rate—changed markedly several times during the hundred years from 1720-1820, as musical philosophies shifted between two sets of poles: ritual and art, and worship and performance.

As the eighteenth century dawned, music in New England’s Protestant meetinghouses was an aspect of worship practice, solidly in the province of religious ritual. The Regular Singing movement of the 1720s and beyond and the eventual formation of church choirs changed all that. By the 1770s, much of the singing had been wrested away from congregants and handed over to groups of hot-shot teenagers singing newly-composed four-part “fuging tunes” and anthems, usually from the front gallery.

As a new century approached, things began to shift again, and music in the meetinghouse returned to older, simpler tunes that everyone sang together.  And this was by no means the last shift: the advent of the organ, the musical “monster” in the meetinghouse, was yet to happen.

Noted musicologist Dr. Nym Cooke explored these topics and more from this fascinating period of change in this virtual program.

This event was part of the CLA’s series, Congregationalism and the Arts, exploring Congregationalists' artistic expressions of faith, past and present.

SPEAKER BIO

Dr. Nym Cooke has a PhD in music history from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Richard Crawford. He is an experienced choral conductor, arranger, and composer. His published works include an edition of the complete works of early New England composer Timothy Swan (A-R Editions, 1997); the anthology American Harmony: Inspired Choral Miniatures from New England, Appalachia, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, and the Midwest (Godine, 2017); and a website, earlyamericansacredmusic.org (2023), which includes a database with information on over 10,000 manuscript tunes and anthems in pre-1821 sources at 23 libraries, including the Congregational Library & Archives.