Music News – Sep 14

We’re going all-American for this week’s music picks. Sunday’s organ voluntaries are by the American composer Arthur Foote (1853-1937), who was a member of the “Boston Six” and a founder of the American Guild of Organists. The choir will also offer anthems arranged by American composers. At the offertory is Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s collaboration “Wondrous Love,” based on a traditional folk hymn from the American South. At communion the choir will sing a shape-note hymn by William Billings (1746-1800), considered the first American choral composer. This hymn (arbitrarily named “Africa”), using lyrics by Isaac Watts, is in the full-voiced, a cappella Sacred Harp tradition of sacred choral music that was popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

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