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曖昧さ回避 the American judgeについては「William Howard Billings」をご覧ください。
William Billings grave memorial at the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common
Psalm-Singer's Amusement by Billings, "printed and sold by the author at his house near the White Horse, Boston," 1781
Psalm-Singer's Amusement by Billings, 1781 William Billings Psalm Singer's Amusement 1781 Modern Music.mid Play[ヘルプ/ファイル]

William Billings (October 7, 1746 – September 26, 1800) is regarded as the first American choral composer,[1] and leading member of the First New England School.


ウィリアム・ビリングス（1746年10月7日-1800年9月26日）はアメリカ初の合唱作曲家（choral composer）で、第一次ニューイングランド楽派の主要メンバーとして知られる人物である。

Life[編集]

William Billings was born in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 14, the death of his father stopped Billings' formal schooling. In order to help support his family, young Billings trained as a tanner. He possibly received musical instruction from John Barry, one of the choir members at the New South Church, but for the most part he was self-taught.[2] Billings had an unusual appearance and a strong addiction to snuff.[3] His contemporary wrote that Billings "was a singular man, of moderate size, short of one leg, with one eye, without any address & with an uncommon negligence of person. Still, he spake & sung & thought as a man above the common abilities."[4] Billings' wife died on March 26, 1795, leaving him with six children under the age of 18.[5] He died in poverty in Boston on September 26, 1800. His funeral was announced in the Columbian Centinel: "Died- Mr. William Billings, the celebrated music composer. His funeral will be tomorrow at 4 o'clock, PM from the house of Mrs. Amos Penniman, in Chamber-street, West-Boston."[6]


ウィリアム・ビリングスはマサチューセッツ州ボストンで生まれた。14歳の時、父親の死によってビリングスは学校を中退した。家族を養うために若き日のビリングスは皮なめし職人として修業を積んだ。彼はニューサウス教会の合唱団の1人である（John Barry）から奏法指導（musical instruction）を受けていたとされているが、大部分は独学であった。ビリングスは変わった外見で愛煙家であった（a strong addiction to snuff）。彼の同時代の人の著書によると、ビリングスは「奇妙な男で中柄で片足は短く、片目があり、住所不定・人物不詳である。それでも、彼は一般的な能力を超えた人間として話し、歌い、考えた。」とある。ビリングスの妻は1795年3月26日に亡くなり、彼と18歳未満の子供6人が残された。彼は1800年9月26日、ボストンで貧困のなか亡くなった。彼の葬儀は、（Columbian Centinel）誌で発表された。「有名な作曲家、ウィリアム・ビリングス氏死去。葬儀は明日午後4時、西ボストン、チェンバーストリートの（Mrs. Amos Penniman）宅で行われる。」

Music[編集]

Virtually all of Billings' music was written for four-part chorus, singing a cappella. His many hymns and anthems were published mostly in book-length collections, as follows:

  • The New-England Psalm-Singer (1770)
  • The Singing Master's Assistant (1778)
  • Music in Miniature (1779)
  • The Psalm-Singer's Amusement (1781)
  • The Suffolk Harmony (1786)
  • The Continental Harmony (1794)

Sometimes Billings would revise and improve a song, including the new version in his next volume.

Billings' music can be at times forceful and stirring, as in his patriotic song "Chester"; ecstatic, as in his hymn "Africa"; or elaborate and celebratory, as in his "Easter Anthem" and "Rose of Sharon".

"Jargon," from Singing Master's Assistant, shows his wit. Written as an answer to a criticism of his use of harmony, "Jargon" contains a tongue-in-cheek text, and jarring dissonances that sound more like those of the 20th century than of the 18th.[1] Billings followed up "Jargon" with his address "To the Goddess of Discord".[7]

He also wrote several Christmas carols, including "Judea" in 1778 and "Shiloh" in 1781.

Billings as a writer[編集]

Verse[編集]

Most of the texts that Billings used in his works come from the poetry of Isaac Watts. Other texts were drawn from Universalist poets and local poets, whereas Billings himself wrote the text to about a dozen of his compositions.

As an example, McKay & Crawford 2019, p. 83 compare Billings' metrical rendering of Luke 2:8–11 with that of Nahum Tate, thought to be the inspiration for Billings' work:

Tate:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

Billings:

As shepherds in Jewry were guarding their sheep,
Promiscusly seated estranged from sleep;
An Angel from heaven presented to view,
And thus he accosted the trembling few
Dispel all your sorrows, and banish your fears,
For Jesus our Saviour in Jewry appears.

Pedagogical writing[編集]

Billings wrote long prefaces to his works in which he explained (often in an eccentric prose style) the rudiments of music and how his work should be performed. His writings reflect his extensive experience as a singing master. They also provide information on choral performance practice in Billings's day; for instance, a passage from the preface to The Continental Harmony indicates that Billings liked to have both men and women sing the treble (top) and tenor lines, an octave apart:

... in general they are best sung together, viz. if a man sings it as a Medius, and a woman as a Treble, it is in effect as two parts; so likewise, if a man sing a Tenor with a masculine and woman with a feminine voice, the Tenor is as full as two parts, and a tune so sung (although it has but four parts) is in effect the same as six. Such a conjunction of masculine and feminine voices is beyond expression, sweet and ravishing, and is esteemed by all good judges to be vastly preferable to any instrument whatever, framed by human invention.
—Billings 2013

Singing schools[編集]

Billings was involved in teaching singing schools throughout his life. In 1769, when Billings was twenty-three years old, the following announcement appeared in the Boston Gazette: "John Barrey & William Billings Begs Leave to inform the Publick, that they propose to open a Singing School THIS NIGHT ... where any Person inclining to learn to Sing may be attended upon at said School with Fidelity and Dispatch." He taught a singing school in Stoughton, Massachusetts in 1774 and all the pupils names were listed[8] He was listed as "singing master" in the Boston city directory up until 1798. In the preface to the Singing Master's Assistant, Billings included advice for the practical running of a singing school, including topics such as logistics, expectations for manners and attentiveness in students, and the need for the supremacy of the teacher's musical decisions.[9]


ビリングスは生涯を通じて声楽学校の指導に関わっていた。1769年、ビリングスが23歳の時、（Boston Gazette）誌に次のような告知が掲載された。「（John Barry）とウィリアム・ビリングスは今晩、音楽学校を開くことを公衆に知らせる許可を得た（Begs Leave to inform the Publick, that they propose to open a Singing School THIS NIGHT ）。歌を学びたい人は、この学校で忠実かつ迅速に指導を受けることができる。」彼は1774年マサチューセッツ州ストウトンに声楽学校を開き、（all the pupils names were listed）。彼は1798年までボストン市の名簿に「歌の師匠」として掲載されていた。ビリングスは「歌の師匠の助手（the Singing Master's Assistant）」の序文で、声楽学校の運営に関するアドバイスとして、（including topics such as logistics, expectations for manners and attentiveness in students, and the need for the supremacy of the teacher's musical decisions.）と述べている。

Reception[編集]

Billings' work was very popular in its heyday, but his career was hampered by the primitive state of copyright law in America at the time. By the time the copyright laws had been strengthened, it was too late for Billings: the favorites among his tunes had already been widely reprinted in other people's hymnals, permanently copyright-free.


ビリングスの作品は全盛期には非常に人気があったが、当時のアメリカでは著作権法が未整備（primitive）だったため彼の出世は阻まれた。著作権法が強化されたときには、ビリングスにとってはとても遅かった。彼の曲の中で人気のあるものはすでにほかの人の讃美歌集に広く転載され、永久に著作権フリーになっていた。


With changes in the public's musical taste, Billings' fortunes declined. His last tune-book, The Continental Harmony, was published as a project of his friends, in an effort to help support the revered but no longer popular composer. His temporary employment as a Boston street sweeper was probably a project of a similar nature.


大衆の音楽的嗜好の変化とともに、ビリングスの繁栄（fortunes）は衰退していった。彼の最後の曲集「コンチネンタル・ハーモニー（The Continental Harmony）」は尊敬されながら今は人気のなくなってしまった作曲家を支援するために彼の友人たちのプロジェクトとして出版された。ボストンの道路清掃員として一時的に雇用されたのと同じような性質のプロジェクトだったのだろう。

Billings died in poverty at age 53, and for a considerable time after his death, his music was almost completely neglected in the American musical mainstream. However, his compositions remained popular for a time in the rural areas of New England, which resisted the newer trends in sacred music. Moreover, a few of Billings' songs were carried southward and westward through America, as a result of their appearance in shape note hymnals. They ultimately resided in the rural South, as part of the Sacred Harp singing tradition.


ビリングスは53歳で貧困のなか亡くなったが、彼の死後かなりの期間、彼の音楽はアメリカの音楽の主流からほとんど無視された（neglected）。しかし、彼の作曲した曲は新しい聖楽の流れに抵抗するニューイングランドの地方で、一時期人気を博した。さらにいくつかのビリングスの曲はシェイプノートの讃美歌集に掲載された結果、アメリカを南下し、西に運ばれた。


In the latter part of the twentieth century a Billings revival occurred, and a sumptuous complete scholarly edition of his works was published (see Books, below). Works by Billings are commonly sung by American choral groups today, particularly performers of early music. In addition, the recent spread of Sacred Harp music has acquainted many more people with Billings' music: several of his compositions are among the more frequently sung of the works in the Sacred Harp canon.[10]


20世紀後半になると、ビリングスのリバイバルが起こり、彼の著作の豪華な学術的な全集が出版された（下記「書籍」の項参照）。ビリングスの作品は今日、アメリカの合唱団、特に初期音楽の演奏家たちによってよく歌われている。また近年（Sacred Harp）の音楽が普及したことにより、ビリングスの音楽を知る人が増え、彼の曲のいくつかは（Sacred Harp）の中のカノンで頻繁に歌われる作品となっている。

Other[編集]

  • The Stoughton Musical Society, formed by former students of Billings, has carried on his tradition for over 200 years, and included twenty-seven Billings tunes in their 1878 music collection, The Stoughton Musical Society's Centennial Collection of Sacred Music. Among the favorite tunes by Billings sung by this choral society are: "Majesty" and "Chester".[11]
  • The modern American composer William Schuman featured Billings' American Revolutionary War anthem "Chester", along with two other of Billings' hymns ("When Jesus Wept" and "Be Glad Then, America"), in his composition New England Triptych (1956).
  • William Billings was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
  • American composer Roger Lee Hall had the premiere of his choral work in 1980 entitled "The Pleasures of Variety - Homage to William Billings."
  • In 1996, modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp premiered a piece entitled "Sweet Fields" using many hymns by Billings and other early American choral composers.[12]
  • American composer John Cage incorporated chance-derived fragmentations of many of Billings compositions in his works centered around the bicentennial celebration commissions that he received, including "Apartment House 1776", "44 Harmonies", and "Quartets I-VIII". Cage also employed the music of other Colonial-era composers in these works as well.


・ビリングスの元生徒たちによって結成された（The Stoughton Musical Society）は、200年以上にわたって彼の伝統を受け継ぎ、1878年出版された音楽集「（The Stoughton Musical Society's Centennial Collection of Sacred Music）」に27曲、ビリングスの曲が収録されている。合唱団で歌われるビリングスの曲の中で特に人気があるのは、「（Majesty）」と「（Chester）」である。

・現代アメリカの作曲家ウィリアム・シューマン（Wiliam Schuman）は、ビリングスのアメリカ独立戦争賛歌「（Chester）」とビリングスの他の2つの讃美歌（「When Jesus Wept」と「Be Glad Then, America」）を彼の作曲した「（New England Triptych）」（1956）の中で取り上げている。

・ウィリアム・ビリングスは1970年にソングライター（Songwriters）の殿堂入りを果たした。

・アメリカの作曲家ロジャー・リー・ホールは、1980年に「（The Pleasures of Variety - Homage to William Billings）」と題する合唱作品を初演した。

・1996年、モダンダンスの振付師である（Twyla Tharp）はビリングスをはじめとするアメリカ初期の合唱作曲家の讃美歌を多数使用した「（Sweet Fields）」を初演した。

・アメリカの作曲家（John Cage）は

Billings's works[編集]

  • Complete works of William Billings in four volumes, edited by Karl Kroeger and Hans Nathan:
  • The New England psalm-singer. University of Virginia Press (1981).
  • The Singing Masters Assistant, Music in Miniature. University of Virginia Press (1984). ISBN 0-8139-0839-6.
  • The Psalm-Singer's Amusement. University of Virginia Press (1987). ISBN 0-8139-1130-3.
  • Billings, William (2013). The Continental Harmony. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-18830-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=_MIyngEACAAJ 

References[編集]

Citations[編集]

  1. ^ a b McKay 1975, pp. 82, 85.
  2. ^ Nathan 1976, p. 15.
  3. ^ Armenta 2011, p. 8.
  4. ^ Nathan 1976, p. 16.
  5. ^ Kroeger 2001.
  6. ^ Nathan 1976.
  7. ^ McKay & Crawford 2019, p. 83.
  8. ^ Hall 2000, pp. 22–23.
  9. ^ McKay 1975, pp. 36–40.
  10. ^ “Popularity of Tunes in the Dension edition of The Sacred Harp, 2002”. www.entish.org. 2018年12月18日閲覧。
  11. ^ “William Billings (1746-1800) - Father of American Choral Music”. americanmusicpreservation.com. 2020年10月8日閲覧。
  12. ^ “Sweet Fields”. 2012年12月22日時点のオリジナルよりアーカイブ。2013年3月6日閲覧。

Sources[編集]

External links[編集]

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