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For God and Country: Scriptural Exegesis, Editorial Intervention, and Revolutionary Politics in First New England School Anthems

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2017, PhD, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Music (Musicology).
Since 1991 music of the First New England School has become readily accessible through critical editions. The compilers of these volumes edited the music, traced the compositional styles and methods of these composers, and documented their biographies. However, no one has explored how composers of this era edited scripture and sacred poetry for anthems and how these editorial acts might reflect the politics of the Colonial and Federal Periods. Anthems afforded composers more creative liberty than strophic genres such as plain tunes and fuging tunes. Because anthems are long, through-composed works, composers had wide latitude regarding the text they set; most drew from Biblical scripture, sacred poetry, or a combination of the two. This study traces the texts that First New England composers chose and how composers edited them for anthems. In some cases, composers employed straightforward, unedited sections of scripture, but in most cases, they or their collaborators edited scripture and drew on diverse literary sources. This study addresses such issues as musical setting, geographical locale, and politics. Included are where composers lived, what their personal religious practices may have been, and how involved they were in politics and civic activities. The methodology includes an original database of eighteenth-century anthem texts, including when they were first published, if and how the source texts were edited, the general topic of each anthem, and each scriptural citation. This study builds on recent scholarship on ministers’ use of scripture during the American Revolutionary War. This study examines the texts from First New England School anthems in a similar manner, showing the similarities and differences in the way that preachers and composers quoted, edited, and employed Biblical scripture and sacred poetry during a period of political turmoil and revolution.
bruce mcclung, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Jonathan Kregor, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Stephanie Schlagel, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
203 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Williams, M. K. (2017). For God and Country: Scriptural Exegesis, Editorial Intervention, and Revolutionary Politics in First New England School Anthems [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511862418359819

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Williams, Molly. For God and Country: Scriptural Exegesis, Editorial Intervention, and Revolutionary Politics in First New England School Anthems. 2017. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511862418359819.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Williams, Molly. "For God and Country: Scriptural Exegesis, Editorial Intervention, and Revolutionary Politics in First New England School Anthems." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511862418359819

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)