Kentucky Harmony (Ananias Davisson)

General Information

Short Title: Kentucky Harmony

Full Title: Kentucky Harmony: Or, a Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems, in Three Parts, Taken from the Most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to Christian Churches, Singing Schools, or Private Societies.

Editor - Composer: Ananias Davisson

Publications using VolumesEditions

1 – Published 1816 – by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 140 pp.

2 – Published 1817 – by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 159 pp.

3 – Published 1819 – by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 159 pp.

4 – Published 1820 – by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia

5 – Published 1826 – by Ananias Davisson in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 160 pp.

Description: This book, along with its companion volume, Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony in 1820, had a large influence on music in the American West and South¹ of that day. Davisson's arrangements and original compositions were reprinted or revised in almost all following books of the West and South, including

• Alexander Johnson's Tennessee Harmony (1818)
• Samuel Metcalf's Kentucky Harmonist (1818)
• James Boyd's The Virginia Sacred Music Repository (1818)
• Allen Carden's The Missouri Harmony (1820)
• William Moore's Columbian Harmony (1825)
• William Walker's Southern Harmony (1835)
• The Sacred Harp (1844)

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¹. The West and South included Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, western Virginia (now West Virginia), Ohio, western Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.

References

• Music, David W. 1983. Ananias Davisson, Robert Boyd, Reubin Monday, John Martin, and Archibald Rhea in East Tennessee, 1816-26. American Music 1(3):72-84.

Works at CPDL

Edition 1 (1816)

Title	Year	Composer	Arranger	Lyricist	First Line	Meter	Vo.
Albion	1816	Robert Boyd		Isaac Watts	Come, ye that love the Lord	66. 86 (S.M.)	4
Bethel	1813	Anonymous		Isaac Watts	Let Zion and her sons rejoice	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Condescending	1813	Anonymous	Ananias Davisson	Isaac Watts	How condescending and how kind	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Idumea	1816	Ananias Davisson		Isaac Watts	My God, my life, my love	66. 86 (S.M.)	4
Kedron	1799	Amos Pilsbury		Charles Wesley	Thou man of griefs, remember me	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
Liberty Hall	1810	Lucius Chapin		Isaac Watts	Alas! And did my Savior bleed	86. 86 (C.M.)	3
Milinda	1816	Robert Boyd		Isaac Watts	In vain the wealthy mortals toil	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
New Monmouth	1813	Lucius Chapin		Robert Robinson	Come thou fount of every blessing	87. 87	4
Ninety-Fifth	1813	Lucius Chapin		Isaac Watts	When I can read my title clear	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Reflection	1813	Anonymous	Ananias Davisson	Isaac Watts	No sleep or slumber to his eyes	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Rochester	1816	Israel Holdroyd	Ananias Davisson	Isaac Watts	Come, children, learn to fear the Lord	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Rockbridge	1813	Lucius Chapin		Isaac Watts	Sweet is the work, my God, my King	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
Salvation	1816	Robert Boyd		Edmund Jones	Come, humble sinner, in whose breast	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Tender Thought	1816	Ananias Davisson		Philip Doddridge	Arise, my tenderest thoughts, arise	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
Tranquility	1816	Reubin Monday		Isaac Watts	My God, the spring of all my joys	86. 86 (C.M.)	4

Edition 2 (1817)

Title	Year	Composer	Arranger	Lyricist	First Line	Meter	Vo.
Kedron	1799	Amos Pilsbury		Charles Wesley	Thou man of griefs, remember me	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
New Orleans	1817	Robert Boyd		Isaac Watts	Why do we mourn departing friends	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Pisgah	1817	James C. Lowry		Isaac Watts	When I can read my title clear	86. 86 (C.M.)	4
Solemnity	1817	Ananias Davisson		Isaac Watts	Twas on that dark, that doleful night	88. 88 (L.M.)	4
Solitude in the Grove	1817	Ananias Davisson		Isaac Watts	O were I like a feathered dove	86. 86. D (C.M.D.)	4