Europe (William Billings)

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  • (Posted 2015-04-28)  CPDL #35215:       
Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2015-04-28).   Score information: Letter, 2 pages, 102 kB   Copyright: Public Domain
Edition notes: Oval note edition. In this edition, the first 14 measures were converted to 3/2 time, as in the post-1781 edition; from the fugue onward music are as 1770, except that most "chusing notes" have been removed, as in the post-1781 edition. Words have been added to the last section (measures 15-36) in imitation of the 1770 edition.
  • (Posted 2015-04-28)  CPDL #35214:     
Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2015-04-28).   Score information: Unknown, 2 pages, 99 kB   Copyright: Public Domain
Edition notes: Note shapes added (4-shape). In this edition, the first 14 measures were converted to 3/2 time, as in the post-1781 edition; from the fugue onward music are as 1770, except that most "chusing notes" have been removed, as in the post-1781 edition. Words have been added to the last section (measures 15-36) in imitation of the 1770 edition.

General Information

Title: Europe
First Line: Let every mortal ear attend
Composer: William Billings
Lyricist: Isaac Watts

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred   Meter: 86. 86 (C.M.)

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1770 in The New-England Psalm-Singer, no. 118, p. 90
    2nd published: 1779 in Music in Miniature, no. 7, p. 5
    Manuscript 1780 in The Waterhouse Manuscript, no. 3
    3rd published: 1804 in The Psalm-Singer's Amusement (1804), no. 7, p. 9
Description: This whole composition was first published in 1770, titled Europe, but with different words ("Let Whig and Tory all subside, and politics be dumb…"). In 1770, the first portion was in cut time (4/4), with a change to 3/2 time after the fuging section. The section before the fugue was published in 1779, in 3/2 time, without words; some time after 1781, words were added (apparently by Billings), as seen below: from Isaac Watts' Hymn 7 of 1709; this last edition was published after Billings' death, probably in 1804 (see Nathan 1977).

External websites:

Original text and translations

Original text and translations may be found at Let every mortal ear attend.