- This book is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
- Publisher:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Online publication date:
- September 2018
- Print publication year:
- 2017
- Online ISBN:
- 9781576472705
- Subjects:
- Music, Music: General Interest
Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more: https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/about-us/news-and-blogs/cambridge-university-press-publishing-update-following-technical-disruption
Alongside well-known patriots, such as Samuel Adams, Rev. Samuel Cooper, and Dr. Joseph Warren, there was another "voice" whose words and music became the protest songs of the American Revolution. William Billings, tanner, hogreeve, and musician, through his compositions, singing schools, and incendiary performances provided ways for the "mechanicks" of the lower classes, including women, to be equal participants in disseminating rebellion throughout colonial New England.In Singing Sedition, Charles E. Brewer provides a thick cultural interpretation of the significance of Billings's texts and music through the use of both published and unpublished manuscript materials. An examination of sermons preached in Boston, Biblical commentaries, letters, diaries, and other sources clarifies the New England political theology expressed through Billings's creative adaptations of biblical texts and their evocative musical settings. From the Boston Massacre to the peace of 1783, Billings's music can be heard as the soundtrack of the American Revolution.
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.