Aaron Williams (1731–1776) was a Welsh teacher, composer, and compiler of
West Gallery music, active in Britain during the 18th century.
Life
Williams was probably born in
Caldicot, Monmouthshire
Caldicot ( cy, Cil-y-coed) is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. The town is located between Chepstow and the city of Newport. The site adjoins the Caldicot Levels, on the north side of the Severn Estuary. The population of t ...
, the son of William Morgan.
[Nicholas Temperley. "Williams, Aaron." In ''Grove Music Online']
(accessed February 3, 2012). He served as clerk of the
Presbyterian Scots Church, London Wall.
[D. W. Steel, ''The Makers of the Sacred Harp'', University of Illinois Press, 2010, p. 168.]
Publications
Williams's publications include:
Nicholas Temperley, ''The Hymn Tune Index''
* ''The Universal Psalmodist'', 1763 (2nd ed., 1764; 3rd ed., 1765; 4th ed., 1770)
*
aniel Bayley ''The Royal Melody Complete'', 3d ed., Boston, 1767 (an unauthorized compilation of music from William Tans'ur's ''Royal Melody Complete'' and Williams's ''Universal Psalmodist''; subsequent editions, entitled ''The American Harmony, or Universal Psalmodist'', were issued by Bayley in
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
in 1769, 1771, 1773 and 1774).
* ''Royal Harmony; or, The Beauties of Church Music'', ca. 1765
* ''Psalmody in Miniature'', 1769 (2nd ed., in 3 books, 1778; supplements added in 1778 and 1780; 3rd ed., in 5 books, 1783)
* ''The New Universal Psalmodist'', 1770 (6th ed., 1775)
* ''An Ode or
Anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
for the New Year'', 1770
* ''Two New Anthems for Christmas-Day'', 1770
* ''Comfort ye, my people: A new Christmas anthem'', 1775
* ''British Psalmody'', London, ca. 1785
These publications included several
fuguing tunes. Six of his anthems were included in Thomas Williams's ''Harmonia Coelestis'' (1780).
Influence on early American sacred music
Harmonic idiom
The unorthodox harmonic idiom of the
Yankee tunesmiths (the "First New England School" of choral composers) shows the influence of English composers such as Williams and
William Tans'ur:
For the most part the Yankee composer's source of information about harmonic practices derived from the music and writings on music of such comparatively unskilled English composers as William Tans'ur (1796–1783) and Aaron Williams (1731–1776), who were themselves somewhat outside the mainstream of European sacred music. Many of the traits that may be thought unique to American psalmodists in fact characterize the compositions of their British cousins too.
In particular, "it is clear that
/nowiki>William Billings">William_Billings.html" ;"title="/nowiki>William Billings">/nowiki>William Billings/nowiki> had studied the works of English psalmodists such as William Tansur and Aaron Williams."[Steel, pp. 42f.]
St. Thomas
Williams's tune "St. Thomas" was originally the second quarter of his longer "Holborn," published in his ''Universal Psalmodist'' (1763) and attributed to him based on the statement there, "never before printed."[R.F. Glover (ed.), ''The Hymnal 1982: Companion'', vol. 3A, 1994]
pp. 979f.
/ref> It was first published in its shortened form in Thomas Knibb's ''The Psalm-Singer's Help'' (c. 1769),
''The Easy Instructor''
(1801), p. 101
* David Clayton and James Carrell, '' The Virginia Harmony'' (1831)
p. 79
(attributed to "Handel")
* ''The Methodist Harmonist'' (1833), no. 119
p. 93
* Allen D. Carden
''The Missouri Harmony'' (1834)
p. 33
* W. L. Chappell,
The Western Lyre
', new edition, 1835, no. 80
* Lowell Mason and T. H. Mason
Sacred Harp or Eclectic Harmony'', new edition, 1835
p. 89
* B. F. White and E. J. King, '' The Sacred Harp'', appendix to the 1860 edition
p. 293
(also in the 1911 edition of J. S. James
p. 293
misattributed to "William Towser, 1768"; retained in the current 1991 edition
p. 34
.
Notes
External links
Hymnary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Aaron
1731 births
1776 deaths
Welsh composers
Welsh male composers
People from Caldicot, Monmouthshire
Shape note
18th-century British composers
18th-century British male musicians
Welsh nonconformist hymnwriters
18th-century Welsh musicians