William Tans'ur (or Tansur, Tanzer, Letansur) (6 November 1706,

Dunchurch Dunchurch is a large village and civil parish on the south-western outskirts of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, approximately southwest of central Rugby. The civil parish which also includes the nearby hamlet of Toft, had a population of 4,12 ...

– 7 October 1783,

St. Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

-writer, composer of

West gallery music __NOTOC__ West gallery music, also known as Georgian psalmody, refers to the sacred music (metrical psalms, with a few hymns and anthems) sung and played in English parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850. In ...

, and teacher of music. His output includes approximately a hundred hymn tunes and

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

settings and a ''

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

''. His manual ''A New Musical Grammar'' (1746) was still popular in the nineteenth century.

Life

Tans'ur was born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

to Edward Tanzer, a labourer, and Joan Alibone. In 1730 he married Elizabeth Butler and moved to Ewell, near

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

. They had at least two sons. He taught

psalmody The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

in various places in the south-east of England, before moving to St Neots in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, where he worked as a bookseller and music teacher, and spent the last forty years of his life.

Works

* ''A Compleat Melody, or The Harmony of Sion'', 1734 * ''The Melody of the Heart'', 1737 * ''Heaven on earth, or the Beauty of Holiness'', 1738 * ''Sacred Mirth, or the Pious Soul's Daily Delight'', 1739 * ''Poetical Meditations'', 1740 * ''The Universal Harmony, containing the Whole Book of Psalms'', 1743 *''A New Musical Grammar'', 1746 * ''The Royal Melody Compleat'', 1754–5 (8 editions, revised as ''The American Harmony'', 1771) * ''The Psalm Singer's Jewel, or Useful Companion to the Book of Psalms'', 1760 * ''Melodia Sacra, or the Devout Psalmist's Musical Companion'', 1771 * ''The Elements of Music Displayed'', 1772

Influence on early American sacred music

The unorthodox harmonic idiom of the

Yankee tunesmiths Yankee tunesmiths (also called the First New England School) were self-taught composers active in New England from 1770 until about 1810. Their music was largely forgotten when the Better Music Movement turned musical tastes towards Europe, as in ...

("First New England School") of choral composers shows the influence of English composers such as Tans'ur and Aaron Williams:

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 (1706-1783) 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.html" ;"title="William_Billings.html" ;"title="/nowiki>William Billings">/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."D. W. Steel, ''The Makers of the Sacred Harp'', University of Illinois Press, 2010, pp. 42f.

References

External links

Biography
at the Cyber Hymnal * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tansur, William Christian hymnwriters 1706 births 1783 deaths English hymnwriters English classical composers People from the Borough of Rugby People from St Neots People from Ewell Classical composers of church music English music theorists Musicians from Cambridgeshire English male classical composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century British male musicians