"This book reflects a breakthrough in American music studies, an unrecognized field among traditional musicologists until the past few decades, during which enormous progress has been made in documenting three centuries of American musical activities and figures. Time and effort had to be expended exclusively on the development of basic historical studies. The time has come for a new phase, one that can take a creative, interpretive approach. Professor Crawford's study will introduce this higher level of scholarship into the field of American music studies."—Vivian Perlis, author of Charles Ives Remembered "A major statement by a senior scholar on what American musicology is all about. . . These themes are also topical; they come at a time when much more research is being done in American music, but little thought is being given to the big picture, the vision, the philosophy, and the implications of historical research. Now is the time for a synthesis, and there are few scholars better equipped to do that in American music than Richard Crawford."—Michael Broyles, author of Music of the Highest Class

The Oxford History of Anglicanism is a major new and unprecedented international study of the identity and historical influence of one of the world's largest versions of Christianity. This global study of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century looks at how was Anglican identity constructed and contested at various periods since the sixteenth century; and what was its historical influence during the past six centuries. It explores not just the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of Christianity that has been historically significant in western culture, and a burgeoning force in non-western societies today. The chapters are written by international exports in their various historical fields which includes the most recent research in their areas, as well as original research. The series forms an invaluable reference for both scholars and interested non-specialists. Volume two of The Oxford History of Anglicanism explores the period between 1662 and 1829 when its defining features were arguably its establishment status, which gave the Church of England a political and social position greater than before or since. The contributors explore the consequences for the Anglican Church of its establishment position and the effects of being the established Church of an emerging global power. The volume examines the ways in which the Anglican Church engaged with Evangelicalism and the Enlightenment; outlines the constitutional position and main challenges and opportunities facing the Church; considers the Anglican Church in the regions and parts of the growing British Empire; and includes a number of thematic chapters assessing continuity and change.

This is the first modern edition of the collected works of Supply Belcher, Maine's most celebrated early composer, who was known in his day as the Handel of Maine. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Maine was part of the northeastern frontier, a sparsely settled area that held to the old ways. Thus, its compilers reprinted and singers sang the music of Billings, Read, Swan, Holden, and other Yankee psalmodists long after a reform movement had swept them from the galleries of southern New-England churches. Belcher was a man much honored in the region as a musician, a public servant, and a civic leader. Following military service in the Revolutionary War, he opened Belcher's Tavern, where local musicians frequently gathered for sings. In addition to being a composer, Belcher was also a singer, a violinist, and a prominent member of the Stoughton Musical Society. He published seventy-four works between l788, when his first tune appeared in print, and 1819, when his final contributions to psalmody were issued. As this edition of his collected works reveals, his vigorous and skillful pieces show him to have been an original and creative spirit in psalmody, and even today are worthy of attention and performance.

"The shape-note tradition first flourished in the small towns and rural areas of early America. Church-sponsored "singing schools" taught a form of musical notation in which the notes were assigned different shapes to indicate variations in pitch; this method worked well with congregants who had little knowledge of standard musical notation. Today many enthusiasts carry on the shape-note tradition, and The New Harp of Columbia (recently published in a "restored edition" by the University of Tennessee Press) is one of five shape-note singing-manuals still in use."--Jacket.

Dr. Stanley Heard Brobston's book traces the history of the white gospel genre from the Bible to the American bicentennial. Brobston's book may represent the first known study of gospel music using an objective method for selecting the representation of performers and music to be examined.