Anthology of
The American
Hymn-Tune
Repertory
The Colonial Era to the Civil War
Images from period tunebooks representing
first or early printings with MIDI recordings.
Mark D. Rhoads, Editor
This anthology. . .
contains 50 representative tunes in 33 tunebooks and 7 categories sung by Americans from the period between the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the mid-19th century. We most often experience the printed tunes through transcriptions; but here you will see these tunes as they appeared in the old tunebooks. Some are printed from beautifully 
engraved copper plates; others are quite primitive in appearance. Some are printed from wood blocks or typeset while others introduce unusual or innovative notation. Some of the tunebooks have fascinating and lengthy prefaces which give insight into the issues that surrounded Psalm and hymn singing. Spend some time looking at the way the tunes are printed; explore the title pages and read the prefaces. The only way to truly experience this vocal art is to sing it, occasional printing errors and all, with a group of friends.
Related resources by the editor:
- Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes (website)
- Reformers and Resisters: Changing Taste in American Protestant Church Music, 1800-1860 (pdf)
- Connecting Ritual and Worship (pdf)
- Singing the Songs of Zion: Soldiers' Hymn Books and Hymn Singing in the American Civil War
- Hymns
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