The installation of The Sixteen conductor Harry Christophers as artistic director of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society has had happy results, never more so than on this collection that unearths all-but-unknown music perfectly suited to the choir's style. Histories of American music will tell you about the conflict between the proper hymn style of Lowell Mason and the rougher homegrown polyphony of William Billings and his compatriots, but this ignores the fact that well into the 19th century a large majority of choral music ...
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The installation of The Sixteen conductor Harry Christophers as artistic director of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society has had happy results, never more so than on this collection that unearths all-but-unknown music perfectly suited to the choir's style. Histories of American music will tell you about the conflict between the proper hymn style of Lowell Mason and the rougher homegrown polyphony of William Billings and his compatriots, but this ignores the fact that well into the 19th century a large majority of choral music performed in America would have come from England. Presented here are selections from a choral music publication called The Old Colony Collection, issued by the Old Colony Music Society of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Just as it has here, the Handel and Haydn Society was interested in this publication and in 1815 purchased copies of it for use in performances. The music anthologized is all from England and includes three types: religious verse anthems, secular counterparts to...
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