Amos Pilsbury

Life

Born: 15 October 1772, Newbury, Massachusetts

Died: 19 October 1812, Charleston, South Carolina

Biography

Amos Pilsbury was a silversmith, schoolteacher, and a clerk in the Presbyterian Church. In 1799 he compiled The United States Sacred Harmony. David Music (1995) found that Pilsbury's influence was significant on early nineteenth century music, especially on such works as Wyeth's Repository, Kentucky Harmony, Tennessee Harmony, and Western Harmony. It also had an influence on William Walker's Southern Harmony (1835) and The Sacred Harp (1844). There is no Wikipedia page yet.

List of choral works at CPDL

Autumn Cambridge Canaan Charleston Chesterfield Dartmouth Dover

Edson Franklin Guilford Hadley Hamburgh Haverhill Judea

Kedron Kingston Madison Massachusetts Middlesex Moment's Thought Morning

Mount Calvary Mount Moriah Orangeburgh Petition Pinckney Street Portland Potomac

Psalm 112 Rhode Island Rockingham Salem South Carolina Trenton Triumph

  BY FIRST LINE

Agonizing in the garden And let this feeble body fail Astonished and distressed Bear me to the sacred scene Behold, behold, the bleeding God Behold the Lamb of God Come, let us ascend Come, my soul, before the Lamb Come, thou fount of every blessing

Head of the church triumphant He dies! the friend of sinners dies How happy every child of grace How long shall I repine How long shall I repine In boundless mercy, gracious Lord, appear Jehovah reigns, let all Jesus, great Redeemer, hear Jesus, my truth, my way

Lamb of God, for whom we languish Let differing nations join Lord, my light and my salvation Lord, we come before thee now My present help in trouble My tongue repeats his vows O Jesus, Savior of my soul Redemption great he gave Rejoice, the Lord is King

Savior, the world's and mine The chief concern of lost mankind Thou great mysterious God unknown Thou man of griefs, remember me Weary of wandering from my God When we, our wearied limbs to rest Who hath our report believed Why not now, my God, my God

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List of all choral works by Amos Pilsbury (all written for four voices, all published in The United States Sacred Harmony, 1799)

HTI*	Title	Meter	Key	Comment
7873	Autumn	6.6.7.7.7.7	f	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music.
7874	Cambridge	6.6.8.6.6.8.0	a
7875	Canaan	7.7.4.4.7.0	A
7876a	Charleston	8.7.8.7	F	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Charlestown in Carden's Western Harmony (1825), Southern Harmony (1835), and The Sacred Harp (1844). Bartimaeus in Hesperian Harp (1848).
7878	Dartmouth	6.6.6.6.6.6	e
7879	Dover	8.6.8.6.8.6.8.6	b	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Later Pilgrim (James P. Carrell), (1821), and Child of Grace in The Sacred Harp, p. 77a from 1844 to the present.
7880	Edson	8.6.10.8.0	e
7881	Franklin	7.6.7.6.7.6.7.6.0	d
7883	Hadley	8.7.8.7.0	d
7884	Hamburgh	7.7.4.4.7.0	a
7886	Haverhill	7.7.7.7.8.8	D
7887	Judea	6.6.6.6.8.8	G
7888a	Kedron	8.8.8.8	e	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Southern Harmony (1835), p. 3; The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 48.
7889a	Kingston	8.7.8.7.4.0.7	a	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music.
7890	Madison	6.6.6.0.6	a
7891	Massachusetts	6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6.0.0.0	b	Set-piece or short anthem.
7892	Middlesex	8.7.8.7.7.7.0	F	Words by unknown author.
7893	Moment's Thought	6.6.8.6	B♭
7894	Morning	8.8.8.8	e	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Three-part arrangement in The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 163.
7895	Mount Calvary	6.8.6.8.4.4.6.4.4.6	b	Set-piece or short anthem. Words by unknown author.
7896	Mount Moriah	6.6.6.6.8.8	e	Words by unknown author.
7898	New Hampshire	8.8.8.8.8.8.0.0.0.8.8	E
7899	Orangeburgh	8.8.6.6.8.8.6.6	a
7901	Pinckney Street	8.8.7.8.8.7	g
7903	Potomac	6.6.6.6.6.6.6.0.6.6	G
7905	Rhode Island	8.8.6.8.8.6	c	Attributed to Pilsbury by David Music. Also in Southern Harmony (1835), p. 145, and The Sacred Harp (1844), p. 70.
7906	Rockingham	8.3.3.6.0	b
7907	Salem	7.7.0.7.7.0	a
7908	South Carolina	7.6.7.6.0	D
7909	Trenton	6.6.6.6.0	e

*The Hymn Tune Index

Works first published by Amos Pilsbury in 1799 but not attributed to him

Not counted as "New" in 1799, not claimed by Pilsbury, of unknown composer except as noted below

HTI*	Title	Meter	Key	Comment
7877a	Chesterfield	10.10.10.10	B	Composer unknown, author of words unknown.
7882	Guilford	6.6.8.6	g
7897	Musicians	8.8.6.8.8.6.0	G
7900	Petition	7.7.7.7.7.7	a	Composer unknown.
7902	Portland	8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8	d	Composer unknown; first published in Uranian Harmony, 1791.
7904	Psalm 112	8.8.8.8.8.8	d
7910	Triumph	5.6.9.6.6.9.0	d	Likely a folk hymn.
7912	Wales	6.6.8.6	A

Publications

• Pilsbury, Amos. 1799. The United States’ Sacred Harmony. Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews 224 pp.

References

• Music, David W. 1995. Seven "New" Tunes in Amos Pilsbury's United States' Sacred Harmony (1799) and Their Use in Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks of the Southern United States before 1860. American Music 13(4):403-447.