Billings 2000 -- The Bicentennial Commemoration

On 59 evenings from January 18 to August 9, 1786, at a pay of 12 shillings per session, William Billings taught singing at King's Chapel to "such persons of both sexes as incline to sing psalm-tunes." On Tuesday, December 21, 1790 at 3 o'clock, during a period when the composer was suffering considerable financial distress, a concert of sacred music, encompassing both instrumental and vocal music, was held there for his benefit, with tickets selling for 2 shillings each.

Billings died in Boston exactly two hundred years before the date of our commemoration, on September 26, 1800.

NB The singing on September 26, 2000 will be led, in the spirit of a traditional American singing school, by a distinguished group of choral music, early music, American music, and psalmody specialists--and by anyone else who volunteers (this means you!).

Requests for particular compositions of Mr. Billings to be included in the public demonstration or in the remainder of the day's singing will be entertained at the e-mail address given below.

Getting There from Here

Schedule

• 11:00 am Practice session for experienced psalm-singers wishing to participate in the public demonstration of singing that follows.
• 12:15-12:45 pm King's Chapel Tuesday Noon Hour Recitals presents "A Demonstration of Singing": hymns, anthems, fuge-tunes &c. compos'd by William Billings and sung by an Accomplish'd Body of Enthusiastic Psalm-Singers gathered from New-England, Old England, and Points Beyond, with an Invitation to the Public to participate in the Singing.
• 12:45 pm Dinner recess.
• 2:00 pm Singing at King's Chapel and a visit to the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common, where a pious civic legend holds that Billings is interred in an unmarked grave.
• 5:45 pm Supper recess at Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street. (Potluck contributions welcome but not required.)
• 7:30-9:45 pm Singing at King's Chapel, with a welcome infusion of fresh voices from those singers who are able to attend in the evening only.

For more information: billings2000@usa.net

Other Billings events of interest in New England

• 25th New England Sacred Harp Singing Convention, plus a special gathering of singers, composers, and researchers in observation of the Billings bicentenary and the Silver Jubilee of the New England convention, Wednesday through Sunday, September 27-October 1, 2000, Middletown, Connecticut.