One common misconception about the Pilgrims is that they were Puritans. They were not. About half of them were Separatists, and the rest were basically hand-selected, non-religious skilled workers.
Puritans didn't start arriving in America until about a decade after the Pilgrims arrived.
Add the Moravian settlers to the bunch, and it gets even more fun.
Regardless, this tossed salad of settlers made for an interesting musical start for America.
Let's look at one group at a time, though. The Separatists and Puritans only allowed for Psalm singing. This worked out particularly well, given that there wasn't a ton of room on the boat ride for instruments in the first place.
Separatists on the Mayflower brought over a book of psalms compiled by Henry Ainsworth, known as the Ainsworth Psalter.
Colonists also had copies of a psalm book referred to as "Sternhold and Hopkins." Yet church leaders came to feel the texts in these psalters wasn't literal enough from Scripture, so they started re-translating them and put them into a new book.
This new book, the Bay Psalm Book, was the first book ever printed in America, in 1640. There are only 11 extant copies of the first edition.
The Bay Psalm Book doesn't have any music in it; just text. We didn't have music engravers in America in 1640. Colonists actually started forgetting how to read music.
Churches started a practice called "lining-out", which meant one person would sing how the line should go, and the congregation would repeat it. As a result, the same song sounded quite different from congregation to congregation.
The influence of the Moravians, however... this is a different story. Where the Puritans and Separatists didn't allow instruments in worship, the Moravian church all but insisted on it. They had an assortment of instruments in their possession by 1642.
Hear examples of early American sacred and secular music on this week's Learning to Listen.
Program Playlist:
Loys Bourgeois, arr. Purcell
Voluntary on the Old Hundredth
Pieter-Jan Belder, organ
Brilliant 93647
Henry Ainsworth
Psalm No. 100
The Gregg Smith Singers
Vox 5080
Thomas Tallis
O Come in One to Praise the Lord
New York Polyphony
Avie 2186
Bay Psalms
Old Hundredth
The Gregg Smith Singers
Vox 5080
The Social Harp
"Singing School"
Joel Cohen, leader
Boston Camerata
Erato 45474
Francis Hopkinson
My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free
The Gregg Smith Singers
Vox 5080
John Lyon
Urania: "Standish, Isle of Wight, 100 Psalm Tune New"
The Gregg Smith Singers
Vox 5080
William Billings
Fuging Tune - "Bethlehem"
Anonymous 4
HMU 807453
William Billings
An Anthem, For Thanksgiving
The Gloriae Dei Cantores
Paraclete 10
Folksong
"Barbara Allen"
Andreas Scholl, countertenor
Andreas Martin, lute
HMU 901603
Folksong
"Barbara Allen"
Library of Congress recording
Rounder 1511
John Playford
Rufty Tufty
Musica Pacifica Baroque Ensemble
Solimar 101
John Playford
Drive the Cold Winter Away
The Rose Ensemble
Rose 09
Johann Friedrich Peter
"Ich will immer harren", "Ich danke Dir ewiglich", "Ich will dir ein Freudennopfer"
Martin Pearlman, director
Boston Baroque
Telarc 80482
John Antes
How Beautiful Upon the Mountains
The Gregg Smith Singers
Vox 5080
Benjamin Carr
Federal Overture
Patrck Gallois, conductor
Sinfonia Finlandia
Naxos 559654
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