Africa (William Billings)

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Africa is a hymn tune composed by William Billings.

Contents

[edit] History

Billings wrote Africa some time before 1770 and included it in his first published hymnbook, The New England Psalm Singer. Later he made revisions for the version included in his The Singing Master's Assistant (1778) and still further, very minor, revisions for Music in Miniature (1779). It is the latter two versions that are performed today.

The name of the hymn is, as far as can be determined, completely arbitrary, and reflects a practice of Billings's day to give names specifically to the tunes of songs. Billings also wrote an "Asia" and an "America"; more often, he adopted the names of (arbitrarily chosen) New England towns to label his tunes.

[edit] Music

Version of 1778.

Click to hear piano reduction (Ogg format, 250K)

Musically, the work is notable for the parallel descending thirds and sixths that shift from part to part. Like many of Billings's hymns, there is no one line that counts as the "melody"; while the tenor line predominates, the ear is likely sometimes to hear the treble line as more prominent. Some renditions of this hymn (such as the one on the Tudor Choir's "The Shapenote Album") follow a common eighteenth-century practice and have part of the tenors singing the treble line an octave down, while part of the sopranos sing the tenor line an octave up. The result is a brighter, more colorful texture.

[edit] Words

The 1770 version of Africa was published without lyrics. Since it readily fits any iambic quatrain written in couplets of eight and six syllables (common meter), singers of this version would certainly have had no trouble finding lyrics to accompany it, as such quatrains are common in hymn lyrics.

For the 1778 and 1779 versions, Billings did choose lyrics: the first stanza of Hymn #39 of the first volume of hymns (1709) by the famous English hymnodist Isaac Watts.

Now shall my inwards joys arise,
And burst into a Song;
Almighty Love inspires my Heart,
And Pleasure tunes my Tongue.

This stanza doubtless appealed to Billings, who took joy in singing throughout his life. Billings altered Watts's "joys" to "joy", though this change is not always observed by singers. Sometimes the other stanzas by Watts are also sung to the tune of Africa; they are as follows:

God on his thirsty Sion-Hill
Some Mercy-Drops has thrown,
And solemn Oaths have bound his Love
To show'r Salvation down.
Why do we then indulge our Fears,
Suspicions and Complaints?
Is he a God, and shall his Grace
Grow weary of his saints?
Can a kind Woman e'er forget
The Infant of her Womb,
And 'mongst a thousand tender Thoughts
Her Suckling have no Room?
Yet, saith the Lord, should Nature change,
And Mothers Monsters prove,
Sion still dwells upon the Heart
Of everlasting Love.
Deep on the Palms of both my Hands
I have engrav'd her Name;
My Hands shal raise her ruin'd Walls,
And build her broken Frame.

It is not unreasonable to sing Africa with the additional stanzas, since Watts's hymn verses were well known in Billings's day.

[edit] Reception

"Africa" is a favorite among Billings's works, and appears frequently on concert programs and in recordings. It is one of several Billings' hymns included in the Sacred Harp musical tradition, and is widely sung in this context.

[edit] Books

The hymnbooks in which Billings first published Africa are in print today, in scholarly editions edited by Hans Nathan and published by the University Press of Virginia:

Much of the information above is taken from these scholarly editions.

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnote

*If your computer cannot play this Ogg sound file, you can enable it to do so by downloading and installing free software: Winamp, Zinf, or some other program listed here.