Supply Belcher
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Supply Belcher (March 29, 1751 – June 9, 1836) was an American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books. He was one of the members of the First New England School, and was dubbed the "Handell [sic] of Maine."
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[edit] Life
He was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts on March 29, 1751. During the Revolutionary War he served as a soldier; specifically, he was in a company of Minutemen who marched to Cambridge on April 19, 1775 immediately after receiving the alarm from Lexington. Later, he was promoted to the rank of Captain under Washington.
Belcher ran a tavern in Canton, Massachusetts between 1778 and 1785 and was known as 'Uncle Ply'. It was at his tavern that some of the early singing meetings in the area were held, but contrary to some written accounts, he never joined the Stoughton Musical Society. Also, he was not a pupil in the singing school taught in Stoughton in 1774 by William Billings.
After the war, in 1785, he moved first to Hallowell, Maine with his family, and then six years later he moved his family to Farmington where he remained. He was a prominent local citizen, serving as tax assessor, schoolmaster, town clerk, Justice of the Peace, magistrate, and even representative to the state legislature. He died in Farmington on June 9, 1836.
[edit] Composer and musician
He bought a tavern, which in 1788 became a meeting place for local musicians. As a musician — never his primary employment — he was a violinist and singer in addition to being a composer. He is credited with organizing the first choir in Farmington and was given the title "The Handel of Maine."
When writing about the composer in his diary, Rev. Paul Coffin wrote: "Squire Belcher called his singers together and gave us an evening of sweet music." It was because of such talents that Supply Belcher was called "The Handel of Maine." His portrait is one of the few made of an early American composer.
[edit] Works
Most of his compositions, of which 75 are extant, are included in a publication called The Harmony of Maine (1794), which includes only his own music. He was heavily influenced by William Billings, whose singing classes he attended, and his music is firmly in the tradition of New England psalmody, although there are other influences. Most of his music is for three or four voices, and he wrote fuguing tunes rather like those of Billings, but often with more precise performance directions. His voice-leading is considerably smoother and follows the "rules" more frequently than the work of many of his contemporaries, for instance avoiding the parallel perfect intervals and open fifths which are a common feature of New England psalmody.
[edit] Contemporary works based on Belcher's music
The contemporary American composer John Cage (1912-1992) based his 1978 composition Some of the Harmony of Maine on the works of Belcher, specifically The Harmony of Maine. Scored for organist and three assistants (one for each register), Cage's work is 45 minutes in length and is dedicated to the contemporary organ specialist Gerd Zacher. In order to create the work, Cage used chance operations to determine whether a note from the original source should stay or be left out, how long it should sound, and how it should be registered.
[edit] Scores
Volume 5. Supply Belcher (1751-1836), The Collected Works, edited by Linda Davenport. 192 pages, ISBN 0-8153-2427-8
[edit] References
- Francis Gould Butler, A History of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, Farmington, Press of Knowlton, McLeary and Co., 1885.
- Roger L. Hall, Singing Stoughton - Selected Highlights from America's Oldest Choral Society, Stoughton: Old Stoughton Musical Society, 1985.
- W. Thomas Marrocco and Thomas Gleason, Music in America, an Anthology from the Landing of the Pilgrims to the Close of the Civil War, 1620–1865. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1964.
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001, online edition (subscription access). (Grove Online)
