Sacred Harp Books in Australia in 1837 - how can this be?

[Natalie Sims]

Hello singers,
I have been doing some searching through old newspapers to try and work out whether there is any history of Sacred Harp singing in Australia, and while I can find some records of the Sacred Harp book being sold in Melbourne and Adelaide in 1853-8157 as "popular literature", I came across something I cannot understand. Perhaps you can help me out.

In December 1837, a bookseller in Sydney was selling a book called "Sacred Harp". It came in a shipment from London which included all sorts of other interesting things (hats, shoes, gin, a harp, glue and pianos), but I cannot work out what this book is. I know enough to know that BF White published the Sacred Harp in 1844. Does anyone know of a book of the same name being published before this?

thanks,
Natalie (from the Melbourne Sacred Harp Singers)

[Natalie Sims]

Thanks Chris,
This does seem likely, and may explain why the later advertisements in the 1850s say "Sacred Harp (music)". Dan Brittain and Richard Hulan have offered some helpful suggestion that perhaps the books were Ohio Sacred Harp or some round note Sacred Harp books of the time by Hickock or others.
I wish I could walk back in time to that bookstore and find out for sure.
best,
Natalie

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From: "Chris Brown" <cbr...@tesco.net>
To: ns...@svi.edu.au
Cc: fasola-di...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 18 April, 2012 5:32:50 PM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Sacred Harp Books in Australia in 1837 - how can this be?

A likely candidate for your 1837 import of "The Sacred Harp" from London to Australia is a book of devotional poetry, called "The Sacred Harp", published in several editions from the 1830s through to the 1870s by James Leckie in Dublin.  

 

Chris Brown

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[Chris Brown]

A likely candidate for your 1837 import of "The Sacred Harp" from London to Australia is a book of devotional poetry, called "The Sacred Harp", published in several editions from the 1830s through to the 1870s by James Leckie in Dublin.  

 

Chris Brown

----- Original Message -----

From: Natalie Sims

To: fasola-di...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 4:28 AM

Subject: [fasola-discussions] Sacred Harp Books in Australia in 1837 - how can this be?

[Tim Henderson]

Google reveals a whole number of books with that title before 1840 -
many are collections of sacred verse.

In an 1836 book I also came across the reference to (Lowell) Mason's
Sacred Harp as a music book with testimonials to its benefits :

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Le8rAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22sacred%20harp%22&pg=PP8#v=onepage&q=%22sacred%20harp%22&f=false

"Mr Billings Teacher of Sacred Music says Masons Sacred Harp is the most
complete interesting and useful collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes I
have ever seen It is emphatically sacred music I will encourage its
general introduction " !!!

The advert also notes :

PATENT NOTES The proprietors of Masons Sacred Harp have contrary to the
express wishes and views of the authors prepared and ster otyped an
edition of the work of 232 pages in PATENT NOTES under the belief that
it would be more acceptable to Singers in the west and south where
Patent Notes are gensrally used

[Wade Kotter]

Natalie:

Just to clarify, Hickok's "The Sacred Harp" from 1832 is a small, upright shape-note tune book, although the content varies significantly from that of contemporary southern shape-note tune books, as does the content of  Lowell & Timothy Mason's "The Sacred Harp, or Eclectic Harmony" which first appeared in 1834 and was printed in both shape-notes and round-notes (I have copies of both). But I agree with Chris that references to "The Sacred Harp" in the advertisements you mention most likely refer to the collection of "devotional poetry" titled the "The Sacred Harp" published by James Leckie in Dublin and London, including the books mentioned  in those advertisements from the 1850s under "Sacred Harp (music)." I have seen several 19th century words-only hymn books and songsters which are inscribed by owners with something like "John Doe, his music book" and several advertisements where words-only books are described as music books or song books even though they contain no musical notation. But I guess it's possible, although unlikely, that the advertisements you refer from the 1850s do refer to tune books.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

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From: Natalie Sims <ns...@svi.edu.au>
To: Chris Brown <cbr...@tesco.net>
Cc: fasola-di...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 1:45 AM

[Nikos Pappas]

Natalie:

Another route for investigation is through the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).  Although missionary activity ultimately spread throughout the entire Pacific rim, its musical influence only extended  into Hawai'i and other Pacific islands, and China, with words-only hymnbooks being published in a few other places.  The types of sources printed and used by missionaries would give some clue as to the possibility of an American tunebook named The Sacred Harp being used throughout the Pacific Ocean.  Hawai'ian sacred music imprints begin in 1834 with Hiram Bingham's O Ke Kumu Leomele published in Honolulu.  Predating your reference by three years, none of the tunes in this collection draw from any contemporary publications titled "Sacred Harp."  In 1840, Milo Calkin, J. F. B. Marshall, and F. Johnson, a group of local merchants in Honolulu, published their own tunebook, The Hawaiian Collection of Church Music.  It did draw heavily from Lowell Mason, but only from one of the editions of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music.  Although not done under the auspices of the ABCFM, it influenced later missionary publications such as Ka Lira Hawaii (The Hawaiian Harp), which went through three editions beginning in 1844.

The first shape-note publication originating from the Pacific that I've come across is also later, appearing sometime in the late 1870s, in this case in China. Kai Ge [Triumphant Song] (Fuzhou City: Meihua Bookstore, 1879), originating near Taiwan, was published in seven-shape notation and resembles somewhat contemporary seven-shape publication activities in Philadelphia.  The repertory consists of Lowell Mason Sunday School material and early gospel music.  Thus, it does not resemble earlier works before 1850.

Based upon the evidence, I think the case for a collection of devotional poetry from a publisher in the United Kingdom would be the most likely candidate for your referenced source.  Shape-note notation was not found in the Pacific rim before the 1870s (at least from surviving sources).  Lowell Mason's publications did exert some influence, but not The Sacred Harp.  You might check the Grove dictionary of Australian music.  It has an article devoted to psalmody and hymnody I believe and would give you some possible avenues to explore should you choose to look further into this subject. 

Good luck.

Nikos Pappas, Lxgtn