ANTHEMS, 1788

(ASMI 25)

 [Anthems. Philadelphia: John M'Culloch, 1788.] 

The Federal Gazette, and the Philadelphia Evening Post, 8 April 1788, advertises, with Adgate's Rudiments of Music and A Selection of Sacred Harmony, 'lately published, and to be had at said place [M'Culloch's] Anthems, viz. The Rose of Sharon. Te Deum. Vital Spark. Friendship.'

Not in Evans. No copy located.

NOTE: The compositions advertised here are most likely the following: William Billings, Anthem: I am the Rose of Sharon; [John Arnold], Anthem: Te Deum [?]; William Billings, Anthem: Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame; James Lyon, FRIENDSHIP. Evans assigned separate numbers to three of the four, apparently in the belief that they did not make up a collection but were available separately. (In the order listed the numbers are: E21436, E21567, and E21578. See also Sundry Anthems [No. 479] for a similar advertisement.) The only Te Deum published in this country before 1788 appeared in Andrew Law, The Rudiments of Music (1783). Unattributed there, it has been traced to John Arnold, The Complete Psalmodist, 6th ed. (London, 1769).

ASMI p. 97