Arts In America Crisis Update

"Despite being a historical figure of mythic proportions, George Washington had his weaknesses. His most endearing and least familiar one was for music, theater, and dancing."

WSJ.com June 30, 2010

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William Billings was born in Boston on October 7, 1746 and died there on September 26, 1800. He was composing in the United States during the years when Haydn and Mozart were most prominent in Europe. Often described as one-eyed and one-legged, addicted to snuff and unkempt, and employed as a tanner, teacher, and civil servant, Billings was America's first significant composer. The New-England Psalm-Singer, a collection of 120 vocal works (with a frontispiece engraved by Paul Revere), was the first published edition of American music.