Change in Early Cincinnati's Musical Identity: Shape-Note Tunebooks from Timothy Flint's Columbian Harmonist (1816) to Timothy and Lowell Mason's Sacred Harp (1834)

Shape-note tunebooks in early Cincinnati provide a particularly rich picture of the growth and change in earlynineteenth-century American musical culture. As Cincinnati changed from frontier town to cultivated city, andsimultaneously became a center for the publishing of music, its music industry experienced the clash of musical tastes.The repertoire of folk tunes and compositions by American composers had until the 1810s and 1820s provided much of the music for shape-note tunebooks for use in the popular institution of the singing school. A movement against this repertoire and the notation associated with it began out of missionary and educational concern; this movement encouraged the use of a more cultivated repertoire adapted from works of European composers such as Handel and Haydn, in an effort to improve the moral and literary taste of the West.In 1816 Timothy Flint was among the first to try to introduce standard notation and cultivated repertoire to Cincinnati as part of his missionary calling to the West.His efforts all but failed. In 1834 Timothy and Lowell Mason attempted an indentical feat, again with minimal success.This thesis examines why the Masons thought their venture would be successful, including an examination of howCincinnati had changed musically and culturally over those eighteen years. Also included here is an examination ofseveral tunebooks that were published in Cincinnati through 1834, in an effort to determine any changes in the shape-note tunebook market itself. Lastly, there is a detailed biography of Timothy Mason and his role as an influential musical figure in CincinnatiIt seems that Cincinnati had indeed grown substantially in its support of cultivated music between the years 1816 and1834. Shape-note tunebooks had nevertheless remained popular as a result of their marketability and connection to adistinct and well-preserved sense of Western identity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

1997

Author dc:creator

• Mennel, Christina Chenevert

Contributors dc:contributor

• Atkinson, Charles

• Music

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1364291804

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1364291804