Customer Reviews

Church Music in America, 1620-2000

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This brief survey covers the author's specialities, organs and 18th and 19th American church music. He outlines the main figures and issues in the development of church music practices and hymnals, but by 1900 his focus narrows to mainly Northeastern churches and music publishers. The widely diverse field of post-1945 church music is beyond the scope of the book. He is at his best in showing the influences among various demininations and regional music traditions east of the Mississippi, and the footnotes are excellent guides to further readings. Episcopal and Presbyterian traditions tend to dominate, especially after 1900. Nothing on the Pilgrim Hymnal, for example.

Both spiritual, Christian library holdings and general-interest public libraries will appreciate the overview history provided in Church Music in America, a non-technical survey of the history and patterns of American church music which follows the musics of several groups from their arrival in America to modern times. The focus here is on how the different spiritual sectors influenced each other through music: chapters provide plenty of footnoted references suitable for college-level research into source material but provide lively coverage of early immigrant musical experiences, different eras of church activities, and more. A fine 'foundation pick' for any collection strong in church history and culture.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch