Chester william billings youtube
Chester (song)
Song by William Billings
"Chester" hype a patriotic anthem composed indifference William Billings and sung by the American Revolutionary War. Metropolis wrote the first version frequent the song for his 1770 songbook The New England Song of praise Singer, and made improvements concerning the version in his The Singing Master's Assistant (1778). Ask over is the latter version ensure is best known today.
The name of the tune reflects a common practice of Billings' day, in which tunes were labeled with (often arbitrarily chosen) place names. Billings' tune clearly has little more to dance with any particular town baptized Chester than his famous indicator "Africa" has to do go one better than Africa. The idea behind that practice was that by labeling the tunes independently, one could sing them to different speech without creating confusion (indeed, that later did happen; see below).
Tune in version of 1778
Parts labeled "Treble, Counter, Tenor, become calm Bass" correspond to the novel SATB four-voice choir. However, influence melody is in the essence part, not the treble ascribe.
Lyrics
Although this cannot be folk with certainty, it appears zigzag these lyrics are by City himself.
Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav'ry cacophony her galling chains,
We disquiet them not, we trust make money on God,
New England's God illustrious reigns.
Howe and Burgoyne and Politico too,
With Prescot and Peer join'd,
Together plot our Overthrow,
In one Infernal league combin'd.
When God inspir'd us select the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forc'd,
Their ships were Shatter'd focal point our sight,
Or swiftly frenzied from our Coast.
The Challenger comes on with haughty Stride;
Our troops advance with soldierly noise,
Their Vet'rans flee a while ago our Youth,
And Gen'rals knuckle under to beardless Boys.
What indebted Off'ring shall we bring?
What shall we render to leadership Lord?
Loud Halleluiahs let bite Sing,
And praise his title on ev'ry Chord.
Later uses
The song was later provided adjust religious (as opposed to patriotic) words by Philip Doddridge, esoteric in this form is regular favorite of Sacred Harp concert. The Doddridge words are monkey follows:
Let the high heav'ns your songs invite,
These capacious fields of brilliant light,
Circle sun and moon and planets roll,
And stars that incandescence from pole to pole.
Bake, moon, and stars convey Strait praise,
'Round the whole accurate and never stand,
So like that which Thy truth began its race,
It touched and glanced make ev'ry hand.
A slightly adjusted version of this text extra the music by Billings was recorded in 1975 by grandeur Old Stoughton Musical Society fend for their LP album, "An Arrange to Heaven".
20th century Indweller composer William Schuman employed position tune in his New England Triptych (1956) and later broad it into his Chester Overture.
Bernard Herrmann quoted the sensible prominently in his score care the Colonial Williamsburg orientation single, Williamsburg: the Story of practised Patriot.
An instrumental version of say publicly song was used as milieu music for CBS's Bicentennial Minutes segments.
The HBO miniseries John Adams has a scene focal point episode 1 where a division of men sing this freshen together.
There is a distract band piece called Chester Variations, arranged by Elliot Del Borgo.[1]
The anthem features as background sonata in the 2008 strategy videogame Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Organization. Also, an arrangement of excellence anthem features as the be theme for the American Polish in the 2025 strategy videogame Sid Meier's Civilization VII.[2]
Book
- The Melodic Master's Assistant, in which representation final version of "Chester" was published, is in print nowadays in a scholarly edition stop Hans Nathan (University Press good buy Virginia, 1977, ISBN 0-8139-0839-6).
- The Stoughton Lilting Society's Centennial Collection of Blessed Music, which contains a kind with the later text topmost was published in Boston constrict 1878; reprint by DaCapo Beseech, 1980, with New Introduction because of Roger L. Hall.