Dire hissings

I am writing this on the eve of the day Americans celebrate a day of Thanksgiving, and it puts me in mind of William Billings’s delightful An Anthem, for Thanksgiving. This doesn’t appear in any version of The Sacred Harp, but Billings is certainly well-represented. Billings published this in his tunebook The Continental Harmony, first published in 1794. Of course, this also predates the invention of the shapenote system used by Sacred Harp singers. Paul Hillier and His Majestie's Clerkes have an excellent performance on their album Early American Choral Music Vol. 1.

The Anthem, for Thanksgiving is a paraphrase of Psalm 148, which Billings surely knew best in the King James version:

Psalm 148 (King James Version)

Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.

Billings words follow the psalm closely with two major differences, I think. Here are his words:

An Anthem, for Thanksgiving

O praise the Lord of heaven: praise him in the height, praise him in the depth.
O praise the Lord of heaven: praise him all ye angels, praise him, Praise Jehovah.
Praise him, sun and moon and blazing comets: praise the Lord.
Let them praise the Name of the Lord: for he spake the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. Admire, adore.
Ye dragons whose contagious breath people the dark abodes of death,
Change your dire hissings into heav'nly songs, and praise your maker with your forked tongues.

O praise the Lord of heaven.
Fire, hail and snow, wind and storms, beasts and cattle, creeping insects, flying fowl, kings and princes, men and angels, fear the Lord.
Jew and gentile, male and female, bond and free, earth and heaven, land and water, praise the Lord.
Young men and maids, old men and babes, praise the Lord.

Join creation, preservation and redemption: join in one:
No exemption, nor dissension, one invention and intention
Reigns through the whole, to praise the Lord.

Hallelujah: praise the Lord.

The first major change is to expand the section on dragons, which are briefly mentioned in Psalm 148, but get an entire section in Billings: Ye dragons whose contagious breath people the dark abodes of death, / Change your dire hissings into heav'nly songs, and praise your maker with your forkéd tongues.

Musically, this allows Billings to strongly contrast the hissings which are converted to heav’nly songs, and have a whole “word painting” section on forkéd tongues. Christine Potter wrote a poem about singing the anthem, with a focus on the dragons. Go read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:

The second major change is more semantic. Although Psalm 148 has a variety of doublets praising God (sun and moon, fire and hail, snow and vapours, young men and maidens, old men and children, and so on), many of the doublets are not contrastive (as in fire and hail), but more synonymous (Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts) or progressive (Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens).

Billings, on the other hand, doubles down on the contrastive doublets, which usually are two halves of a whole. For example male and female comprise the sexes, earth and heaven comprise the universe, land and water comprise the earth. Furthermore, he calls back to the New Testament letter Galatians, which says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28, KJV). The psalm doesn’t mention these unifying contrasts, but they are important to Billings.

In fact, Billings adds an entire section not found in the psalm: Join creation, preservation and redemption: join in one: / No exemption, nor dissension, one invention and intention / Reigns through the whole, to praise the Lord. All humanity is called to have the “one invention and intention” to praise the Lord together.

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, may it be joyous. Enjoy William Billings’s An Anthem of Thanksgiving, which is appropriate for any day.