Nathaniel Billings

Nathaniel Billings, born in Northbourough, Massachusetts in 1768. It is not known how Billings learned music, but there were several singing masters close to where he lived. He may have been mentored by Abraham Wood, Joseph Stone, or Jacob French. Woods and Stone published Billing's first-published tune NEW SPRINGFIELD in their 1793 The Columbian Harmony. However, Billing's style more closely resembles that of Jacob French. Billings taught a singing school in Cooperstown, New York in 1794. In 1795 he moved to the Troy-Lansingburgh area north of Albany where he published a newspaper, the Recorder with George Gardner, and issued his tunebook The Republican Harmony. In 1797 he married and settled in Paterson, New Jersey. It is not known what sort of work Billings did in Paterson, but he is listed in the 1850 census as a musician.

Dianne Shapiro, from "The 'Other' Billings: The Life and Music of Nathaniel Billings (1768-1853), an Early American Composer" byKarl Kroeger and Joan R. Callahan in Notes Second Series, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Dec., 2003), pp. 377-392 (16 pages)
Published by: Music Library Association