History
Billings wrote Africa some time before 1770 and included it in his first published hymnbook, The New England Psalm Singer. Later he made revisions for the version included in his The Singing Master's Assistant (1778) and still further, very minor, revisions for Music in Miniature (1779). It is the latter two versions that are performed today.
The name of the hymn is, as far as can be determined, completely arbitrary, and reflects a practice of Billings's day to give names specifically to the tunes of songs. Billings also wrote an "Asia" and an "America"; more often, he adopted the names of (arbitrarily chosen) New England towns to label his tunes.
Read more about this topic: Africa (William Billings)
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