Africa (William Billings) - Music

Music

Version of 1778.

Click to hear piano reduction (Ogg format, 250K)

Musically, the work is notable for the parallel descending thirds and sixths that shift from part to part. Some renditions of this hymn (for example, the practice of Sacred Harp singer) follow a practice recommended by Billings himself and include male singers on the treble, singing an octave down, as well as female singers on the tenor part, singing an octave higher.

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