William Billings

“O praise the Lord with one consent, And in this grand design, Let nations all agree to lend To worship him their voice and mind.”

“Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And slavery clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in God, New England's God forever reigns.”

“For my own part, as I don't think myself confin'd to any Rules for Composition laid down by any that went before me...”

“It is an old maxim, and I think a very just one, that variety is always pleasing.”

“Perhaps it may be expected by some, that I should say something concerning Rules for Composition; to these I would reply, that Nature is the best Dictator...”

“...I think it is best for every Composer to be his own Carver.”

“After all, I must be candid enough to own, that I have not the vanity to think I have done any more than to lay a foundation for a grand superstructure.”

“I have read several authors' rules on composition, and find them very difficult to understand.”

“To all musical practitioners. Perhaps you may be ready to think that I am in a great measure unacquainted with the true proportion of sound; I am not ashamed to own that I am.”

“Much labor and pains have been taken by many learned gentlemen to bring the art of singing to a stately perfection.”

“Down steers the Bass with grave majestic Air, And up the Treble mounts with shrill Career.”

“A fugue is a composition of several parts... in which one part leads off, and the other parts follow after in the same notes.”