Book Description

Rich in quality and diversity, the history of music in Georgia is a long one by American standards, spanning the better part of three centuries. This volume explores the musical landscape of Georgia's colonial period, from traditional ballads and operatic productions to John Wesley's first hymn book and New England fuging tunes that took root in south Georgia in the latter half of the century. Attention is also given to the musical and cultural contributions of the German-speaking Salzburgers who came to Georgia beginning in 1735, and to the manifold influences of African Americans in the late eighteenth century. By piecing together information drawn from court records, personal diaries and journals, newspaper notices, estate inventories, wills, and other historical documents, Ron Byrnside constructs a fascinating history of both the secular and sacred music of the colonial period with much of the material new to scholarship.