| I don't know much of Artemas Nixon Johnson. The Library of Congress gives his dates as 1817-1892, and there are 21 references to him in their online catalogue. Baker contributed fairly heavily to the Handel Collection, as he did two years later to Johnson's Key-Stone Collection. Baker co-edited The Timbrel with Isaac B. Woodbury in 1849, and worked on some other collections as well. His tune Gadiel, using My dear redeemer and my Lord as its text, stands out strongly. Greenvale and Wintervale, companion tunes by M. D. Randall, are also good. Consolation, by E.K. Prouty, has the makings of a good shaped-note tune. Overall, The Handel Collection, not as large as some, is a sleeper among round-note tunebooks, and well worth a shaped-note singer's study. There's a high level of workmanship here: for example, compare T. H. Severn's tune Greenhithe, which dates to 1835. Webb includes it in his Massachusetts Collection of 1840. The 1840 version is good; the present 1854 revision is masterful, sonically a very striking piece. The borrowings from the classic composers are very good, as in one instance Bartlett, arranged from Haydn, and very daring in context. Baker's tune Vergennes makes an interesting contrast tune for "Joy to the world:" try it. And Heard, with its initial call-and-response section has a charming small-town band feel. |