Foundery Collection
1742

More accurately, A Collection of Tunes, Set to Music, As they are commonly Sung at the Foundery [The Foundery Collection]. The first collection of hymn tunes published under John Wesley’s authority, this small volume contains forty-three tunes cross-referenced to hymns in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739, 1740, 1742). It contains a selection of older metrical psalm tunes, several Germanic tunes borrowed from Moravian sources, and an adaptation of a march from George Frideric Handel’s Handel, George Fridericopera Riccardo Primo (1727). The tunes are printed in melody-only format, with a single stanza of text interlined. Though hampered by poor editing and presentation, as well as its limited size, its contents established musical precedents that were influential in eighteenth-century Methodism.

Sources
  • S.T. Kimbrough and Carlton R. Young (eds), A Collection of Tunes, Set to Music, As they are commonly Sung at the Foundery: A Facsimile Edition with Introduction and Critical Notes (2011).

Entry written by: MVC
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