Supply Belcher (March 29, 1751 – June 9, 1836) was an American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books. He was one of the members of the First New England School , and was dubbed the "Handell [sic] of Maine."

Life

He was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts (now Sharon), and moved early in his life to Boston. During the Revolutionary War he served as a soldier; specifically, he was in a company of Minutemen who marched to Cambridge on April 19, 1775 immediately after receiving the alarm from Lexington. Later, he was promoted to the rank of Captain under Washington.

After the war, in 1785, he moved to Maine with his family, where he remained; he was a prominent local citizen, serving as tax assessor, schoolmaster, town clerk, Justice of the Peace, magistrate, and even representative to the state legislature. He bought a tavern, which in 1788 became a meeting place for local musicians. As a musician — never his primary employment — he was a violinist and singer in addition to being a composer.

Works

Most of his compositions, of which 75 are extant, are included in a publication called The Harmony of Maine (1794), which includes only his own music. He was heavily influenced by William Billings, whose singing classes he attended, and his music is firmly in the tradition of New England psalmody, although there are other influences. Most of his music is for three or four voices, and he wrote fuging tunes rather like those of Billings, but often with more precise performance directions. His voice-leading is considerably smoother and follows the "rules" more frequently than the work of many of his contemporaries, for instance avoiding the parallel perfect intervals and open fifths which are a common feature of New England psalmody.

References and further reading

• W. Thomas Marrocco and Thomas Gleason, Music in America, an Anthology from the Landing of the Pilgrims to the Close of the Civil War, 1620–1865. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1964.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001, online edition (subscription access). (Grove Online)