The grandson of a colonial governor of Connecticut, Andrew Law was born in Milford, Conn., and studied divinity at Rhode Island College (Brown University) and Yale before obtaining a license to preach in 1776. Although was ordained in 1787 for both Congregational and Presbyterian congregations, he had already embarked on a musical career that would make him one of America's most prolific, most widely traveled composers of the day.

As early as 1770, Law offered instruction in violin and flute, and while still an undergraduate, he began directing a singing school, compiling his first tunebook in 1777. His Select Harmony (Cheshire, Conn., 1779) became one of the most popular American tunebooks of its day, and was the first to combine English and American psalmodists in roughly equal proportions. His brother William, a printer in Cheshire, became Andrew's publisher, and issued a second edition of the Select Harmony in 1782, followed in the next year by two works, A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship and The Rudiments of Music. With their appearance, Andrew Law began to travel widely across the country, teaching from his works, establishing singing schools in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Between 1789 and 1792, he conducted schools in Alexandria, Va., and Baltimore, while overseeing a staff of younger singing masters who covered the rural reaches of the middle south. Almost single-handedly through Law's influence, the musical traditions of New England began effectively to penetrate southward.

Law's grandiose plans for the south never materialized into the success that provided a livelihood, and after the collapse of his efforts in 1793, he returned to Connecticut. Ambitious and litigious by nature, he engaged in a series of lawsuits accusing other composers of piracy, and after announcing a preference for European music, spent several years promulgating his ideas in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. He also fearlessly, but unsuccessfully, championed a staffless shape-notation for his tunebooks that, because he refused to have his works published in other formats, ultimately limited his sales and income. He continued to write and publish until his death in 1821.

Scope and contents:

The Law Papers contain over 500 letters written during the most productive years of Andrew Law's professional career as a singing master, composer, and compiler of tunebooks, 1780-1821. Most of the correspondence relates to Law's musical publications, his ideas on music, and family matters, and together, they form an invaluable archive of the mind and work of one of the most prolific tunesmiths of the Early Republic.

In addition, the collection includes approximately 700 accounts, receipts, and other business papers; personal memoranda relating to Law's travels and financial affairs (350 pp.); miscellaneous manuscript music (368 pp.); and 35 lists of students.

Related materials:

Law, Andrew. Select harmony (Cheshire, Conn., 1778), see also other editions and numerous variants, 1779, 1782, 1812

_________. A select number of plain tunes adapted to Congregational worship... (S.l., 1781)

_________. A collection of hymn tunes from the most modern and approved authors (Cheshire, Conn., 1783)

_________. A collection of hymns for social worship (Cheshire, Conn., 1783)

_________. The rudiments of music... (Cheshire, Conn., 3rd ed., 1791), also editions of 1792, 1793

_________. The musical magazine... (Cheshire, Conn., 1792) see also part III of The art of singing and other editions

_________. The art of singing... (Cheshire, Conn., 1794), also editions of 1800, 1803, 1803-05, 1811, 1820

_________. Harmonic companion (Philadelphia, 1807) see also The art of singing also editions of 1813, 1819

_________. Musical primer... (Philadelphia, 1810), also edition of 1817, see also part I of The art of singing

_________. Supplement to the Musical Primer... (Philadelphia, 1811), also edition of 1820

_________. [Sixteen tune settings] (S.l., ca.1812)

_________. Essays on music (Hartford, 1821)

Law, Samuel Andrew. Mr. Adgate's new plan of solfaing, examined (S.l., 1792?) anonymous work, probably written by Samuel Andrew Law, Andrew Law's nephew

William, Roger. The prayer... (Philadelphia, 1800), also includes some of Law's music.

The Clements also houses the papers of the printer, William Law, Andrew's brother.

Provenance:

Purchased, 1960

References:

Crawford, Richard. Andrew Law (1749-1821): the career of an American musician (PhD Diss., Univ. of Michigan, 1965).

Crawford, Richard. Andrew Law, American psalmodist (Evanston, Ill., 1968)

Hitchcock, W. Wiley and Stanley Sadie. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, vol. 3 (London, 1986), p. 18.

Recat. 5/98 rsc

Subject index to the Andrew Law Papers Papers

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