He died in Farmington on June 9, 1836. Works Most of Belcher's 75 extant works survive in a volume titled The Harmony of Maine, which the composer published in 1794 in Boston. That collection only includes pieces by Belcher. The music is firmly rooted in the tradition of New England psalmody and William Billings in particular, although it also shows other influences (e.g. Handel, as in Ordination Anthem). Most of the pieces are in four voices and based on sacred texts, with a few exceptions—some three-voice pieces and several works with secular texts, frequently with lavishly ornamented melodic lines. Belcher composed fuguing 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. The Harmony of Maine was never widely reprinted, and, like all composers of the First New England School, by mid-19th century Belcher was forgotten everywhere except a few rural areas. His works, like those of his colleagues, were rediscovered in the second half of the 20th century. A 1978 work by American avant-garde composer John Cage, Some of the "Harmony of Maine", is a collection of organ pieces based on compositions from The Harmony of Maine. Cage also adapted a number of Belcher's chorales for use in his Apartment House 1776, and these were subsequently arranged for string quartet by Irvine Arditti along with Cage's adaptations of works by William Billings, Jacob French, Andrew Law, and James Lyon as 44 Harmonies, and performed by the Arditti Quartet and issued on CD by Mode Records. Editions Volume 5. Supply Belcher (1751–1836), The Collected Works, edited by Linda Davenport. 192 pages, Notes References Butler, Francis Gould. 1885. A History of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, Farmington, Press of Knowlton, McLeary and Co. Hall, Roger L. 1997. Music in Early Canton: Historical Notes and Music, Stoughton: PineTree Press. Marrocco, W. Thomas, and Gleason, Thomas. 1964. 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. External links Supply Belcher – "The Handel of Maine" Singing Stoughton Stoughton Massachusetts History Website American male composers American composers 1751 births 1836 deaths People from Farmington, Maine Shape note People