John Wyeth

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'''John Wyeth''' (1770-1858) was a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] printer of tunebooks for many denominations in the Mid-Atlantic states, whose ''Repository of Sacred Music'' (Harrisburg, PA: 1810) and ''Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'' (Harrisburg, PA: 1813) are important sources of American folk tunes that influenced all subsequent folk hymn, [[camp meeting]], and [[shape-note]] collections. Musicologist Warren Steel sees them as marking "the end of the age of New England composer-compilers (1770-1810) and the beginning of the age of southern collector-compilers (1816-1860)."<ref name="Steel">David Warren Steel, "John Wyeth and the Development of Southern Folk Hymnody", ''Music from the Middle Ages Through the 20th Century: Essays in Honor of Gwynn McPeek,'' Carmelo P. Comberiati and Matthew C. Steel, eds. (London: Gordon & Breach, 1988), pp. 357-374. Available on-line at </ref>

There is no evidence that Wyeth had musical skills or even that he loved music; his motivations may have been strictly business. At a time when "hymnals" were words-only, sources of hymn tunes were highly prized, and the delayed development of American copyright law meant that the early works of composers such as [[William Billings]] were in the public domain.<ref name="Lowens">Irving Lowens, "Introduction" to ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music,'' Irving Lowens, ed. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1974), p. vii.</ref> [[Elkanah Kelsey Dare]] served as music-editor, and 10 of his compositions were included in the two ''Repositories''.

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