Editing Justin Morgan

{{short description|American horse breeder, composer and singing master}}
{{for multi|the breed of horse|Morgan horse|the individual horse|Figure (horse)}}
{{Other people}}
{{More footnotes|date=March 2018}}
'''Justin Morgan''' (February 28, 1747 – March 22, 1798) was a [[United States of America|U.S.]] horse breeder and composer.

He was born in [[West Springfield, Massachusetts]], and by 1788 had settled in Vermont. In addition to being a horse breeder and farmer, he was a teacher of singing; in that capacity he traveled considerably throughout the northeastern states. He died in [[Randolph, Vermont]], where he also served as town clerk.

Justin Morgan was the owner of a stallion named [[Figure (horse)|Figure]], who became the sire of the [[Morgan horse]] breed. Morgan received Figure along with two other horses as payment of a debt. As Figure grew older, people began to recognize his skill in a variety of areas. Figure became a prolific breeding stallion; his descendants, still noted for their versatility and friendly personality, became the first American breed of horse to survive to the present. Figure's grave is marked by a stone in [[Tunbridge, Vermont]].

Justin Morgan's original 1798 gravestone is preserved in the Randolph Historical Society Museum. His burial site in the Randolph Center Cemetery is marked by a more recent stone.

==Music==
Morgan was a composer, best known for his [[hymn]]s and [[fuguing tune]]s. While not so famous as those by [[William Billings]], his works share the same characteristic roughness, directness, and folk-like simplicity.

Publications containing his work include ''The Federal Harmony'' (New Haven, 1790), and ''The Philadelphia Harmony'', 4th ed. (Philadelphia, 1791). The former collection includes what perhaps is his most famous composition entitled, "Amanda," a setting of [[Isaac Watts]]'s poem based on Psalm 90. This hymn was the basis for a classical work written by American composer [[Thomas Canning]] in 1946, "Fantasy on a Hymn Tune by Justin Morgan."<ref>{{cite AV media notes | title = Fantasy on a Hymn Tune by Justin Morgan| author = Leopold Stokowski conducts the Houston Symphony | page = 3 | year = 1960 | publisher = Everest Records | oclc = 4444534}}</ref> The tune "Despair," in the 1791 collection, cites the death of "Amanda" (referring to his wife, Martha Day, who died on March 20 that year, ten days after giving birth to their youngest daughter, Polly)<ref name=BANDEL>{{cite book| title= Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land |last= Bandel | first = Betty | year = 1981 | publisher = Associated University Presses, University of Toronto}}</ref>{{rp|p. 130}} in a paraphrase of [[Alexander Pope]]'s [[Ode to Solitude|Ode on Solitude]].

Morgan's setting of Psalm 63, entitled ''Montgomery'', was a popular [[fuguing tune]], included among the 100 hymn-tunes most frequently printed during the eighteenth century.<ref name =BANDEL/>{{rp|p. 144}} Four of his tunes, including ''Montgomery'', are in the 1991 edition of ''The Sacred Harp'';<ref>[https://fasola.org/indexes/1991/?v=composer Fasola.org composer index]</ref> three more songs, including "Amanda" and "Despair," both grieving over the death of his wife, are in the [[Shenandoah Harmony]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/2018/nsv-all-day-2014-recordings/shh-210-amanda-2/ |title=''Shenandoah Harmony'' 210 Amanda |access-date=2019-12-14 |archive-date=2019-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214210731/https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/2018/nsv-all-day-2014-recordings/shh-210-amanda-2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its voice-leading, as is common in works by [[Yankee tunesmiths|early American composers]], contains numerous unabashed parallel fifths, giving the music a folk-like quality. Another work of his, the ''Judgment Anthem'', is tonally adventurous, moving back and forth between E minor and E♭ major; it was the first anthem published in [[shape note]]s, appearing in Little and Smith's ''[[The Easy Instructor]]'' (1801), and many tunebooks thereafter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/2013/morgans-judgment-anthem-newly-typeset/ |title=Morgan's Judgment Anthem, Newly Typeset |last=Hall |first=Rachel |date=August 23, 2013 |website=Shenandoah Harmony website |publisher= |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote= |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924034041/https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/2013/morgans-judgment-anthem-newly-typeset/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==In literature==
Morgan and his horse-breeding venture is the subject of a children's book by [[Marguerite Henry]], ''[[Justin Morgan Had a Horse]]'', that won the [[Newbery Honor]] in 1946. In 1972, the book was adapted as a film by [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney Studios]].<ref>[[Justin Morgan Had a Horse#Adaptations]]</ref>

==References and further reading==

{{reflist}}

* Nym Cooke: "Justin Morgan", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 3, 2005), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041031/http://www.grovemusic.com/ |date=2008-05-16 }}
* W. Thomas Marrocco and Harold Gleason, eds. ''Music in America''.  New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1964.
* Betty Bandel: "Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land, The Life of Justin Morgan". With musical appendix by James G. Chapman. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1981
* {{cite web |url=http://www.morganmuseum.org/html/justinmorgan.html |title=Justin Morgan the Man |last=Curler |first=Elizabeth |date=2010 |website=The National Museum of the Morgan Horse |publisher= |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=}}

==External links==
* {{IMSLP|id=Morgan,_Justin/Collections}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Justin}}
[[Category:1747 births]]
[[Category:1798 deaths]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:American composers]]
[[Category:Shape note]]
[[Category:People from Randolph, Vermont]]
[[Category:People from West Springfield, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Musicians from Vermont]]
[[Category:Musicians from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:18th-century American composers]]
[[Category:18th-century American male musicians]]