I am the Rose of Sharon, by William Billings (1746-1800)

From Billings’ Singing Master’s Assistant of 1778. In the 1770 New England Psalm Singer, Billings had noted that “a Man may sing a Treble the Eighth below, and a Woman a Tenor in the Eighth above … and may make good Music.” He amplified that in his 1794 Continental Harmony, where he said that “Such a conjunction of masculine and feminine voices is beyond expression, sweet and ravishing.” That approach is used widely in this version and may be compared with the same piece sung by Quire Cleveland in April 20