Long, exhausting day

I set my alarm for 4:30 this morning, but woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. For some reason I left WUMB in an unusually irritable mood this afternoon, and actually got up and moved to the back of the car on the train home when a guy with an especially annoying tone of voice started making a series of loud phone calls from the seat in front of mine. I could still hear him from my new seat, but at least his words were no longer intelligible. Than I had choir practice tonight instead of tomorrow, so I had to wolf down a quick dinner and dash out the door as soon as I got home. This morning's cold wind and drizzle had given way to very pleasant weather, and I left my jacket at home. We rehearsed for our twice-postponed (by snowstorms) historical service, which part of our ongoing celebration of our church's 200th anniversary. The program includes an anthem by William Billings (a local composer who died in 1800 and is buried in Boston Common), two pieces by Horatio Parker (late 19th century, buried in our churchyard), and a bunch of old hymns that were sung at the 75th anniversary celebration in 1888.

Nobody seems to know what was sung in 1813, but presumably it was shape-note stuff similar to Billings's music, as that was the style of sacred music that was in vogue before Lowell Mason showed up and decided it was all too rustic and uncouth (by coincidence, one of the hymns from the 1888 service is by Mason).