Wilson Marion Cooper Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Wilson Marion Cooper (December 17, 1850 - July 17, 1916) of Dothan, Alabama, was a notable musician and music teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. Cooper was born in Alabama, possibly Dale County.W. M. Cooper prepared a revision of B. F. White's tune book The Sacred Harp in 1902. In the revision, some songs were transposed to a different key, and some of the old tune names changed to descriptive titles based on the words of the hymns. Some old songs were removed and new songs added in their places.
Perhaps the most significant contribution of his book was adding alto parts to the songs, the majority of which were originally written with three vocal lines (treble, tenor, bass). Cooper wrote most of the alto lines himself, though other individuals made contributions as well. Believing this was significant and unique, Cooper sued J. S. James after James in 1911 released an edition of The Sacred Harp also including alto parts. James' alto parts (most of which were written by S. M. Denson) were very close to those supplied to the songs by Cooper. In 1914, a judge found in favor of James, concluding, "An alto may be an improvement to a song to some extent, and probably is; but it can hardly be said to be an original composition, at least in the sense of the copyright law... In my opinion Mr. James has not infringed any legal rights of Cooper to the Sacred Harp..."
Some musicologists believe that the addition of alto to the songs of the Sacred Harp substantially changed their texture. In "The Alto Parts in the 'True Dispersed Harmony' of The Sacred Harp Revisions", Wallace McKenzie argues that the added altos, especially of the Cooper book, follow principles of 'true dispersed harmony' and do not greatly change the texture of the music. McKenzie wrote
- "Cooper's altos maintain some features of the contrapuntal-harmonic style described above somewhat more closely than do those of Denson...In both books, however, the alto melodies are consistent with the contrapuntal-harmonic style of the three-part pieces."
The Cooper revision of the Sacred Harp was widely adopted in many areas of the South, such as Florida, southern Alabama, south Georgia and Texas, where it has continued as the predominant Sacred Harp book to this day. The "Cooper book," as it is often called, was revised by Cooper himself in 1907 and 1909; and since then has been supervised by an editorial committee which produced new editions in 1927, 1950, 1960, 1992, and 2000. Recent research has revealed that a few songs were added to the book between 1909 and 1927.
Cooper married first a woman named Zelphia, last name unknown. He married second Mary S. Hayes. His children include George Hayes Cooper (1875-?); A. W. Cooper (1886-1911), who served as a lawyer in Dothan and Luverne; and Anna L. Cooper (Mrs. R. D. Blackshear 1877-1957), who assisted her father in writing alto parts for the revision. She and her husband, Dr. Randall David Blackshear (1861-1941), owned and published the Revised Sacred Harp after Cooper's death.
In addition to music, W. M. Cooper's activities included working as a farmer, school teacher, and insurance agent. He is known to have lived in at least three Alabama counties - Coffee, Dale, and Houston. He ran for Houston County Superintendent of Schools in 1912. Mary died in 1901 and is buried at the Old Tabernacle Methodist Cemetery in Coffee County, Alabama.
W. M. Cooper died in Palm Beach, Florida and is buried in the Dothan City Cemetery in Houston County, Alabama.
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