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Sacred Nine Project: 350 Watts
The Isaac Watts Companion
Sunday, March 10, 2024, 3:00 PM, Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) is turning 350 in 2024! Since his surname makes one think of “units of power,” and because he was such a poetic power house, we have used lightning bolt imagery to celebrate his birthday. Watts was a an English minister, poet, hymnist, theologian, and logician. To say he is ubiquitous would be an understatement. Ever heard of “Joy to the World?” He wrote those words. No person or child would have been able to avoid his verses. He appears prominently in the first textbook in the American colonies, The New England Primer. Since Sacred Nine Project’s inception in 2018, I have set no fewer than eight of his poems to music, and that was not even a conscious goal.
On March 10 we will celebrate the “electric” scope of his songs and hymns in “The Isaac Watts Companion.” His works will be juxtaposed with complementary works by other writers. For example, you can expect to see Lewis Carroll, who parodied Watts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Also featured are other poets influenced by him, Emily Dickinson and William Blake. This concert will be equal parts beautiful and “shocking,” and you don’t want to miss it!
