On today’s date in 1875 one of the greatest musical match-makers of all time died in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His name was William Walker, an American Baptist shape note singing master, who published several collections of traditional shape note tunes.

Now, “shape note” refers to a simple musical notation designed for communal singing, and in his 1835 collection entitled “Southern Harmony,” Walker married a shape-note tune known as “New Britain” to a hymn text titled “Amazing Grace” written by an Anglican clergyman and abolitionist named John Newton.

Walker’s collection was a best-seller in the 19th century, and two centuries later, “Amazing Grace” has become one of the best-known and best-loved hymns of our time.

In 2011 a new orchestral fanfare based on “Amazing Grace” by the African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork was published and subsequently recorded by the Virginia Symphony–appropriately enough, since Hailstork has served as professor of music and Composer-in-Residence at both Virginia's Norfolk State and Old Dominion Universities, and in 1992 was named a Cultural Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to this Fanfare, Hailstork’s works range from choral and chamber pieces to symphonies and operas.