Thomas Hastings and his contemporary, Lowell Mason, have often been criticized for rejecting the music of the eighteenth-century American psalmodists and nineteenth-century folk hymnody in favor of what are sometimes considered to be insipid arrangements or imitations of imported European melodies. Hastings, in particular, made a number of vehement statements castigating pieces in these idioms. It is certainly true that Hastings held a low opinion of many pieces in these genres, but it is also true that he printed a surprising number of them in his tune books. While many of these items were probably included because he needed them to help sell his tune books, it is also evident that his rejection of the earlier American pieces was not quite as complete as it is sometimes made out to be. This study traces his use of these “objectionable” items and of some tunes the origins of which are uncertain.

中文翻译：

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托马斯黑斯廷斯曲调书中的早期新英格兰诗篇和美国民间赞美诗

托马斯·黑斯廷斯和他的同时代人洛厄尔·梅森经常被批评拒绝 18 世纪美国诗篇演奏家的音乐和 19 世纪民间赞美诗，而赞成有时被认为是平淡的安排或对进口欧洲旋律的模仿。尤其是黑斯廷斯，发表了一些激烈的声明，谴责这些成语中的片段。的确，黑斯廷斯对这些流派的许多作品评价不高，但他在他的曲谱中印制了数量惊人的作品也是事实。虽然其中许多物品可能被包括在内，因为他需要它们来帮助销售他的曲调书，但很明显，他对早期美国作品的拒绝并不像有时所说的那样完全。