Wilson Marion Cooper

Wilson Marion Cooper (December 17, 1850 – July 17, 1916) of Dothan, Alabama, was a notable musician and music teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. Marion Cooper was born in Henry County, Alabama, the son of W. S. and Elizabeth Ann (Oates) Cooper. He was a cousin of Alabama governor William C. Oates.

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 his daughter Anna Blackshear and other individuals made important contributions. 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 (many 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."

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