Civil War Hymns

[amity]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Thanks for mentioning shape note music to the choral director, Neil! The choral directors around here are using a system of hand signals, and I think the shapenotes work so much easier. There was a study done trying to teach I think it was first or second graders to read music using shapenotes and it was very successful.

Here is a webpage especially for her to explain the logic of it.

http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/shapnote/shaped.htm

This is the shape system that I said was not in very comm0n use by the civil war, but it was the system that eventually won out. The four shape system was well suited to music where the harmonics were built around fourths. As music changed, the system of notation did, too. The Aiken seven shape system is best for modern choral music.

[styler]

Re: Civil War Hymns

I've had the opportunity to look at mid-nineteenth century hymnals of several denominations (they were on open racks at a nearby divinity school until recently). Most that I saw or that appear on eBay today contain words only with the meter listed with the title. Music was often contained in other books and hymns could be sung to whatever tune fit the meter of the poem. There were probably specific tunes associated with specific hymns, but I have run across one example where this "rule" wasn't kept in practice and I suspect the practice was "if the tune fits, use it."

The Methodist Episcopal Church (North) published a hymnal in 1857 containing tunes (in modern musical notation) for common hymns along with the words. Many of the tunes and hymns wouldn't be familiar today. While a lot of today's hymns have nineteenth century origins they are markably post-Civil War (milage may vary with denomination). That said, some of the hymns and tunes in the '57 hymnal are still found associated in the modern United Methodist hymnal.

Music in churches was a sticky issue with some denominations. One of the issues which led to the 1860 schism of the Free Methodist Church concerned church music. I'm fuzzy on whether it was over choirs, instruments, or professional staff musicians/leaders, (or all of the above), but those issues were significant in various denominations of the period. Thus how music was used would vary - some churches abstaining from using instruments in church not because of the expense of the instrument but because it crossed with their belief. However, I don't know of any denomination that didn't sing hymns.

All in all, it's always important to keep in mind that practices in the 1860s can be very different than those of today.

[amity]

Re: Civil War Hymns

A hymnologist friend has posted his own personal listing of 19th century hymnals available online through Google books. Most of these offerings are from the Harvard Univ. Divinity School library, so probably reflect a more northern selection, and include denominational and other special purpose hymnals. Since the majority of these are very appropriate for the civil war (and earlier), I thought I would share his list. Click on title pages to see the books in their entirety, or close to it. This is a multi-page listing. Most of the date appropriate hymnals are on the second and third pages:

http://books.google.com/books?as_list=BDWJNNIYQ4prRseiV76u5ARoUVYAhgmnEz5O__U2Y4RoncWyaylc

[Joe Walker]

Re: Civil War Hymns

As the holiday season approaches, does anyone have the names of songs or "carols" that were sung by either side?

Joe Walker

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Mr Walker, check the hymnody collection in Terre's link just above. Hymnals are a great source for religious Christmas songs.

[amity]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Funny you should ask.

Looking at songbooks and hymnlists, it appears to me that:

1) many of the songs we think of as "Christmas songs" existed as either lyrics or tunes, but uncommonly were the words we know associated with the music we know. You would be surprised that even Amazing Grace was not firmly associated with the tune we know, which is called New Britain, until the late 19th century. It was sometimes sung that way, sometimes to other tunes.

2) most of those songs we think of as "Christmas songs" might as likely be sung in July as in December. They are not really Christmas songs, IOW. This begs the question of whether people got together publicly for "carolling" in the U.S. at that time, which I don't have an answer for. It seems a natural, but did it happen? I am not convinced that Christmas had come totally out of the closet by the 1860s, esp. in the South.

3) the field of Christmas song research could serve as a prime illustration of the principle that just because it was invented prior to the civil war does not mean that it was in common use during the civil war (the toga effect). The reasoning sometimes used is that if the words are documented to 14th century Flanders, and the tune was written by Handel, then by definition it must be a period song. But many of the songs that have been mentioned as *period*, I have so far not been able to find in a generally available period source. I am ready for them to be found, though! ;)

Meanwhile, here are some that I have found in period sources:

Star in the East - A William Walker tune, try the Southern Harmony, published in 1835, repub. 1856.
Babe of Bethlehem - Another Walker tune, same source.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony/files/harmony.html

"Shepherds rejoice, lift up your eyes" sung to tune of Oxford. Sacred Harp has period arrangement.
"While Shepherds watched their flocks by night" sung to tune of Sherburne, also in Sacred Harp.

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/collections/index.cfm?action=view&TitleID=610&Format=jpg

Joy to the World. The tune it is usually set to today is called _Antioch_ and was written in 1833 by Lowell Mason. Words of course by my beloved Isaac Watts early 1700s.

Silent Night - Caution here. The words are old, and the tune is old, but the words were originally German and not translated into English until 1863. How much later first published/popularized I am not sure.

Hark the Herald Angels, but try to find words in an appropriate period hymnal. Charles Wesley's original was "Hark, how all the welkin (firmament-ts) rings," so the particular period version sung in your neck of the woods might have original words, modern words, or something else entirely.

O, Holy Night - per Linda Trent.

Mrs. Mescher and others have mentioned seeing "We Three Kings" which was first published in 1859.

Jingle Bells with a somewhat different tune mentioned by several people.


Songs I have NOT yet found in period U.S. sources (even though they may well be that old) include:
Angels We Have Heard On High
Deck the Halls
The First Noel
O Come All Ye Faithful
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Auld Lang Syne (tune is period, called Plenary, but only with different non-Christmas words so far).
Here We Come A-Wassailing
Good King Wenceslaus
What Child Is This
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Twelve Days of Christmas
O come, O come, Emmanuel (originally Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel, and not documented to U.S. songbooks so far as I know?)

These have sometimes been said to be period, so I would put them in the "maybe" category and research further until someone turns up a period source. I feel sort of doubtful about some of these, but most optimistic about the first five, although maybe with altered words or tunes.

Of course try to be sensitive to who is being portrayed and what they would be singing, too. O Come All Ye Faithful is so classically Catholic that I doubt it would have been familiar to most Protestants at that point. When Catholics sang it, would it have been in English ... or in the original Latin "Adeste Fideles"? On the other hand, would Catholics have sung Joy to the World? Not likely.

[GermanDraftee]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Funny you should ask.

Looking at songbooks and hymnlists, it appears to me that:

1) many of the songs we think of as "Christmas songs" existed as either lyrics or tunes, but uncommonly were the words we know associated with the music we know. You would be surprised that even Amazing Grace was not firmly associated with the tune we know, which is called New Britain, until the late 19th century. It was sometimes sung that way, sometimes to other tunes.

2) those songs we think of as "Christmas songs" might as likely be sung in July as in December. They are not really Christmas songs, IOW. This begs the question of whether people got together publicly for "carolling" in the U.S. at that time, which I don't have an answer for. It seems a natural, but did it happen? I am not convinced that Christmas had come totally out of the closet during the 1860s, esp. in the South.

3) the field of Christmas song research could serve as a prime illustration of the principle that just because it was invented prior to the civil war does not mean that it was in common use during the civil war (the toga effect). The reasoning sometimes is that if the words are documented to 14th century Flanders, and the tune was written by Handel, then it must be a period song. Many songs have been mentioned as *period* that I have so far not been able to find in a generally available period source. I am ready for them to be found, though! ;)

Meanwhile, here are some that I have found in period sources:

Star in the East - A William Walker tune, try the Southern Harmony, published in 1835, repub. 1856.
Babe of Bethlehem - Another Walker tune, same source.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony/files/harmony.html

"Shepherds rejoice, lift up your eyes" sung to tune of Oxford. Sacred Harp has period arrangement.
"While Shepherds watched their flocks by night" sung to tune of Sherburne, also in Sacred Harp.

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/collections/index.cfm?action=view&TitleID=610&Format=jpg

Joy to the World. The tune it is usually set to today is called _Antioch_ and was written in 1833 by Lowell Mason. Words of course by my beloved Isaac Watts early 1700s.

Silent Night - Caution here. The words are old, and the tune is old, but the words were originally German and not translated into English until 1863. How much later first published/popularized I am not sure.

Hark the Herald Angels, but try to find words in an appropriate period hymnal. Charles Wesley's original was "Hark, how all the welkin (firmament-ts) rings," so the particular period version sung in your neck of the woods might have original words, modern words, or something else entirely.

O, Holy Night - per Linda Trent.

Mrs. Mescher and others have mentioned seeing "We Three Kings" which was first published in 1859.

Jingle Bells with a somewhat different tune mentioned by several people.


Songs I have NOT found in period U.S. sources (even though they may well be that old) include:
Angels We Have Heard On High
Deck the Halls
The First Noel
O Come All Ye Faithful
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Auld Lang Syne (tune is period, but with different non-Christmas words so far).
Here We Come A-Wassailing
Good King Wenceslaus
What Child Is This
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Twelve Days of Christmas
O come, O come, Emmanuel (originally Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel, and not documented to U.S. songbooks so far as I know?)

These have sometimes been said to be period, so I would put them in the "maybe" category and research further until someone turns up a period source. I feel sort of doubtful about some of these, but most optimistic about the first five, although maybe with altered words or tunes.

Of course try to be sensitive to who is being portrayed and what they would be singing, too. O Come All Ye Faithful is so classically Catholic that I doubt it would have been familiar to most Protestants at that point. When Catholics sang it, would it have been in English ... or in the original Latin "Adeste Fideles"? On the other hand, would Catholics have sung Joy to the World? Not likely.

Us Catholics were commonly singing the original Latin, "Adeste Fideles" (O Come All Ye Faithful) into the mid-twentieth century. Being the original, it would have been the preferred version for the time. "Veni, Veni, Immanuel" dates to the 9th century and the chant melody (LM with Refrain, Mode 1) predates the 19th century. This would also have been preferred to a translation to English. For "Stille Nacht" and "Es Ist Ein Ros' Entsprungen", it would be safer to stick with the German.

[yankeecav]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Has anyone had an opportunity to physically check the library at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville? I wonder if they might have some early, original hymnals or music.

Steve Tyler had mentioned checking a seminary but was wondering which one.

[styler]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Rochester Colgate/Crozier/Bexley Hall

http://www.crcds.edu/history.asp

The older books on the browsing stacks were moved to the University of Rochester's Rush Rhee's Library Rare Book Collection over a year ago. Still available, but not as convenient.

Terre's link to the Harvard Collection on Google is really helpful. Thanks, Terre; I managed to find the source for a mystery tune I found in a diary entry!

Another that was posted long ago on the A-C and can come in handy for those folks west of the big scary mountains is: Hymnals of the Stone-Campbell Movement. I haven't found the seach engine to be super convenient, but it's a good resource for primary material.

[Micah Trent]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Tom,

The Southern Baptist Siminary does as well as the Louisville Bible College. You can also check the Portland Christian School. They have some interesting material.

[amity]

Re: Civil War Hymns

"Veni, Veni, Immanuel" dates to the 9th century and the chant melody (LM with Refrain, Mode 1) predates the 19th century. This would also have been preferred to a translation to English.

I understand, but have you seen a mid-19th cent U.S. source for this song, words and/or tune? 9th cent. sources don't count! I am hoping it was period, and thinking it probably was period, but not sure!

Many of the songs that are on my "maybe" list fall into just this category. Just because God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen might appear in a 16th century Cornish source does not by itself convince me that it was sung in the U.S. during the civil war.

[styler]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Terre,
doing an advanced search on Google Books for "God rest ye merry gentlemen" between the dates of 1840 and 1870 I found it in several just-post-war Episcopal hymnals and this work:

Poems
By Dinah Maria Mulock
Craik
Published 1860
Ticknor & Fields
270 pages
Original from the University of Michigan
Digitized Nov 23, 2005

The forward states that the selection comes from Chamber's journal and were reprinted in other periodicals.

Obviously, a letter, newspaper, or diary reference would be best, but the words and music appear to have been familiar in some circles.

[GermanDraftee]

Re: Civil War Hymns

I understand, but have you seen a mid-19th cent U.S. source for this song, words and/or tune? 9th cent. sources don't count! I am hoping it was period, and thinking it probably was period, but not sure!

Many of the songs that are on my "maybe" list fall into just this category. Just because God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen might appear in a 16th century Cornish source does not by itself convince me that it was sung in the U.S. during the civil war.

"Adeste Fideles" made its American hymnal debut in 1805, in Benjamin Carr's "Masses, Vespers, Litanies: Composed, Selected, and Arranged for the Use of the Catholic Churches in the United States of America" (Philadelphia). It was translated into English in the early 1840s and was included in the original (1861) Anglican/Episcopal hymnal "Hymns: Ancient & Modern".

The earliest print appearance of "Veni, Veni, Immanuel" (with the text & melody combination that we know) seems to be the "Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum". (Köln/Cologne, 1710) If I find an American hymnal appearance, closer to the ACW, I'll pass it on.

[amity]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Thanks, Steve, that is pretty close to documenting God Rest Ye Merry! Hopefully something in a pre-war songbook will turn up.

And John, I will definitely include Adeste Fidelis for Catholics and Episcopalians. On "O Come ..." I am wondering if this was exclusively a performance piece, not sung in churches or socially until later?

Thanks for looking, gentlemen.

[GermanDraftee]

Re: Civil War Hymns

Thanks, Steve, that is pretty close to documenting God Rest Ye Merry! Hopefully something in a pre-war songbook will turn up.

And John, I will definitely include Adeste Fidelis for Catholics and Episcopalians. On "O Come ..." I am wondering if this was exclusively a performance piece, not sung in churches or socially until later?

Thanks for looking, gentlemen.

Terre,

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is a bit tougher to say for America. The time frame is a bit tighter than "Adeste Fidelis/O Come All Ye Faithful". If I remember correctly, it is included in "The Hymnal Noted" beginning in 1851 ("Mediaeval Hymns" as well?), with modifications in editions between then and 1854. ("Draw Nigh" changing to "O Come" and the inclusion of Helmore's adaptation of the melody.) It is also present in Neale's 1853 collection, "Carols for Christmas Tide". Could it have traveled from Great Britain to the U.S. in that time? Certainly. Did it, how well known was it and how was it used? Right now, I can't be sure.