Re: Fw: Psalm 133/Battle Hymn of the Republic (LONG)

[BarMusProd <BarMusProd...>]

Dear Listers,

Well, here we go again.
In a message dated 9/24/99 6:15:35 PM, zelwel (at) earthlink(dot)net writes in 
response to a long quoted letter from Chris Kite, who states that he/she is a 
descendant of men who fought with Jeb Stuart for the Confederacy (it's a 
fascinating letter if you haven't read it). 

In zelwel (at) earthlink(dot)net's quotation of Chris's letter some 
misinformation 
taken from a website whose conclusions and sources are unstated (I checked 
out the link) has crept in. My source for this is (and I know you're getting 
tired of my quoting from it) is James J. Fuld's _the Book of World Famous 
Music: Classical, Popular and Folk_ reprinted by Dover. Here are quotes from 
Chris's letter and my comments:
>It could be a folk tune existing way before the
> > 1850's<

Yes, Fuld states that "Boyd Stutler [who has spent a lifetime studying the 
history of this song] has suggested the possibility that the melody and/or 
the word so "Glory Hallelujah" may have been derived from he Swedish "Bröder 
[that's an O with an umlaut] Viljen I Gä [that's an A with an umlaut] Med 
Oss," but Swedish authorities have replied to Fuld's inquiries that this song 
probably dates from no earlier than 1875, so as a source it is probably too 
late. But the simplicity of the melody and the fact that the verse and the 
chorus are essentially the same, could certainly have been folk in origin 
(that is, we don't know the composer or when or where it was first conceived).

>> > I have notes from http://users.erols.com/kfraser/hymn-exp.html which say
> > the Battle Hymn tune was borrowed from an old Methodist hymn, "Say,
> > Brothers, Will You Meet Us?" by William Steffe.<

This is inaccurate. The song "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?" was first 
printed as a Christian "camp" hymn in 1857 in the _Camp Meeting and Revival 
Chorister_ and *later* appropriated by the Methodist Church. Fuld again: "On 
the basis of a lifetime study of the song, Boyd S. Stutler has concluded that 
none of the claims to the composition of the 'Glory Hallelujah' song can be 
sustained. The most persistent claims have been made on behalf of William 
Steffe of Philadelphia, Thomas Brigham Bishop of New York City, and Frank E. 
Jerome of Russell, Kansas." 

I also definitely agree with zelwel (at) earthlink(dot)net who says in 
response's to 
Chris Kite's theory that maybe "Say, Brothers..." may have been used in the 
Zionist movement which was rising at this time as well: >In general, since 
the time of the Torah Jews do not refer to the Holy
> Land as Canaan. A reference to Canaan is not a Jewish reference- remember
> that according to the bible the Canaanites were very bad people. No
Zionist
> I know of would have ever said " ... Meet Me On Canaan's Happy Shore"- I'm
> guessing that the Jewish camp song connection came much later- the 1950's
or
> 1960's at the earliest.<

This was Chris's statement that he was responding to:
>> > One of the replies extended the title to " ... Meet Me On Canaan's Happy
> > Shore". This suggests a link to Judaism and the Zionist movement
starting
> > in the 1840's.<

That seems a bit far-fetched to me as well. I think the camp song origin was: 
"let's take a song that we all know that just happens to fit rhythm of Psalm 
133. How about the Battle Hymn of the Republic?" Ugh! [my editorial comment 
to that suggestion....]

Chris then states: >This reply also says Julia Ward Howe first wrote the
Battle
> > Hymn as a poem without the musical chorus.<

This is sort of true. I'm not sure which reply he/she is referring to, but 
the original publication of the Howe poem did *not* include the words to the 
"Glory Hallelujah" chorus, only what we would label the "verses" of the song.

>This conflicts with the note
> > below based on the above website. The conflict may be resolved by the
fact
> > that the lurics were published in the Atlantic Monthly in Feb 1862 and
> > people may have assumed it was first a poem.<

It was printed as a poem with no indication that it was to be sung to the 
melody of "John Brown" (the correct originally copyrighted title, not "John 
Brown's Body" by the way) or any other song. She may have intended it that 
way, and perhaps did, but in the printed record there is no indication as 
such. And the true first publication, contrary to popular opinion and a 
number of credible sources, was *not* the February, 1862, _Atlantic Monthly_ 
according to Fuld. He says: "...the entire poem was contained in the Jan. 14, 
1862, issue of the _New-York Daily Tribune_, p. 4, col. 6." with the source 
quizzically listed as the February issue of the _Atlantic Monthly_. Fuld's 
explanation was that "the magazine sent out advance proofs or excerpts for 
newspaper release."

> The website says that as Julia Ward Howe toured Union camps near DC in
> > November 1861, she was encouraged by Reverend James Freeman Clarke to
> > write new lyrics to the tune. She awoke to find the "... lines were
> > arranging themselves in my brain ...".<

The touring of the camps near D.C. is true, but the information about 
Reverend Clarke and the quotation attributed to Mrs. Howe has no source 
listed. I don't know about it's veracity. True or not, it's a good story, 
though.

Chris goes on: >>My great and great-great grandfathers in the Kite line were 
in Jeb
> > Stuart's Cavalry during the Civil War. This cavalry hunted down John
Brown
> > under orders from Robert E. Lee.<

I'm not a Civil War Scholar. Paul Johnson in his _A History of the American 
People_ states: "...on October 16, 1859, with twenty men, [Brown] seized the 
US arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Two days later, Colonel Robert E. Lee and a 
regular army unit recaptured the post, killed 10 of Brown's men, and made him 
prisoner. He was condemned to death and hanged on December 2." Perhaps Jeb 
Stuart was hunting Brown down in his underground railroad "station" that he 
set up in the mountains of Virginia before his raid on Harper's Ferry.

>They may have sung the John Brown
lyrics
> > then or once the war started.<

The John Brown referred to in the song is not John Brown the abolitionist, 
but a sergeant at Fort Warren near Boston, where it was perhaps first sung 
publicly on May 12, 1861. I would tend to doubt Lee and/or his men singing it 
prior to this time, or that far south. Only later, after his martyrdom, did 
the abolitionist John Brown become inextricably associated with the John 
Brown lyrics.

Chris goes on with a fascinating story about a sabre presented to his 
grandfather and how it may have been connected to the "Battle Hymn." He 
says">> > The sword awarded to G. L. Kite has at least symbolic, if not
historical,
> > ties to the Battle Hymn and these events. More later.<

I'll be curious.

I still think that Psalm 133 to the Battle Hymn is someone's cute idea of a 
camp song in the 50s-60s and nothing more. But I've sure learned a lot about 
Battle Hymn in the process. 

Best wishes,
Steve

Steve Barnett
Composer/Arranger/Producer
Barnett Music Productions
BarMusProd (at) aol(dot)com 



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