The Music of the Civil War Era

Academic Decathlon 2007-08

A disclaimer

• This powerpoint covers information on the music selections on the CD only. It probably covers about 8 pages worth of a 48 page packet. Any quotations are only partial; you must read it for yourself. Don’t be an idiot and forget to read the packet and brush up on basics, or I’ll unleash upon you a raucous guffaw.

Ye have been warned.

1) Home, Sweet Home

• Composed: 1823, Henry Bishop (1786-1855)• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson (tenor), Harbey

Jacobson (piano)• Originally 5 verses, but only the 1st 2 were

commonly published and sung

1) Home, Sweet Home• Text:

– Cliché to modern audiences– People back then like things that “touched the heart and stirred

the emotions”– Home was a private haven from the hectic public world

• Music– Simple tune-4 bar phrases, 1 octave range– Centered on the tonic note– 16th notes (accompaniment) are harmonically static– Musical interest occurs at “Home, home, sweet, sweet home”

where rhythmic motion ceases (the contrast calls attention)

1) Home, Sweet Home

• Part of Clari, Maid of Milan– An opera performed at England’s Covent Garden– Translated from a French play by American

playwright/actor John Howard Payne (1792-1852)– Script includes 6 songs (including Home, Sweet Home)– Plot

• Centers on the virtue of Clari• Similar to Beauty and the Beast (the “suitor” is in an “altered

form” initially)

2) The Last Hope

• Somehow, the almighty USAD has made an error and recorded “Souvenir of Puerto Rico” instead of “The Last Hope.” There will be no questions about “The Last Hope” on the music test.

• There will, however, be questions on it’s composer, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). Read up, or be sentenced to the ninth circle, mortal fool.

3) Washington Greys March

• Composed: Claudio Grafulla (1810-1880)– He composed works and arranged popular tunes by other

musicians– His compositions are often in hand-copied band books used by

other ensembles• Performed by: Dodworth Saxhorn Band, Paul Eachus

– This band is a modern ensemble modeled after the original saxhorn band

– Saxhorns were popularized by the 7th Regiment Band (NY)

3) Washington Greys March• Music: Duple meter, strong, repetitive rhythms

– Designed to accompany military movements– Demonstrates band’s association w/military

• Traditional march form– Starts w/introduction– Includes several sections or strains– Each stanza has a different melodic idea in regular phrases 8

bars long– Trio-contrasting section

• More lyrical melody in the subdominant/related major key (if the march starts in a minor key)

• Softer dynamics and thinner instrumental texture

3) Washington Greys March

• Unlike the traditional march form, this piece– Has no introduction– Composed specifically for virtuosos in Grafulla’s band-the

melodies in different strains require much technical skill• “Washington Greys”

– Name of the 8th Regiment (NY), now the 42nd Infantry Division of the Army National Guard

– Washington Greys were originally the honor guard for Washington’s return to NY after the British evacuation in 1783

– Gray uniforms were the standard color pre-Civil War

4) Jim Along Josie

• Performed by: Bob Flesher• Music

– Appeared in several versions in late 1840/early 1850s– Ours is from Christy’s Plantation Melodies, an 1851

songster w/songs performed by Christy’s Minstrels– Tune is a modified Virginia reel (folk dance)-during the

instrumental part, performers would dance

4) Jim Along Josie

• The CD version– Tries to recreate the sound of early minstrel

performances– Instrumental parts were never written down, but what we

can guess is• No harmony (at least in earlier versions)• Banjo and violin play melody, doubling singers• Singers sing in unison after each chorus• Instrumental solo was called a “symphony,” from the baroque

“simphonia” that led to the modern symphony genre

5) Ain’t I Right

• Performed by: Henry Morrison and Group• Music

– Baritone soloist/leader and group of men who sing a short response

– Call-and-response singing– “Patting juba” accompaniment

• Text– Talks about unequal relationship b/w master and slave– Master has plenty of good food; slaves are left with the scraps

6) Live Humble

• Performed by: John Davis and Group• Early performance traditions

– Heterophonic melody-everyone sings similar, but not identical, melodic lines

– Soloist w/group who sing the response and hum accompaniment– Cadences and melodic gestures of the soloist are similar to those

of black preaches who held meetings in private in slave communities

• Text refers to many Biblical stories/sermon topics

7) Follow the Drinking Gourd

• Performed by: Kim and Reggie Harris• Music

– Our contemporary arrangement provides intricate, sophisticated interplay of the singers

– Our version omits the final verse; in its place is a variation on the chorus

• Attributed to “Peg Leg Joe,” an traveling carpenter who helped slaves escape

• His instructions outline an escape route from AL/MS

7) Follow the Drinking Gourd

• The instructions– Follow the Tombigbee River– When you reach the headwaters, go N over the hills until

you hit the Tennessee R-where many escape routes converge

– Tennessee R merges into the Ohio R– Cross the Ohio and meet an Underground Railroad

guide who will take you further northfreedom

7) Follow the Drinking Gourd

• Slaves of the time– Weren’t allowed to read or write-those who tried to

escape to freedom would have been in grave danger if caught with maps

– Fugitives used songs as directions– Traveled at night

• Harder for others to catch them and return them to slavery• North Star (Polaris, part of the Big Dipper or “Drinking Gourd”)

was their guide

8) The Battle Hymn of the Republic• Composed by: Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)

– James Freeman Clarke, a clergyman visiting the camp w/Howe, encouraged her to write a more refined text of “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?”

– “[I] awoke the next morning…, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain…” (Julia Ward Howe)

– The poem (p 33 in packet) was published on the 1st page of Atlantic Monthly, Feb 1862

– “Glory Hallelujah” (from camp meeting hymns) and music were addedpublished in sheet music form

– Our version omits the 3rd verse (the packet says 4th, but there was a correction)• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson, National Military Band, Paul Nobl

8) The Battle Hymn of the Republic• About Julia Ward Howe

– An established poet– Visited a Union Army camp in VA (Near DC) while working with

the Sanitary Commission fall 1861• “John Brown’s Body”

– About John Brown (1800-1859), abolitionist and religious zealot who was hung in 1859 after a failed raid on a fed arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA

– Tune from a camp meeting song, “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?” (composed 1852 by William Steffe)

– Part of the lyrics was “John Brown’s Body lies a mold’ring in the grave, His soul is marching on”

9) The Battle Cry of Freedom

• Composed by: George F. Root (1820-1895)– Response to Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more volunteers

for the Union Army in 1862– “The ink was hardly dry when the Lumbard brothers—

the great singers of the war—came in fo something to sing…From there the song went into the army…” (George F. Root)

• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson, National Military Band, Paul Noble

• Aka “The Rallying Song”

9) The Battle Cry of Freedom

• Popularity– Root and Cady claimed to have sold 350,000+ copies by

1866– Musicologist Richard Crawford says these things made

it popular:

• Our version omits the 3rd and 4th verses

• The collective cheer• Fighting for a high ideal• Easy to learn refrain

(“Glory, Hallelujah”)• The flag

• Flat statement of the Union’s goal in less than 10 words (“Down with the traitors!/ Up with the Stars”)

10) I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land• Composed by: Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815-1904)

– Wrote many walkarounds for Bryant’s Minstrels– “Dixie” was written just because they needed something to end the show– African-American dialect in the song text was common in minstrel songs– Our version omits the last verse

• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson• The most popular Confederate song, yet written by a Northerner• 1st performed in 1859 by Bryant’s Minstrels

– Performed as a walkaround during a stage performance– The troupe was one of the best-known minstrels ensembles

10) I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land

• Daniel Decatur Emmett– An original member of the Virginia Minstrels (1st minstrel

ensemble)– Walkarounds were written in an attempt to replicate “the

habits and crude ideas of the slaves of the South”– According to Howard and Judith Sacks, Emmett learned

part/all of Dixie through contact with the Snowdens (well-known African-American family of musicians who performed in Mt. Vernon, OH, Emmett’s hometown)

10) I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land

• The etymology of “Dixie” is uncertain– After a death of a slavemaster (Dixie), his former slaves mourned

and wished to be back in “Dixie’s land”– Named for the $10 in LA that had Dix (French for ten) on it– 1850 minstrel play “United States Mail and Dixie in Difficulties”

• 1st use of “Dixie”• Dixie was the name of the black (faced) “post-boy”• Use of the nameassociation of “dixie” with blacksmillions of blacks in

the SouthDixie=South

– Derived from Mason-Dixon’s line– No evidence of Dixie referring to the South pre-Civil War

10) I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land

• Popularity– 1st published by Firth, Pond and Company June 1850;

an instant hit– Despite copyright, the song was considered public

propertyat least 39 different instrumental/vocal arrangements published 1860-66

– Today, it’s still used to symbolize the South in movies and TV (Dukes of Hazard)

10) I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land• North

– 1861 New York Commercial Advertiser said “‘Dixie’ has become… an irrepressible institution in this section of the country… all the hands go hobbling, bobbling in time with the magical music of ‘Dixie’”

– The day after Lee’s surrender at Appomatox, Lincoln said “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ was one of the best tunes I have ever heard…”

– Over time, it lost popularity as it was associated w/Confed cause• South

– Feb 1861-sung at Jefferson Davis’ inaguration– Quickly became the most popular Southern song– Lyrics were sometimes changed to play to the Confed cause (“Dixie War Song”

urged men to “fly to arms in Dixie”)

11) The Bonnie Blue Flag

• Composed by: Harry McCarthy (sometimes spelled Macarthy) (d. 1880)– English-born variety performer– Spring 1861-began using song in his performances– Uses Irish melody “The Irish Jaunting Car”

• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson• 2nd most popular Confed song• Our version only has the 1st 2 verses

11) The Bonnie Blue Flag

• The flag– White star on blue field-flag flown in 1810 West FL revolt– Emblem of Southern secession movements

• Incorporated in the flag of the Republic of Texas (1836-39)• Jan 1861-flown over MS capitol when state legislature

approved the Ordinance of Secession• 5 states eventually adopted flags w/single stars

– Not the official Confed flag

12) Un Ballo in Maschera Quickstep• Composed by: Claudio Grafulla (1810-1880)

– Master composer/arranger of military music– Leader of 7th Regiment Band of New York for 27 yrs (shortly

before his death)• Performed regimental ceremonies, receptions, balls, society occasions

(typical band function)• Variety of performances=variety in repertory (both military and popular

tunes, even opera melodies)– Credited w/adding woodwind section to brass bands (mid/late 19th

cen)• Performed by: Dodworth Saxhorn Band, Paul Eachus• It’s important to compare this to “Washington Grey’s March”

12) Un Ballo in Maschera Quickstep• Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball)

– A 3-act opera by Italian Giuseppe Verdi 1859 Rome (the same man behind the Anvil Chorus :)

– Opera premiered in America 1861 in New York Academy of Music (the city’s 1st major opera house)

• Grafulla’s version– Quickstep-march genre in duple meter, faster than ceremonial

march– Uses many band arrangements of opera themes– Light chordial accompaniemnt– Secitonal form of 8 repeated bar phrases

13) The Vacant Chair

• Composed by: George F. Root• Performed by: Douglas Jimerson• Confed victory at 1st Bull Run, July 1861

– 4,700 casualties, 2,950 dead Union soldiers– By fall 1861, Union knew the war would be hard

13) The Vacant Chair

• Text by Henry S. Washburn– Written in honor of 18 yr old Lt. John William Grout, 15th

Massachusetts Infantry (killed in Union retreat at Balls Bluff, VA, Oct. 21, 1861)

– 1st published in the Worchester Spy (MA) near Thanksgiving 1861; a few weeks later, George Root put it to music

– Reflects the anguish of families who faced family gatherings without their loved ones

14) When Johnny Comes Marching Home

• Composed by: Patrick S. Gilmore• Performed by: Bonnie Hamilton (soprano), The

Harmoneion Singers, Lawrence Skrobacs (piano)• Music

– Text is optimistic about the return of the loved one– Minor tone and brisk tempo makes it more melancholy

• Try comparing this to “The Vacant Chair”

14) When Johnny Comes Marching Home

• Text– 1st published under pseudonym Louis Lambert; title page

said it was “introduced by Gilmore’s Band”– This song was popular in both North and South and

Gilmore’s most famous song– 1883-Gilmore revealed developed the song from the

Irish song “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye”