Synopses & Reviews
Thirty-seven songs: The Battle Cry of Freedom, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Battle Hymn of the Republic, 34 more.
Synopsis
Of all the events in American history, perhaps none was reflected in song with such innocent vigor as the Civil War. This volume of 37 popular songs of the period gives a fully rounded picture of sentiments on the battle line and on the home front, both North and South.
The five important categories are all covered: Patriotic Songs ("Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Dixie," "The Southrons' Chaunt of Defiance"), The Soldiering Life ("Just Before the Battle, Mother," "Tramp Tramp Tramp ," "O I'm a Good Old Rebel"), Battlefield Deaths ("The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," "The Dying Volunteer"), Domestic Scenes ("When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "The Vacant Chair"), and Emancipation Songs ("Kingdom Coming," "Sixty-Three Is the Jubilee"). The mood ranges from lugubrious ("Bear Gently, So Gently, the Roughly Made Bier") to comic ("Grafted into the Army"), and satirical ("Jeff in Petticoats"), reflecting the day-to-day hopes and fears as well as the "lofty and martial" moments.
Among the popular composers in this selection are George F. Root, Dan D. Emmett, Henry C. Work, Walter Kittredge, Will S. Hays, James G. Clark, Bernard Covert, and many more.
These are the original songs, complete with their sheet music covers. Since so many of these songs have been changed and rearranged over the years and often many of the stanzas have been lost, the collection is invaluable to anyone interested in the music of this period.
Richard Crawford (School of Music, University of Michigan) has provided an introduction citing related versions, historical allusions, and biographical data on the composers. Amateur and professional singers will find this collection to be of unusually high quality, and it is of great interest to collectors, musicologists, and Civil War buffs. Most of this music is nowhere else in print, and quite a bit of it does not even survive except in a few library collections.
Synopsis
Thirty-seven songs: The Battle Cry of Freedom, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Battle Hymn of the Republic, 34 more.
Table of Contents
PATRIOTIC SONGS
The Battle Cry of Freedom
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Words: Julia Ward Howe
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Dixie's Land (Dixie)
Words and music: Daniel Decatur Emmett
The Bonnie Blue Flag
Words: Harry Macarthy
"Maryland, My Maryland!"
Words: James Ryder Randall
The Southrons' Chaunt of Defiance
Music: Armand Edward Blackmar
THE SOLDIERING LIFE
We Are Coming Father Abra'am
Words: James Sloan Gibbions; music: Luther Orlando Emerson
Marching Through Georgia
Words and music: Henry Clay Work
Who'll Save the Left?
Words: R. Tompkins; music: George Fredrick Root
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (or The Prisoner's Hope)
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
"Just Before the Battle, Mother"
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
The Soldier's Return
Words: W.H. Morris; music: John Rogers Thomas
Tenting on the Old Camp Ground
Words and music: Walter Kittredge
All Quiet Along the Potomac To-Night
Words: Ethel Lynn Beers; music: John Hill Hewitt
"The Grant Pill (or "Unconditional Surrender")"
Words: Harriet L. Castle; music arr. by: James Cox Beckel
O I'm a Good Old Rebel
BATTLEFIELD DEATHS
The Children of the Battle Field
Words and music: James Gowdy Clark
"Comrades, I am Dying"
Words: Thomas Manahan; music: B. Sontag
The Drummer Boy Shiloh
Words and music: Will. S. [William Shakespeare]
Little Major
Words and music: Henry Clay Work
The Dying Volunteer
Words and music: G. Gumpert
"Bear Gently, So Gently, the Roughly Made Bier"
Words: Mrs. E. A. B. Mitchell; music: Chr. Mathias
DOMESTIC SCENES
"Can I Go, Dearest Mother?"
Music: Bernard Covert
"Weeping, Sad and Lonely (or When This Cruel War Is Over)"
Words: Charles Carroll Sawyer; music: Henry Tucker
O Come You From the Battle-Field?
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
"Words and music: "Louis Lambert" (Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore)"
The Vacant Chair (or We Shall Meet But We Shall Miss Him)
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
Brave Boys Are They!
Words and music: Henry Clay Work
Mother Is the Battle Over?
Music: Benedict E. Roefs
Grafted into the Army
Words and music: Henry Clay Work
Jeff in Petticoats
Words: George Cooper; music: Henry Tucker
EMANCIPATION SONGS
The New Emancipation Song
Words: R. A. T.; music: Mrs. E. A. Parkhurst
Glory! Glory! (or The Little Octoroom)
Words and music: George Fredrick Root
Kingdom Coming
Words and music: Henry Clay Work
Sixty-Three Is the Jubilee
Words: J. L. Greene; music: D. A. French
We are Coming from the Cotton Fields
Words: J.C-n; music: J. C. Wallace