Southern Harmony Revisited— in the Pew and on the Organ Bench Charlie W
Southern Harmony Revisited— in the pew and on the organ bench Charlie W. Steele
signifi cant part of America’s musical A heritage originating in the nine- teenth century is the popular shape-note tunebooks that were an outgrowth of the “singing schools.” These collections, which, in their musical notation, used different shapes of note-heads for each syllable of a solfège system, are antholo- gies of the styles and genres of Ameri- can music of the time, both sacred and secular. Nineteenth-century American shape-note tunebooks serve as sources for an important body of music—shape- note hymn tunes—which has been, and continues to be, assimilated into the late twentieth-century editions of the hymnals of mainline Protestant denominations. The availability and popularity of the shape-note tunes in current hymnals has inspired organ composers to use them as cantus fi rmi for organ chorale pre- ludes and variation settings. As a result, a wealth of organ chorale settings using shape-note hymn melodies has been Figure 2. Shapes of Little and Small. published in the twenty-fi ve years span- Figure 1. Notation system of Tufts. John Tufts, An Introduction to the Singing of William Little and William Small, The ning 1980–2005. Many of these organ Psalm-Tunes, 1723 Easy Instructor, 9 works were composed for use as volun- taries in the worship services of the late lections using the new notation system. twentieth and early twenty-fi rst century During the fi rst half of the eighteenth Christian church; moreover, some of the century, numerous compilers published compositions are important contribu- editions of the shape-note tunebooks. tions to the organ concert literature. George Pullen Jackson, one of the twen- tieth-century pioneers in the research Origins of the shape-note tradition, lists thirty- The shape-note phenomenon traces eight collections published in the four- its origins to the psalm singing of New shape system between 1798 and 1855.4 England. Congregational singing in the Twenty-one of the books Jackson desig- churches of the early eighteenth century nated as works by compilers who lived had, in the opinion of the clergy and mu- in the South. Richard J. Stanislaw’s more sicians of the day, fallen into a deplorable recent research provides evidence of an state. One person, eloquently describ- even larger number of four-shape col- ing the state of congregational singing Figure 3. Four-shape major scale. George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the lections. Stanislaw lists some ninety-fi ve in 1724, said, “The Singing appears to Southern Uplands, 14 tunebooks published in the four-shape be rather a confused Noise, made up system in the United States between of Reading, Squeaking, and Grumbling, system of solfège (fa, sol, la, mi) that had note-head shape. The collection became 1798 and 1859.5 than a decent and orderly part of God’s been imported to America from Eng- so popular that, according to Marion A signifi cant contribution of the worship.”1 In order to improve the state land. Tufts used abbreviations of the Hatchett, thirty-four editions or printings shape-note collections was their function of congregational singing, a form of mu- syllables on the musical staff rather than of The Easy Instructor were published as a repository of American tunes from sical education, the “singing school,” traditional music notation. Tufts’s sys- between 1802 and 1832.3 The shapes, the oral tradition. Though these types of was developed. Its purpose was to teach tem, as it appeared in his book, is shown as developed and notated in Little and tunes had appeared in hymnals or col- congregations the elements of music so in Figure 1. Small’s collection, are shown in Figure lections, such as the United States Sa- the people could sing “by note, instead In 1801, William Little and William 2. Using these four shapes, a major scale cred Harmony (1799) and The Christian of rote.”2 Small compiled what is considered the notated in shape-notes consists of the se- Harmony (1805), the fi rst shape-note One of the earliest books developed fi rst shape-note collection, The Easy In- quence demonstrated in Figure 3. hymnal to incorporate a large number for use in singing schools was John structor. Rather than using conventional For the many Americans who had of oral tradition tunes was John Wyeth’s Tufts’s An Introduction to the Singing notation, the two men devised a system little or no formal musical background or Repository of Sacred Music: Part Second of Psalm Tunes, which appeared in the in which the four syllables—fa, sol, la, education, this new approach to notation (1813).6 Irving Lowens observes that 1720s. Tufts’s book utilized the four-note mi—were each notated with a different made music reading much simpler. The forty-four of the tunes in this collection singers needed to know only the shapes were “folk hymns.”7 The Repository of of the notes; they did not have to deal Sacred Music: Part Second played an with a music reading system in which lo- important role in the dissemination of cating the tonic note depended upon the these tunes. According to information ability to distinguish key signatures. The provided by Lowens, Ananias Davisson, shape-note system did have one major the compiler of the infl uential Kentucky disadvantage—no means was devised to Harmony and the Supplement to Ken- indicate accidentals by using shapes. As tucky Harmony, used fi fteen tunes from many of the tunes used in the collections Wyeth’s Part Second collection. William were diatonic in nature, this disadvan- Walker, in his Southern Harmony, “bor- tage evidently was not a major concern rowed” twenty of these tunes.8 to either the compilers or the singers. Walker’s Southern Harmony Collections A signifi cant source of the shape- The invention of the shape-notes led note tunes found in today’s hymnals to a proliferation of published music col- is Walker’s The Southern Harmony &
20 THE DIAPASON
Jan 2011 pp. 20-23.indd 20 12/9/10 11:52:53 AM Musical Companion (hereafter referred its existence (even as recently as 1991), Table 1. Shape-note Tunes in Hymnals to as Southern Harmony). One of the Southern Harmony has had no additions most popular and successful of the nine- or corrections to its music since the fi - teenth-century shape-note tunebooks, nal version of 1854. As it stands, South- Southern Harmony stands as an impor- ern Harmony is a repository of musical tant “anthology” of the musical styles styles and tastes of nineteenth-century and genres of its day. As Harry Eskew America, particularly of southern and notes, it is probably the fi rst shape-note rural America. Eskew remarks that, “No collection to be compiled in the “Deep wonder Southern Harmony was so popu- South.”9 The legacy and tradition of this lar: the hymns . . . were united with tunes popular collection continues even today which had circulated among the people at the “Big Singing Day” held annually in for years in oral tradition, and they were Benton, Kentucky. furthermore printed in easy-to-read Walker was born on May 6, 1809, shape-notation!”24 in South Carolina, near a small village known as Cross Keys.10 Around the time New England “reforms” he was eighteen years of age, Walker’s As the shape-note tradition moved into family moved to a small community the southern and western states, a mid- called Cedar Springs, near Spartanburg, to-late nineteenth-century movement South Carolina.11 In 1835, Walker mar- emerged in New England to eliminate ried Amy S. Golighty, the sister of Thurza American tunes, as found in shape-note Golighty, the wife of Benjamin Franklin tunebooks, from church hymnals and White, who would become the compiler music collections. New England reform- of The Sacred Harp.12 Not only is 1835 ers, among whom were Lowell Mason the year Walker married Amy, it is the and Thomas Hastings, considered mu- same year he published his fi rst and most sic and hymns of European background popular shape-note collection, Southern and infl uence to be superior to America’s Harmony.13 In addition to Southern Har- “folk-style” music. Hymn tunes and mu- mony, Walker compiled three other col- sic composed in the European style were lections during his lifetime, including the “based on ‘scientifi c’ principles produc- Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist, ing ‘correct’ harmonies.”25 It is ironic The Christian Harmony, and Fruits and that the New England area, whose mu- Flowers.14 Although Walker is consid- sicians gave America its singing schools ered the compiler of Southern Harmony and shape-notes, is the same geographic and his name graces the cover, the work area that led reforms contributing to the was initially a joint project of Walker and demise of shape-note singing and the use his brother-in-law, B. F. White. of these tunes in hymnals. Twentieth-century acceptance melodies in older hymnals, were not After its introduction in 1835, Southern Jackson, in White Spirituals of the Five Protestant denominational hym- within the parameters of the research. Harmony underwent several revisions, Southern Uplands, devotes a chapter nals—Southern Baptist, Episcopal, Lu- The numerical results of the American with the fi nal one being the 1854 edi- to the subject of the disappearance of theran (ELCA), Presbyterian (USA), and tune survey, shown in Table 1, verify the tion.15 During the years of its publication, folk-hymns as denominational hymnals United Methodist—were selected to be thesis that there is a defi nite increase in the collection was obviously popular, as began to emerge in the nineteenth cen- surveyed as to their inclusion of shape- the number of shape-note tunes in the Walker later claimed that 600,000 copies tury. Though the 1889 edition of the note tunes. These particular hymnals current editions of mainline denomina- of it had been sold.16 Methodist Hymnal contained a number were chosen because of the importance tional hymnals compared to the previous Harry Eskew cites several reasons of the tunes, the 1905 edition included each denomination places on hymnals editions. In the Episcopal, Lutheran, why Southern Harmony is a signifi cant only four of what Jackson calls “fasola and hymn singing and because of the and Presbyterian hymnals, the growth shape-note collection: 1) its use as text- popular tunes”—Lenox, Nettleton, reputation each denomination enjoys in the number of tunes is signifi cant. book to learn to read music, 2) its role Mear, and Greenville.26 Jackson’s regarding the quality of their hymnals. Though there is an increase in the num- in continuing early American psalmody, research points out that the Service of The survey included an inspection of ten ber of shape-note tunes in the most re- and 3) its function as a “musical com- Song (1871), a hymnal used by southern hymnals to discern the number of tunes cent hymnal of the Methodist Church, panion for numerous word-only hym- Baptists in more urban areas, embodied that appear to be of shape-note origin. the percentage does not indicate an nals.”17 Eskew also notes that Southern only nine tunes from the “fasola” tradi- African-American spirituals, frequently increase because the hymnal contains a Harmony is “signifi cant as a repository tion.27 Another hymnal used by Baptists designated as American folk tunes or larger number of total hymn tunes. The of melodies from oral tradition” and that in the early twentieth century, Mod- “Walker and other rural-oriented singing ern Hymnal (1926), incorporated only The Fourteenth Annual school teachers/compilers drew from the seventeen of what Jackson refers to as rich oral tradition of the Anglo-American hymns of “specifi c southern fasola mak- folksong to provide melodies for many ing or adoption.”28 hymn texts.”18 Walker, in the preface to Jackson ascertains that the Philadel- Albert Schweitzer the fi rst edition of Southern Harmony in phia publishers, suppliers of hymnals to 1835, states that he had “composed the southern Presbyterian churches, “avoid- parts to a great many good airs (which ed all indigenous songs of the southern Organ Festival I could not fi nd in any publication, nor and western revival.”29 An examination in manuscript), and assigned my name as of Presbyterian hymnals of the late nine- A Weekend in Celebration of Excellence in Organ Music: author.”19 It may be surmised that many teenth century through the early twenti- A Gala Concert, ORGAN COMPETITION, Services, and Masterclass of these “airs” were popular melodies or eth century certainly underpins Jackson’s folk tunes of the day that were passed on observation. The Presbyterian hymnals by oral tradition. Hymnologist Austin C. of 1874, 1895 (revised in 1911), and 1933 High School Division First Prize: $2,000 Lovelace recounts that, “When Walker all contain some hymn tunes—just as to- Other prizes also awarded was going around doing singing schools, day’s hymnals do—common to Southern he always asked if anyone had some good Harmony and other similar collections. tunes. He would then write them down These tunes, however, are primarily ones College/Young Professional First Prize: $3,500 and claim them as his own.”20 with an identifi ed composer—tunes such Through age 26 Other prizes also awarded Sources of texts and tunes are indi- as Azmon, Coronation, and Duke cated for some of the hymns, though of- Street. Based on this author’s exami- This includes an appearance on our 2011-20012 Concert Series ten no source is documented for either. nation of the index of tune names in Glen Wilcox relates that approximately each of these three editions of hymnals, 2011 JUDGES one-fourth of the hymn texts were by Nettleton seems to be the only anon- AUDITION CDS: Isaac Watts.21 Of the 341 tune names in ymous shape-note tune included in Pres- Due on June 6, 2011 the index, Wilcox maintains that about byterian hymnals until the appearance of Gregory 250 of them can be attributed to 110 the 1955 edition of the hymnal.30 D’Agostino composers, with the remaining tunes be- As late in the twentieth century as THE COMPETITION: 22 ing anonymous. For the 1854 edition, 1940, American shape-note tunes held September 9-11, 2011 Walker added 73 tunes to his collection. little respect among some scholars who It is interesting to note that, according to were interested in serious hymnody. Eskew, approximately half of the tunes Henry Wilder Foote, in Three Centuries Walker added in 1854 were “in the style of American Hymnody, spends little time For Information & 23 of the folk hymn.” focusing on the history or importance of Application: Southern Harmony incorporated some the tunes. His writing contains remarks important “fi rsts” regarding several hymn such as, “While in general their effect tunes. The 1835 edition marked the fi rst on American hymnody has been neither First Church time the text “Amazing Grace” and the permanent or valuable . . . the folk hymn of Christ tune New Britain were joined together was suited to revivals and social gather- Frederick in a shape-note collection; the edition of ings like out-of-door camp meetings . . . Hohman 1840 contained the fi rst appearance of and in any case they fall outside the main 250 Main Street the tune Wondrous Love with the text current of American hymnody.”31 As one Wethersfield, CT 06109 Michael Barone “What wondrous love is this;” and the can surmise from Foote’s statements, PAST JUDGES: 1854 edition has one of the early appear- Raymond Glover’s supposition that the Colin Andrews, Diane Meredith Belcher, ances of Dove of Peace. efforts of musicians like Mason created a firstchurch.org/asof Charles Callahan, Benjamin Dobey, David Enlow, The inclusion of the American tunes in standard whose “effects may still be seen Paul Fejko, Janette Fishell, Gerre Hancock, this remarkable shape-note collection has in today’s mainline hymnals” is certainly 860.529.1575 Fredrick Hohman, Paul Jacobs, Wilma Jensen, helped to preserve them for future gen- supported.32 Fortunately, these effects Ext. 209 Marilyn Mason, Katharine Pardee, erations. Unlike its popular counterpart, initiated by the “scientifi c” musicians of Cherry Rhodes, Catherine Rodland, music@firstchurch.org The Sacred Harp, which has undergone the nineteenth century experienced a re- John Rose, John Walker and John Weaver a number of revisions over the years of versal in the late twentieth century.
JANUARY, 2011 21
Jan 2011 pp. 20-23.indd 21 12/9/10 11:54:24 AM Table 2. Walker or Southern Harmony as a Tune Source Table 3. Five Southern Harmony Tunes in Hymnals
God”) has blurred to the point that the new Holtkamp organ at Christ Episcopal two terms are now used interchange- Church, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michi- ably.44 Today, “organ chorale” and “cho- gan, is primarily a concert piece.47 As rale prelude” are generic terms referring the publication of the work predates any to pieces composed in the tradition of inclusion of the tune into a mid-to-late 1966 edition contains only 417 hymn will supply my need”), which everybody the chorale prelude, whether they are twentieth-century denomination hym- tunes, whereas the 1989 edition includes learned from the Virgil Thomson choral based on a chorale, a Protestant hymn nal, one could posit that Barber’s piece 504 tunes. arrangement, later realizing what a great tune, or even a religious ethnic folk song. helped contribute to the popularity of the Because denominational hymnals use congregational text and tune combination They may still serve as introductions to Wondrous Love tune. In his reference this is. Perhaps related to this was the in- various sources for their tunes, some of creased respectability gained by these of- the singing of hymns or chorales. More to the tune’s source for the composition, the shape-note tunes included in hym- ten very simple tunes through their use by often than not, in the late twentieth Barber notes in the score that the tune nals have indications of possible com- signifi cant American composers such as and early twenty-fi rst-century liturgical was “published in the ‘Original Sacred posers. An example is the tune Nettle- Thomson and Aaron Copland.35 setting, a chorale prelude functions as Harp,’ Atlanta, Ga., 1869.”48 The score ton, identifi ed in two hymnals as being service music. It may be performed as a also contains a reproduction of a four- composed by John Wyeth.33 The tune The factors that Music considers sig- prelude, a postlude, as a selection during part harmonization of Wondrous Love, did appear in the 1813 edition of Wyeth’s nifi cant are echoed by others who have the collection of the offering or the serv- probably taken from the 1911 edition of Repository of Sacred Music, Part Sec- been involved in the editorial process of ing of communion, or as music covering The Sacred Harp, as the copy credits the ond, but it originated from the “camp- recent hymnals. Carlton Young, editor movement in other parts of the liturgy. alto part to “S. M. Denson, 1911.”49 meeting repertory of Methodists and of the 1966 and 1989 Methodist hym- The performance of chorale preludes Baptists.”34 Given that the tunes were nals, refers to the 1906 English Hymnal is not limited to liturgical use. Chorale Growth since 1980 sometimes part of an oral tradition be- and the increase in diversity in hymnals preludes occupy an important role as In late twentieth to early twenty-fi rst fore they were notated in hymnals, it is as signifi cant factors in the selection of part of the literature performed on or- century America, the publication of cho- diffi cult for musicologists and historians tunes. Young asserts that “most mid- gan recitals and concerts. A scanning of rale preludes based on shape-note tunes to trace their exact origin. 20th-century mainline USA Protestant the recital programs listed each month has increased signifi cantly. This trend, Among the various shape-note collec- hymnals followed the lead of R.V. Wil- in The Diapason reveals that various during the period from 1980 to 2005, can tions of the nineteenth century, William liams” and “refl ected the work of folklor- works of this genre are included in many be confi rmed by consulting reference Walker’s Southern Harmony serves as ists such as Cecil Sharp.”36 Young also recitals. The works may range from the books that list published organ works an important source of American shape- observes that “The increased number of large settings of J. S. Bach to the jazz- and chorale settings. In a repertoire list note tunes, especially in the more recent USA folk melodies in TUMH ’89 [The infl uenced pieces of Johann Michel. compiled by this author, a total of 238 or- editions of the selected hymnals. In each United Methodist Hymnal] continues For example, of the 20 recital programs gan pieces, based on 46 different tunes denomination, the number of hymn this trend in mainline hymnals, but is listed in the February 2010 issue of The found in Southern Harmony, were docu- tunes attributed to either William Walk- also related to the increased number of Diapason, at least 24 of the total selec- mented. Of the works in the repertoire er or Walker’s Southern Harmony shows Native American, Latino, African-Amer- tions performed appear to be some form list, only 46 (19%) were composed prior a signifi cant increase. The frequency of ican, Asian, and gospel songs.”37 of a chorale prelude.45 to 1980. The signifi cant number of organ their attribution as a source may be ob- Ray Glover, editor of The Hymnal Because the hymnals of the early-to- chorale preludes based on these tunes is served in Table 2. 1982, affi rms that “The inclusion of a mid twentieth century contained very a direct result of the growth in the num- goodly number of American folk tunes few, if any, American shape-note tunes, ber of shape-note tunes appearing in re- Factors in 20th-century in The Hymnal 1982 was, I believe, our it was not until their inclusion into main- cent hymnals. acceptance response to the growing awareness of line hymnals that they became familiar Five shape-note tunes found in Walk- Based on the information and statis- the great, rich repository we have in, to many organists and to the general con- er’s Southern Harmony (1854)—Foun- tics indicated above, it is clear that there largely though not exclusively, Southern cert or church audience. Even though dation (The Christian’s Farewell is a signifi cant increase in the number folk hymnody from the shape-note tra- the tunes were neglected by hymnal in Southern Harmony), Holy Manna, of shape-note tunes included in recent dition.”38 Likewise, Carl Schalk, who ini- committees during the fi rst half of the New Britain, Wondrous Love, and hymnals. This phenomenon prompts one tially served on the editorial board of the twentieth century, some signifi cant organ Dove of Peace—are popular tunes to refl ect on what factors may have led to Lutheran Book of Worship, feels that the settings of American shape-note tunes found in hymnals of the late twentieth the increased presence of these tunes in inclusion of American folk hymn tunes did appear around the middle of the century or, as in the case of Dove of the hymnals of the late twentieth centu- was a way to become more American, century. These settings, however, were Peace, have recently become popu- ry. Communications by this author with much in the same way Vaughan Williams not inspired by the composer’s familiar- lar. The information shown in Table 3 several persons who served on editorial used the English folk song.39 Schalk con- ity with tunes found in a denominational compares the inclusion of these hymn boards of different hymnals help provide siders the American folk tunes a source hymnal; instead, they seem to be the re- tunes between the previous and present some possible answers to this question. that “had not been tapped before” and sult of the composer’s acquaintance with editions of the fi ve selected denomina- David W. Music, a member of the a “looking back to some kind of heri- a shape-note collection, primarily The tional hymnals. editorial board of The Baptist Hymnal tage.”40 The editor of The Presbyterian Sacred Harp. A look at the occurrence of these fi ve (1991), suggests three main factors he Hymnal (1990), LindaJo H. McKim, Twentieth-century American com- popular shape-note tunes as cantus fi rmi believes are responsible for the growth echoes a similar sentiment, observing poser Gardner Read composed a num- for organ chorales helps illustrate the in the number of shape-note hymn tunes that “The tunes really are a part of who ber of organ works, among which are growing use of the tunes by composers incorporated into recent hymnals. Out- we are and for that reason need to be two collections of shape-note hymn tune of organ literature. For example, Jean lining these factors, Music states: included in any collection coming out of settings. Read relied on a copy of The Slater Edson’s book, Organ Preludes: An the Americas today.”41 Marion Hatchett Sacred Harp as the source of the tunes Index to Compositions on Hymn Tunes, The increase in the number of shape- mentions the infl uence of Vaughan Wil- used in his collections. In the scores of Chorales, Plainsong Melodies, Gregori- note tunes is due to a number of factors liams and comments that the inclusion both collections, Read notes that the an Tunes and Carols, published in 1970, including: 1) the bicentennial of the USA of three American folk tunes in the 1906 “preludes are based on authentic old contains a meager listing of published in 1976 with church musicians seeking to honor their country by searching out some English Hymnal made it “respectable” hymn-tunes found in the 1902 edition of organ works based on shape-note tunes. for Americans to use these type of tunes ‘The Sacred Harp,’ a collection of white For the fi ve tunes considered, Edson’s of its native expressions. I think this par- 42 allels the English folk song recovery that in their own hymnals. spirituals and Southern hymns, fi rst pub- index identifi es the following number occurred with the 1906 English Hymnal; lished around 1850.”46 Eight Preludes on of chorale preludes: Foundation – 5; 2) the broadening of the base of congre- The organ chorale prelude Old Southern Tunes, opus 90, was pub- Holy Manna – 1; New Britain – 4; gational song to include a wider diversity The genre of the organ chorale pre- lished in 1952, and the publication of Six Wondrous Love – 5; and Dove of of styles and types than before (including lude is helping to perpetuate the unique Preludes on Old Southern Hymns, opus Peace – 0.50 black spirituals, world hymnody, American body of tunes stored in the nineteenth- 112, followed in 1963. Of the fourteen In 1987, Dennis Schmidt published Indian pieces, Taizé, Iona Community, plainsong, newly-written hymns, etc.); 3) century shape-note tunebooks. The term tunes Read employed in these two nota- the fi rst volume ofAn Organist’s Guide to in a few cases these melodies have become “chorale” originally referred to the tune ble collections, seven of them are found Resources for “The Hymnal 1982.” Com- familiar outside the church (or at least out- used with a hymn text in the sixteenth- in Southern Harmony. pared to Edson’s book of 1970, Schmidt’s side the hymnal) and have subsequently century German Protestant Church.43 Samuel Barber’s Wondrous Love: number of listings indicates a slight in- been incorporated into them; a good ex- Over time, the distinction between “cho- Variations on a Shape-note Hymn, writ- crease in the quantity of published organ ample is Resignation (“My shepherd rale” and “hymn” (“a song in praise of ten in 1958 for the inaugural recital of the settings using the fi ve tunes. In Schmidt’s
22 THE DIAPASON
Jan 2011 pp. 20-23.indd 22 12/9/10 11:54:47 AM fi rst volume, the number of works cata- in the minds of other American compos- 17. Harry Eskew, “The Signifi cance of Wil- 42. Marion Hatchett, telephone interview loged for each of the selected tunes in- ers and organists. The result has been a liam Walker’s Southern Harmony” (lecture, with author 5 June 2006. cludes: Foundation – 4; Holy Manna profusion of chorale preludes represent- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Lou- 43. Don Michael Randel, ed., The New – 4; New Britain – 7; Wondrous Love ing various levels of diffi culty, length, isville, KY, 16 April 1993), 7–11. Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, – 6; and Dove of Peace – 0.51 quality, and effectiveness. This particular 18. Ibid, 8. Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard 19. William Walker, The Southern Harmony University Press, 1986), 157. A second volume of Schmidt’s An body of organ literature deserves to be and Musical Companion, with an introduction 44. Randel, 385. Organist’s Guide to Resources for “The both performed and recognized for the by Glenn C. Wilcox (Philadelphia: E. W. Mill- 45. “Organ Recitals,” The Diapason, no. Hymnal 1982” appeared in 1991. Com- continuing role it plays in exposing both er, 1854; reprint, Lexington: The University 1203 (February 2010): 37. pared to the fi rst volume, the second church and concert attendees to the Press of Kentucky, 1987), iii. 46. Gardner Read, “Notes on Music,” volume confi rms a continued increase in music of Southern Harmony and similar 20. Austin C. Lovelace, telephone interview Eight Preludes on Old Southern Hymns, op. the number of organ settings of Ameri- nineteenth-century collections. with author 1 July 2005. 90 (Melville, NY: H. W. Gray Publications, can tunes. For the fi ve tunes, volume two 21. Glen Wilcox, Introduction to The South- 1952). lists the following number of organ set- Summary ern Harmony and Musical Companion by 47. Barbara B. Heyman, Samuel Barber: tings: Foundation – 23; Holy Manna The heritage of American tunes con- William Walker (Philadelphia: E. W. Miller, The Composer and His Music (New York: Ox- – 7; New Britain – 30; Wondrous tained within the shape-note tunebooks 1854; reprint, Lexington: The University ford University Press, 1992), 400–401. For a Love – 15; and Dove of Peace – 0.52 of the nineteenth century, whether Press of Kentucky, 1987), v. detailed analysis of Barber’s Wondrous Love, 22. Ibid, iv. see Larry Lynn Rhoades, “Theme and Varia- The repertoire list of organ composi- they are called shape-note, folk-hymn, 23. Eskew, “Southern Harmony: Its Basic tions in the Twentieth-century Organ Litera- tions based on shape-note tunes from or American folk tunes, represents an Editions,” 142. ture: Analyses of Variations by Alain, Barber, the Southern Harmony, compiled by the important body of music, which, in the 24. Eskew, “Walker: Popular Southern Distler, Durufl é, and Sowerby” (Ph.D. diss., author, substantiates the growth of these past thirty years, has been reclaiming its Hymnist,” 9. Ohio State University, 1973), 86–122. published works between 1980 and 2005. rightful place in American hymnody. In 25. Harry Eskew and Carol A. Pember- 48. Samuel Barber, Wondrous Love: Varia- The number of organ works in the reper- the last quarter of the twentieth century, ton, “Lowell Mason,” Grove Music Online, tions on a Shape-note Hymn (New York: G. toire list using the fi ve selected tunes as the rediscovery of this music prompted
JANUARY, 2011 23
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