March 21, 2007
The Popular Song of Early America:
A Lecture and Performance by Caroline Moseley
Caroline Moseley
Scholar of 18th and 19th Century Music and Culture
Minutes of the 24th Meeting of the 65th Year
It was March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, (surely a time for music), when President Joe Giordmaine called the 24th meeting of the 63rd year of the Old Guard of Princeton to order at 10:15 AM, with 86 members were present. George Fulton Folkers was asked to lead us in the invocation, and though he claimed identification with J. Alfred Prufrock (who said, "I grow old") he yet firmly led us in our song. The minutes of the previous meeting were composed by Scott McVay, who was unable to be there, so Lee Neuwirth read them for him, assuring us that he was not responsible for their content or length. The account of Carol Ritchie's lecture on endangered orangutans in their rainforest home was both fascinating and moving.
No guests or visitors were present. President Giordmaine reported upon the heart surgery of Charles Jaffm. Then he asked the members of the Program Committee to stand and be recognized for their splendid series for the rest of the year. And finally he urged everyone to pick up revised and updated pages for our Member Handbooks, so ably prepared by Charles Stenard and the Membership committee.
Claire Jacobus introduced our speaker, Caroline Moseley, a well-known performer and scholar of 18th and 19th century music. Moseley earned a B.A. in English from Harvard, an M.A. in Folklore and Folk Life from the University of Pennsylvania, and studied history at Princeton. She has published numerous papers on American music and the University of Illinois has published her works on Songs of the Civil War and 19th Century Parlor music. Her subject for us was "The Popular Song of Early America: A Lecture and Performance." She, too, identified with J. Alfred Prufrock's "I grow old," but her lecture and performance, singing and playing her 1914 Martin guitar certainly contradicted that connection. [If you are not familiar with T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," you should be. It is generally celebrated as the first great modem poem, unique, creative and enormously influential.]
We have had a marvelous collection of musical programs over the years. Who could ever forget Bill Scheide's performance of Bach's Sonata at the Institute for Advanced Study? And there was jazz pianist Lawrence Altman of Westminster Choir College, brilliantly defining, tracing the history and demonstrating the special feeling of jazz. Mark Laycock illuminated the development of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and Karen Tiller astonished us with the incredible complexities of producing a Broadway musical. But Caroline Moseley opened up for us what I suspect for most of us was a whole new area of musical history - the popular songs the fathers and mothers of our country heard when they attended public concerts, when they met to drink and revel in taverns, when they worshiped in churches, or listened to a daughter playing the harpsichord or guitar. And as she specified, "Popular" used in the plebian sense, since there was no aristocratic social class in the early years of our country. Nor were there many professional musicians at that time. Since in the Colonial period we were British, not American, our songs were British, though before very long we began to create different words for British tunes.
The first of 18 songs from which Caroline sang excerpts was "Hail Britannia," that familiar hymn with guardian angels hailing Britannia to "rule the waves," which of course it did for many years. That was followed by "Rise Columbia" to make us "brave and free." Same melody; new words. This happened many times. Her 3rd song was from Scotland, "The Banks of the Dee," the river known for its scenic beauty and salmon fishing... The "loneliest lass on the banks of the Dee" is lamenting her lad who has gone to "quell the proud rebels" who are us. A parody followed with the lad lamenting the freezing cold of winter in this land where he shouldn't be and longing for the green banks of the Dee. The most familiar song was "Yankee Doodle," but it had many versions and Caroline shared the one that appeared in "Hail Columbia, " the Broadway hit of 1798. It celebrated peace and unity and contained unusual references to the Old Testament book of Micah where men will make war no more and each will sit under their own vine and fig tree.
The next song was America's first patriotic song, the "Liberty Song" of the Liberty Club, British melody but words by John Dickinson. John Adams writes of hearing 550 men sing it at their annual dinner - "in freedom we were born and in freedom we live." The Anacreontic Society of London, named for a Greek poet who lived in the 6th century B.C. had a song praising the gods of wine and love, which became popular for some reason. The melody is familiar to us, since it was used by Francis Scott Key. Caroline declared it our national drinking anthem. The English poet and playwright, John Gay became famous for his "Beggar's Opera," a brilliant satire of Sir Robert Walpole and the court of George II. Naturally it became popular in America.
Caroline sang "If the Heart of a Man" depicting a man depressed with care until a woman appears. The next two songs were familiar: John More's collected Irish songs which included "Believe Me If All Those Enduring Young Charms" and Robert Bums' "Comin' Thru the Rye," surely a classic, as is his "Auld Lang Syne." Another Scotsman, John Randolph wrote a very long ballad, "Raggle Taggle Gypsies," 13 verses. Aware of our strict time schedule she gave us only one. How could you leave and join the gypsies? A good question!
Then we arrived at the time of the first two born-in-America composers. First was Francis Parkinson of Philadelphia, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the publisher of a book of "Seven Songs,' dedicated to George Washington, who was pleased by it. The song she sang was Song VIII. The musical trivia of the day was the fact that the title of the book was engraved before Parkinson decided to add an 8th song. It was a very good song. The second American born composer was the Reverend James Lyon of Newark and the Princeton Class of 1769. His "8 Psalm Tune" was one of six original
songs in his book, Urania.
The churches played an important role in the development of music in America. The first book printed in the U.S. was the Massachusetts Bav Colonv Song Book in 1640. But, as the years went by, a lack of hymnals led to a deterioration of congregational singing. John Adams wrote that the singing in a Philadelphia congregation sounded like the braying of asses. And again in attending commencement at Princeton, he said the scholars sang as badly as New Yorkers. In response to this a variety of musicians began to create singing schools, which flourished for both social and sacred purposes. Some objected to men and women singing together, but their obvious religious causes finally prevailed. William Billings of Boston was a leader in this development, and major contribution was "Chester," the unofficial song of the revolutionary war. It is a very American assurance that God will forever reign over our land. "Psalm 100," sung to the tune of "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," is a prime example of rhymed lines for a song that are easier to remember. Two additional songs of religious concern were popular: "Wicked Polly," addressed to youth who were attracted to sin, and Anne Reed's "Simple Gifts," encouraging spiritual possession and the gifts to be free. The former was an example of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards' commitment to Calvinism and determination to confront comfortable Christians with the horrors of sin and its consequences.
Caroline's final songs were election songs from the election of 1800 between John Adams, the Federalist, and Thomas Jefferson the Democratic Republican. Each song ended with a relatively mild assertion: Each song asserts that the other is "working hard to bring about your ruin." Adams' song calls for action to "trample down beneath your feet the Jeffersonian faction." Jefferson's song more positively rhyming with brandy says Jefferson is a dandy." Caroline Moseley's lecture/performance was also a dandy. We adjourned at 11:30.
Respectfully submitted,
James T. Livingston
No guests or visitors were present. President Giordmaine reported upon the heart surgery of Charles Jaffm. Then he asked the members of the Program Committee to stand and be recognized for their splendid series for the rest of the year. And finally he urged everyone to pick up revised and updated pages for our Member Handbooks, so ably prepared by Charles Stenard and the Membership committee.
Claire Jacobus introduced our speaker, Caroline Moseley, a well-known performer and scholar of 18th and 19th century music. Moseley earned a B.A. in English from Harvard, an M.A. in Folklore and Folk Life from the University of Pennsylvania, and studied history at Princeton. She has published numerous papers on American music and the University of Illinois has published her works on Songs of the Civil War and 19th Century Parlor music. Her subject for us was "The Popular Song of Early America: A Lecture and Performance." She, too, identified with J. Alfred Prufrock's "I grow old," but her lecture and performance, singing and playing her 1914 Martin guitar certainly contradicted that connection. [If you are not familiar with T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," you should be. It is generally celebrated as the first great modem poem, unique, creative and enormously influential.]
We have had a marvelous collection of musical programs over the years. Who could ever forget Bill Scheide's performance of Bach's Sonata at the Institute for Advanced Study? And there was jazz pianist Lawrence Altman of Westminster Choir College, brilliantly defining, tracing the history and demonstrating the special feeling of jazz. Mark Laycock illuminated the development of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and Karen Tiller astonished us with the incredible complexities of producing a Broadway musical. But Caroline Moseley opened up for us what I suspect for most of us was a whole new area of musical history - the popular songs the fathers and mothers of our country heard when they attended public concerts, when they met to drink and revel in taverns, when they worshiped in churches, or listened to a daughter playing the harpsichord or guitar. And as she specified, "Popular" used in the plebian sense, since there was no aristocratic social class in the early years of our country. Nor were there many professional musicians at that time. Since in the Colonial period we were British, not American, our songs were British, though before very long we began to create different words for British tunes.
The first of 18 songs from which Caroline sang excerpts was "Hail Britannia," that familiar hymn with guardian angels hailing Britannia to "rule the waves," which of course it did for many years. That was followed by "Rise Columbia" to make us "brave and free." Same melody; new words. This happened many times. Her 3rd song was from Scotland, "The Banks of the Dee," the river known for its scenic beauty and salmon fishing... The "loneliest lass on the banks of the Dee" is lamenting her lad who has gone to "quell the proud rebels" who are us. A parody followed with the lad lamenting the freezing cold of winter in this land where he shouldn't be and longing for the green banks of the Dee. The most familiar song was "Yankee Doodle," but it had many versions and Caroline shared the one that appeared in "Hail Columbia, " the Broadway hit of 1798. It celebrated peace and unity and contained unusual references to the Old Testament book of Micah where men will make war no more and each will sit under their own vine and fig tree.
The next song was America's first patriotic song, the "Liberty Song" of the Liberty Club, British melody but words by John Dickinson. John Adams writes of hearing 550 men sing it at their annual dinner - "in freedom we were born and in freedom we live." The Anacreontic Society of London, named for a Greek poet who lived in the 6th century B.C. had a song praising the gods of wine and love, which became popular for some reason. The melody is familiar to us, since it was used by Francis Scott Key. Caroline declared it our national drinking anthem. The English poet and playwright, John Gay became famous for his "Beggar's Opera," a brilliant satire of Sir Robert Walpole and the court of George II. Naturally it became popular in America.
Caroline sang "If the Heart of a Man" depicting a man depressed with care until a woman appears. The next two songs were familiar: John More's collected Irish songs which included "Believe Me If All Those Enduring Young Charms" and Robert Bums' "Comin' Thru the Rye," surely a classic, as is his "Auld Lang Syne." Another Scotsman, John Randolph wrote a very long ballad, "Raggle Taggle Gypsies," 13 verses. Aware of our strict time schedule she gave us only one. How could you leave and join the gypsies? A good question!
Then we arrived at the time of the first two born-in-America composers. First was Francis Parkinson of Philadelphia, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the publisher of a book of "Seven Songs,' dedicated to George Washington, who was pleased by it. The song she sang was Song VIII. The musical trivia of the day was the fact that the title of the book was engraved before Parkinson decided to add an 8th song. It was a very good song. The second American born composer was the Reverend James Lyon of Newark and the Princeton Class of 1769. His "8 Psalm Tune" was one of six original
songs in his book, Urania.
The churches played an important role in the development of music in America. The first book printed in the U.S. was the Massachusetts Bav Colonv Song Book in 1640. But, as the years went by, a lack of hymnals led to a deterioration of congregational singing. John Adams wrote that the singing in a Philadelphia congregation sounded like the braying of asses. And again in attending commencement at Princeton, he said the scholars sang as badly as New Yorkers. In response to this a variety of musicians began to create singing schools, which flourished for both social and sacred purposes. Some objected to men and women singing together, but their obvious religious causes finally prevailed. William Billings of Boston was a leader in this development, and major contribution was "Chester," the unofficial song of the revolutionary war. It is a very American assurance that God will forever reign over our land. "Psalm 100," sung to the tune of "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," is a prime example of rhymed lines for a song that are easier to remember. Two additional songs of religious concern were popular: "Wicked Polly," addressed to youth who were attracted to sin, and Anne Reed's "Simple Gifts," encouraging spiritual possession and the gifts to be free. The former was an example of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards' commitment to Calvinism and determination to confront comfortable Christians with the horrors of sin and its consequences.
Caroline's final songs were election songs from the election of 1800 between John Adams, the Federalist, and Thomas Jefferson the Democratic Republican. Each song ended with a relatively mild assertion: Each song asserts that the other is "working hard to bring about your ruin." Adams' song calls for action to "trample down beneath your feet the Jeffersonian faction." Jefferson's song more positively rhyming with brandy says Jefferson is a dandy." Caroline Moseley's lecture/performance was also a dandy. We adjourned at 11:30.
Respectfully submitted,
James T. Livingston