Twenty Folk Hymns
by Mary O. Eddy
Midwest Folklore, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring, 1953), pp. 35-45
Twenty Folk Hymns
By MARY 0. EDDY
The following hymns are offered as examples of a practice which entered the field of American religious music early in the 1800's. I refer to the practice of fitting well-known secular tunes with religious words. Such hymns have come to be called "folk
hymns." John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part II, Harrisburg, Pa., 1820, is one of the earliest books to include folk hymns in any number.
This early volume contains 44 tunes recognized by musicians as of folk origin. No doubt many of these tunes were deliberately composed with the ballad flavor, some were old tunes retouched, like "The Old Ship of Zion Rebuilt," but many remain in their original form as simple ballad tunes. Early music teachers made every effort to simplify the reading of notes. Most of the following tunes are printed in the fa-sol-la scale with four-shape notes, "buckwheat notes," I have heard them called. Alexander Auld, Amos Sutton Hayden, and Samuel Wakefield introduced scales in their own original notation.
The only tune included here which is printed in round notes is that one taken from The Presbyterian Psalmodist. I have copied all the tunes in round notes so they may be more easily sung. Try them. Often by accelerating the time, the ballad, the square dance, or the bagpipe origin will be apparent.
UNITIA P. M.
0 tell me no more of this world's vain store, The time for such
trn-fles witn me is now o'er; A coun-try I've found Where true Joys a-
bound, To dwell I'm de- ter- mined on thls hap-py ground.
The above tune is taken from Freeman Lewis's T he Beauties of Harmony, Pittsburgh, 1818, p. 181. Here it is designated as having been taken from "Methodist Coll. Hymns," but it is everywhere attributed to Chapin. This is doubtless Amzi Chapin (1769-1835) who belongs to Ohio at least as far as his later life near Northfield, and his grave in the Northfield cemetery are concerned. This tune is found also in Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Harrisburg, Pa., 1820, p. 97, WV. C. Knight's Juvenile Harmony, Cincinnati, 1833, p. 129, Wakefield's The Christian's Harp, 1832, p. 124, and in Hayden's The Sacred Melodeon, Cincinnati, 1855, p. 209.
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DUNLAP'S CREEK C. M.
Think O my soul the dread-ful day When this In-censed God Shall
rend the skies and burn the seas And fling his wrath a- broad.
"Dunlap's Creek" as a title for a hymn is clearly favored by the Pittsburgh publishers, with a reason. The creek itself was doubtless a familiar locality in western Pennsylvania. Amzi Chapin, pioneer music master, wrote in his journal in 1799 of instructing classes in places near Uniontown, Pa., and included Dunlap's Creek. The above tune, composed by S. McFarland, appears in Freeman Lewis's The Beauties of Harmony, Pittsburgh, 1820, p. 59. It is included also in Wakefield's The Christian's Harp, Pittsburgh, 1832, p. 9, in Hayden's Introduction to Sacred Music, Pittsburgh, 1835, p. 24, and in The Presbyterian Psalmodist, Philadelphia, 1852, p. 118, where it is designated as a western melody.
This is one variant of "Garden Hymn" which has become familiar to many through the harmonizations of Annabel Morris Buchanan in Folk Hymns of America, No. 7, key of F, and in Twelve Folk Hymns, No. 12, key of G flat. The above tune is
taken from John Wyeth's The Repository of Sacred Music, Harrisburg, 1820, p. 94, a book very influential in the spread of folk hymns. Eight verses are given.
With slight differences the tune is also found in Joshua Leavitt's The Christian Lyre, Boston, 1831, p. 46, in A. S. Hayden's
Introduction to Sacred Music, Pittsburgh, 1835, p. 43, and in Hayden's Sacred Melodeon, Cincinnati, 1855, p. 131. Hayden does not use the garden words. Many hymns in Hayden's Introduction are designated as "songs." The above is "Song 91." Such hymns where taken from Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, an earlier Hayden publication, and are almost entirely folk hymns.
SPRINGHILL or GARDEN HYMN P. M.
The Lord in-to his gar-den' s come, The spi-ces yield a rich per-
fume, the 111-ies grow and thrive, The lil-les grow and thrive. Refresh-
lng showrs of grace divine, From Je-sus flow to ev'ry
Vine, And make the dead re- vive, And make the dead re-vive.
A derivative of this hymn with many alterations to please the singer is version B of "James Harris," p. 72, in Ballads and Songs
from Ohio. In the same book the tune to "Fair Charlotte," p. 278, "The Drunkard's Doom," p. 308, and "Ohio," p. 287, show blood relationship with the hymn, "Walbridge."
The above tune is from Joshua Leavitt's The Christian Lyre, Boston, 1831, p. 130.
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WALBRIDGE S. M.
A- wake, and sina the song Of Mo-ses and the Lamb' Wake
ev-ery heart and ev-ery tongue to praise the Sa- viour's name.
This lively tune (that is, lively if the tempo is increased), is found in Henry Smith's The Church Harmony, Chambersburg, Pa.,
1831, p. 109. Two verses accompany this two-part arrangement of the German hymn "Gott des Himmels und der Erden."
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ANTWERP
Who Is this that comes rrom E-dom, All his ral-ment stain'd with blood,
Te the cap-tive speak-ing free-dom, Bring-ing and be-stow-ing good;
Glor-lous Is the garb he wears, Glo-rious Is the spoil he bears.
Samuel Wakefield's The Christian's Harp, appendix p. 36, 1832, Pittsburgh, is the only book in which I have found this lovely Dorian tune. It is designated as having been arranged by S. W.
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SOMERSET L. M. D.
broad Is the road that leads to death, And thou-sands
But wis-dom shows a nar-row path, Witth here and
walk to-geth-er there; De- ny thy- self and take thy cross
there a tra-vel-ler.
Is the Re-deem-er's great com- mand; Na-ture must count her gold but
dross, If she would gain thil heav'n- ly land.
This hymn, like "Somerset," is one of Samuel Wakefield's harmonizations, and it, too, is printed in the appendix of The Christian's Harp, p. 32. This Dorian tune is also found in A. S. Hayden's 'The Sacred Melodeon, Cincinnati, 1855, p. 86, with the verses starting: "O land of rest, for thee I sigh!"
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REPENTANCE C. M. D.
Come hum-ble sin-ner In whose breast A thou-sand thoughts re-volve;
Come wltn your gruilt and fear op-prest, And make this last re-solve;
I'll go to Je-sus, tho my sins Have like a moun-tain rose.
know his courts, I'll en-ter In, What- ev- er may op- pose.
"Delightful" is found in The Juvenile Harmony by W. C. Knight, Cincinnati, 1833, with only the first line of the familiar words:
"O when shall I see Jesus And reign with him above."
This book was printed by Morgan and Sanxay, who, in 1830, issued the third edition of The Missouri Harmony. The Juvenile
Harmony contains eighty hymns made from the plates of this third edition, though the above tune is not one of the eighty.
The Juvenile Harmony has been known to me for a number of years by the name of the owner, Mrs. Bollinger, whose grandfather paid seventy-five cents for it in Mansfield in 1834. Mr. Irving Lowens of Hyattsville, Maryland, gave of his valuable time and identified the book through a mis-spelled word in the index.
The copy I have seen is designated as the 15th edition. However, fifteen editions between 1830 and 1833 puts credulity to test. A copy of the so-called 16th edition, dated 1836, is owned by the Cincinnati Public Library. In spite of the large numbers of copies suggested by 15th and 16th edition, the book remains very rare. The above tune is found also in The Missouri Harmony under the title "Conquering Soldier." This peculiar tune is found in Allen D. Carden's The Missouri Harmony, Cincinnati, 1836, p. 45. John Powell once wrote to me that "War Department," following this, is the oddest hymn he knew. My vote is in favor of "Solitude in the Grove."
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DELIGHTFUL P. M.
O when shall I see Je-sus And reign with Him a-bove
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SOLITUDE IN THE GROVE
o were I like a feath-erld dove, And in- no-cence had
wings I'd fly and make a long re- move From all these rest- less
things. Let me to some wild des- ert go, And find a peace- ful
home-----Where storms of mal-le nev- er blow, And sor- rows nev-er
come.
This peculiar hymn is found in the Denson Revision of Original Sacred Harp, and dates from 1835.
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WAR DEPARTMENT 11's
No more shall the sound of the war-whoop be heard, Jlhe am-bush and
slaugh-ter no long-er be feared, The tom-a-hawk, bur-led, shall
rest in the ground, And peace and good will to the na-tions abound.
The Minstrel of Zionl by Rev. Samuel Wakefield and Rev. William Hunter, is a tiny book 4x6'/2 inches, upright. The Carnegie
Librarv of Pittsburgh, Music Division, owns the manuscript copy. The book was published in 1846 in Philadelphia. Page twelve has the above tune.
In spite of the verse "Happy the spirit released from its clay," one hears the more cheerful words of Thomas Haynes Bayley, "Gaily the troubadour touched his guitar." Instead of "Victory, victory, homeward to rise," perhaps wve enjoy more "Lady love, lady love, welcome me home."
Wakefield and Hunter's The Minstrel of Ziont, Philadelphia, 1846, p. 106, is the source of this hymn. Seven verses are required
to tell the story of the miracle.
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THE PARALYTIC P. M.
Re- view the pal-sled sin-ner's case,Who sought for health In Je-sus; HIs
friends con-vey'd him to the place Where he might meet with Je-sus. A
mul-ti-tude were throng-Ing round To keep him back from Je-sus; But.
from the roof' they let him down Be-tore the face of Je-sus.
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THE CHRISTIAN VICTOR P. M.
Hap-py the apir-it re-leased from ite clay; HIap-py the soul that goes
bound-lng a-way; Sing-Ing as up-ward it hastes to the skies Vic-to-ry'
V.1 -to-ry! home-ward to rise.
Vlc-to-ry' home-rward to
The foregoing tune has been taken from Alexander Auld's The Ohio Harmonist, Pittsburgh, 1850, p. 156, where it is credited to A. Lane. Five verses by Rev. William Hunter are printed there. Here is another familiar tune fitted out with religious words. It is found in Wakefield's small book, The Minstrel of Zion, p. 94, the hymnal described under "The Christian Victor." In this whether
you hear "Did you ever see a lassie go this way and that," or "Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin," depends upon your early training.
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THE EDEN ABOVE P. M.
We're bound for the land of the pure and the ho,ly, The home of t b
hap-py, the kingdom of love; ye wan-derers from God In the broad road of
fol-ly, Oh' say, will you go to the Eden above? Will you go? Will you
go? Oh. say, will you go to the E-den a- bove?
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THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
1. You may sing of the beau- ty of moun- taln and glen, Of the
sil-ver- y stream-lets and flowers of the vale, Eut the place most de-
light- ful this earth can af-ford Is the place of de- vo-tion, the
house of the Lord.
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A. Lane composed this hymn as recorded in Auld's The Ohio Harmonist, Pittsburgh, 1850, p. 98. It is either done in the folk
manner, or is an outright folk tune. The same tune with different words is found in Hayden's The Sacred Melodeon, 1855, p. 87.
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LAND OF REST C. M.
Oh' land of rest, for thee I sigh; When will the mo-ment come When
I shall lay my ar-mor by, And dwell In peace at home, - And
dwell in peace at home, And dwell In peace at home, When I ean lay my
ar-mor by, And dwell in peace at home.
"Harmonized and arranged" by Alexander Auld, the above tune appears in The Ohio Harmonist, Pittsburgh, 1850, p. 153.
There are four verses in all.
CONTRAST P. M.
I bave sought round this ver-dant earth For un-fad-ing joy, I have
tried ew-ery source of mirth, But all, all will cloy. Lord, bef
stow on me Grace to set my spir-it free; Thine the praise shall be,
Mine, mine the Joy.
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"Italy" is taken from The Ohio Harmonist, p. 130, "arranged by S. Crigler." With the omission of the two C's, this would be a
perfect' pentatonic bagpipe scale, i.e., such as one can play on the black keys only. One verse is printed.
ITALY 8's and 7's
For-mer friends how oft I've sought them, Just to cheer a troubled mnine,
Now they're gone like leaves of au-tumn, Drlv'n be-tore the drear-y winte r.
When a few more days are wast-ed, And a few more scenes are o'er,
When a few more griefs I've tast- ed I shall rise to fall lo more.
The above tune is found in Presbyterian Psalmodist, 1852, p. 368, where it is designated as an "old ballad." The AMlethodist
Hymnal, p. 379, uses the title "Contrast," and designates it as an early American hymn. The tune is used as early as 1836 in The Missouri Harmony, p. 52, where it has the title "Greenfields" and the verse "How tedious and tasteless the hours," etc. With the title "Greenfield" it is found in Original Sacred Harp dating from 1844, p. 127.
DE FLEURY 8's D.
Ye an-gels who stand round the throne, And view my Im-man-uel'a
face, In rap-tur-ous songs make him known;
lune, tune your soft harps to his
pralse. He formed you the spir-its you are, So hap-py, so no-ble, so
good; While oth-ers sunk down In de-spair, Con-firmed by hls pow-er ye
stood.
Ten verses of this tune, with so many holds, must have occupied considerable time. In A. S. Hayden's The Sacred Melodeon, Cincinnati, 1855, p. 240, the key is called the key of G. But Hayden
used a very original notation, and the key is really B flat major.
This throws the pitch entirely too high, so I have transposed it to
be within reach. It is a pleasant ballad tune without the holds.
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CHRIST IN THE GARDEN 11's
While na-ture wae sink-ing In as-lence to rest, And th' last beams of
day-light were dim In the west, I stray'd in the twi-light un-con-sclous a-
way, In deep med 1-ta-tion, wher- oler my path lay.
Painesville, Ohio