The Riverside Literature Series
THE RIVERSIDE SONG BOOK
CONTAINING CLASSIC AMERICAN POEMS
SET TO STANDARD MUSIC
SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY
W. M. LAWRENCE
PRINCIPAL OF THE MARK SHERIDAN SCHOOL, CHICAGO
AND
O. BLACKMAN
SUPERVISOR OF VOCAL MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
BOSTON: 4 PARK STREET; NEW YORK: 11 EAST 17TH STREET
CHICAGO: 28 LAKESIDE BUILDING
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
Copyright, 1893,
By W. M. LAWRENCE and O. BLACKMAN.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
PREFACE.
This collection has been prepared mainly for use in schools. Believing that in the preparation of school song books too little attention has been paid to the character of the words sung, we have made our selections for the most part from the writings of American poets of high standing. With these before us, we have sought for music of an equally high order with which to wed the words, and where we have introduced old and familiar songs, we have edited the music with care. In nearly all the part songs, the melody can be sung alone with good effect. We desire to acknowledge our special indebtedness to Professor C. E. R. Mueller for valuable aid rendered in the work of musical revision.
The several indexes with which the book is provided record the contents, and show the origin of the words and the music. By means of the Topical Index, the teacher may readily discover the adaptability of the book to those special occasions, like national holidays and birthday celebrations, which form an important element in school life.
We submit the result of our work to teachers and superintendents, with the hope that it may strengthen in our schools that spirit of loyalty to American ideals already nobly expressed in American poetry.
W. M. LAWRENCE.
O. BLACKMAN.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
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Title of Song.
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Author of Words.
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Composer, or Source, of Music. |
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First sung at a Sunday-School celebration in the Park Street Church, Boston, July 4, 1832.
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Samuel Francis Smith |
Unknown 1 |
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Carl Wilhelm 2, 3 | |
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True Freedom |
James Russell Lowell |
Friedrich Silcher 4 |
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This poem aroused great enthusiasm during the dark days of the Civil War.
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William Cullen Bryant |
Unknown 5 Air: Der Tannenbaum. The well-known songs, Lauriger Horatius and Maryland, my Maryland, are sung to this same air.
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From The Building of the Ship.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
German air 6, 7 |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
German air 7, 8 | |
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Sung at the completion of the Battle Monument, April 19, 1836.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Ludwig van Beethoven 9 |
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James Russell Lowell |
Friedrich Silcher 10 | |
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Written when it was proposed to break up the U. S. Frigate Constitution, called Old Ironsides, as unfit for service. This appeal was greatly instrumental in saving the ship, which is still in existence.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Unknown 11 |
|
Written in 1798 when a war with France was thought to be inevitable.
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Joseph Hopkinson |
Phyla 12, 13 The music of this song, called The President’s March, written by a Philadelphia musician, Professor Phyla, was first played when Washington came to New York in 1789 to be inaugurated.
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Written during the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British in 1814, under the title The Defence of Fort McHenry. It was set to a popular song, Adams and Liberty.
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Francis Scott Key |
Samuel Arnold 14, 15 Air: Anacreon in Heaven, an old English hunting song.
|
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The Red, White, and Blue The editors have taken several liberties with this song, the chief of these being the use of the more appropriate title, The Red, White, and Blue, and the insertion in the third stanza of the name with which our veteran soldiers fondly greet the national banner. Old Glory. In singing the last stanza the Salute to the Flag can be given with good effect.
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David T. Shaw |
David T. Shaw 16, 17 |
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Unknown 18, 19, 20 | |
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M. Woolsey Stryher |
Unknown 20 | |
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Written for the celebration of the Mercantile Library Association, in Boston, February 22, 1856.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Ludwig van Beethoven 21 From the choral setting of Schiller’s Hymn of Joy at the close of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
|
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William Ross Wallace |
Bernard Covert 22, 23 | |
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From the poem At Port Royal.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Wenzel Müller 24, 25 1767-1835. |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Albert Gottlieb Methfessel 26 1785-1869. | |
|
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Thomas Buchanan Read |
William F. Hartley 27, 28, 29 |
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Philip Paul Bliss |
Philip Paul Bliss 30, 31 | |
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Written on hearing the bells ring on the passage of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Jonathan Battishill 32 |
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This song, Old Folks at Home, one of the best known ever written, is one of Foster’s famous Plantation Melodies.
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Stephen Collins Foster |
Stephen Collins Foster 33 |
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Phoebe Cary |
Unknown 34, 35 | |
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Written in Washington during the Civil War, where the author had listened for hours to the tramp of marching troops going to the front.
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Julia Ward Howe |
Unknown 36, 37 The melody was first known to be used in a negro Presbyterian church in Charleston, S. C, in 1859. Soon after it was used in the North with the words, "Say, brothers, will you meet us?" During the Civil War this song became very popular with the soldiers and the people.
|
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Dedicated to the Stay-at-Home Rangers.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Scotch Air 38, 39 Air: Bonnie Dundee. |
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From the poem read at a celebration on July 4, 1883.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 40, 41 |
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Tenting on the Old Camp-Ground Written while the author was preparing to go to the front as a soldier.
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Walter Kittredge |
Walter Kittredge 42, 43 |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Johann Aegidius Geyer 43 | |
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James Riley |
L. V. H. Crosby 44 Air: Dearest Mae. Also, It was my Last Cigar.
| |
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Written for the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia, 1876.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
John Knowles Paine 45 |
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Written shortly after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 14, 1865.
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Walt Whitman |
C. M. Wyman 46, 47 |
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Joaquin [Cincinnatus Hiner] Miller |
Arr. from the German 47, 48 | |
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Richard Henry Stoddard |
U. Munjinger 49 | |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Christian Gottlob Neefe 50 | |
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Bayard Taylor |
Christoph Willibald Gluck 51, 52 | |
|
Bayard Taylor |
Friedrich Silcher 53 Air: Die Lorelei.
| |
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William Cullen Bryant |
German air 54, 55 | |
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Bayard Taylor |
Johann Abraham Peter Schulz 56, 57 | |
|
Suggested by a morning walk on the Battery in New York, and the sight of ships and small
craft under full sail.
|
Epes Sargent |
Henry Russell 58 |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Johann André 59 | |
|
John Greenleaf Whittier |
German air 60, 61 | |
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Edgar Allan Poe |
61 | |
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First sung in an opera written by Sir Henry Bishop, produced in Covent Garden Theatre, London, in 1823. The author, who was all his life a wanderer, has been called "the homeless bard of home."
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John Howard Payne |
Sicilian air 62 |
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Marshall S. Pike |
Marshall S. Pike 63 | |
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George Howland |
Scotch air 64 | |
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Lucy Larcom |
German air 65 | |
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Richard Watson Gilder |
Franz Abt 66, 67 | |
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William E. Hickson |
German air 67 | |
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Coates Kinney |
Johann Gottlieb Naumann 68 | |
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The author heard a friend make an appeal voicing the sentiment of the song. On payment of ten dollars the woodman signed a bond to spare the tree.
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George Pope Morris |
Johann Adam Hiller 69 |
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The well is still standing in Scituate, Mass., the birthplace of the author.
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Samuel Woodworth |
G. Kiallmark 70 |
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The words of this song were based on the following statement current at the time the song was written, though it had probably little, if any, foundation in fact. "Among the superstitions of the Senecas is one which, for its singular beauty, is already well known. When a maiden dies, they imprison a young bird until it first begins to try its powers of song, and then loading it with kisses and caresses, they loose its bonds over her grave, in the belief that it will not fold its wings, nor close its eyes, until it has flown to the spirit land, and delivered its precious burden of affection to the loved and lost. 'It is not
infrequent,' says the Indian historian, 'to see twenty or thirty birds loosened at once over one grave.' "
|
Isaac Baker Woodbury |
Isaac Baker Woodbury 71 |
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William Cullen Bryant |
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 72 | |
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Ye say they all have passed away From the poem Indian Names.
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Lydia Huntley Sigourney |
Wellington Guernsey 73 |
|
John Boyle O’Reilly |
Karl Gottfried Wilhelm
Taubert 74 | |
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From The Song of Hiawatha.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Charles Crozat Converse
75, 76, 77 |
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Eugene Field |
Arr. from Voigtlaender 78, 79 | |
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Phoebe Gary |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 80, 81 | |
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James Thomas Fields |
Isaac Baker Woodbury 82, 83 | |
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Referring to the author's childhood home.
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Alice Cary |
Franz Peter Schubert 84 |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Unknown 85 | |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
M. Lindsay 86,87,88,89 | |
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James Russell Lowell |
Arr. from the German 90 | |
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Sidney Lanier |
Old college air 91 | |
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Paul Hamilton Hayne |
Unknown 92 | |
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Eugene Field |
Giovanni Paisiello 93, 94, 95 | |
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Bayard Taylor |
Christoph Willibald Gluck 96 | |
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Sidney Lanier |
Joseph Barnby 97 Air: Sweet and Low.
| |
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Alice Cary |
Friedrich Ludwig Seidel 98, 99 |
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Written on the death of the author’s daughter.
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James Russell Lowell |
German air 100, 101 |
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From The Spanish Student.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Isaac Baker Woodbury 101 1819-1858. |
|
Bayard Taylor |
Kreipel 102 | |
|
Phoebe Cary |
Johann Michael Hayden 103 | |
|
Written in 1842, at the request of N. P. Willis, and published in the New Mirror. Set to music it became one of the most popular songs ever written, as great a favorite in England as in America.
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Thomas Dunn English |
Nelson Kneass 104, 105 |
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W. G. Becker 111 | ||
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Germair air 106, 107 | |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Arr. from the German 108, 109 | |
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Konrain Kreutzer 109, 110 | |
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Phoebe Cary |
W. G. Becker 111 | |
|
Bayard Taylor |
Johann Abraham Peter Schulz 112, 113 | |
|
Alice Cary |
Judson Hutchinson 113, 114 A member of the well-known Hutchinson Fam-
ily of singers.
Air: The Old Granite State. | |
|
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
John Hullah 115 | |
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Germair air 116, 117 | |
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From the poem Woodnotes. This extract refers to Emerson's intimate friend, Henry D. Thoreau, the noted author and naturalist.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Wenzel Müller 117 |
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James Russell Lowell |
German air 118 | |
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The Harp at Nature’s Advent strung From The Tent on the Beach.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
German air 119 |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Albert Gottlieb Methfessel 120, 121 | |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Theodore Stein 121 | |
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Alice Cary |
Joseph Philbrick Webster 122, 123, 124 | |
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Learn to live, and live to learn Addressed to the author’s little daughter.
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Bayard Taylor |
English air 125 |
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken 126,127 | |
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Phoebe Cary |
English air 128, 129 |
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From the poem Charles Sumner.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Johann Christian Heinrich 129 |
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John Godfrey Saxe |
J. M.Sayles 130, 131 | |
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Alice Cary |
Unknown 132, 133, 134 Air:What’s a’ the steer, Kimmer.
| |
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There is no End for Souls like his From the poem Charles Sumner.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Joseph B. Sharland 135 |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Alfred Scott Gatty 136, 137 | |
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 138, 139 | |
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Phoebe Cary |
139 | |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
William Richardson Dempster 140, 141 | |
|
|
William Dean Howells |
Halfdan Kjerulf 142, 143, 144 |
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I know not what the Future hath From The Eternal Goodness.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
W. Irmer 144 |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
A. ten Cate 145 | |
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James Russell Lowell |
C. G. Bellman 146, 147 | |
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Francis Bret Harte |
Edwin J. Hopkins 148, 149 A Schleswig-Holstein Battle Hymn.
| |
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From the poem A Sun-Day Hymn.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Francis Linley 149 |
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Harriet Beecher Stowe |
William H. Hutchinson 150, 151 Air :Dream Faces.
| |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
L. O. Emerson 151 | |
|
Thomas Bailey Aldrich |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 152,153 Air:Drink to Me only with Thine Eyes. County Guy, a little song by Sir Walter Scott, is also sung to this air.
| |
|
|
George Pope Morris |
Charles Edward Horn 154 Originally a Southern negro glee beginning: "Way down in the raccoon hollow," and subdued by Horn’s genius to a sweet and plaintive song.
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Unknown |
Edward E. Whittemore 155 | |
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Waldeinsamkeit (Forest Solitude) |
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 156, 157 Air:Farewell to the Forest.
|
|
George Washington Doane |
Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken 157 | |
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Sarah Flower Adams |
Lowell Mason 158 |
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From the poem Intimations.
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Alice Cary |
Franz Abt 159, 160, 161 |
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John Burroughs |
E. W. Foster 162, 163, 164, 165 | |
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A Hymn of Peace sung at the National Peace Jubilee, in Boston, June 15, 1869.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes |
Matthias Keller 166,167,168 Air:American Hymn.
|
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Johann Friedrich Reichardt 169 | |
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Longfellow’s seventy-second birthday was widely celebrated by the school-children of America. His death occurred three years later.
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John Greenleaf Whittier |
Ferdinand Gumbert 170, 171 |
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Henry Smart 172
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Acknowledgment is due to the following publishers and authors for permission to use the poems contained in this volume, controlled or written by them:—
Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. W. C. Bryant.
Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons Sidney Lanier, R. H. Stoddard.
The Century Co. R. W. Gilder.
J. B. Lippincott Co. T. Buchanan Read.
Cassell Publishing Co. J. Boyle O’Reilly.
Eugene Field.
Joaquin Miller.
The music of the following songs is used by arrangement with The Oliver Ditson Co.: Keller’s American Hymn (Angel of Peace), Foster’s Old Folks at Home (Swanee River), Kittredge’s Tenting on the Old Camp-Ground, Webster’s Don’t be sorrowful, Darling, Emerson’s Reaper and the Flowers, Pike’s Home Again, Mason’s Nearer, my God, to Thee, Woodbury’s Stars of the Summer Night, and Paine’s Centennial Hymn.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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