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From:
Randy Cabell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 23 Feb 2003 06:28:34 -0500
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I believe that the music of Lincoln is at the Library of Congress site.  As
I recall, it is very good in that it has images of the original sheet music
of Northern publishers.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any similar site for Confederate music.
The Museum of the Confederacy has the largest collection of such music that
I have found, and although they have lists, I don't think anybody has
published any kind of analysis of the songs.  That having been said, maybe
somebody out there knows of a dissertation on the subject.

Probably the simplest place to start are songbooks.  THE Classic is THE
CIVIL WAR SONGBOOK from Dover.  But it just has 37 songs.  A more
comprehensive one is SINGING SOLDIERS by Paul Glass -- I guess about 120
songs.  But North and South are intermixed.  My little song book, PATRIOTIC
SONGS AND AIRS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (out of print) has only
20 songs, but aside from DIXIE and BONNIE BLUE FLAG which are must-haves in
any Civil War Songbook, I tried to pick more obscure one which together told
the story of the Confederacy in song.  e.g.  VIRGINIA THE HOME OF THE FREE,
THE VOLUNTEER, TAKE ME HOME, THE ALABAMA, THE CAPTAIN WITH HIS WHISKERS, THE
STAR SPANGLED CROSS AND THE PURE FIELD OF WHITE, LET ME KISS HIM FOR HIS
MOTHER, THE FADED GRAY JACKET, etc.

And of course you have to be very careful about what you are reading.  JOHN
BROWN'S BODY is a case in point.  Early on, it was a marching song for New
England units, and indeed the story is that after she heard it sung in
Northern Virginia, Julia Ward Howe went home and wrote THE BATTLE HYMN OF
THE REPUBLIC to the tune (which was brought from a Georgia Camp meeting in
the 1850's by a Richmonder).  Actually the JOHN BROWN in the song was not
the one of Harpers Ferry.  The sung hero was 2nd tenor in a quartet, and the
rest of the men wrote verses to make fun of him.

Randy Cabell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Pemberton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: Southern loyalism?


> Thanks for an informative post!  Do you have a link to the "Music of
> Lincoln"? I'd like to read the rest of the words. Looking at the music of
a
> time does indeed provide an interesting perspective on the issue.
>
>                                  Anne
>
> At 03:16 PM 2/20/03 -0500, you wrote:
> >It is with some trepidation that an itenerant musician, such as I, do
battle
> >albeit a battle of wits (wit?) with academicians.  Yet I suggest you look
at
> >the songs of the time for another view of who was invading whom.''
> >
> >I think an analysis of Northern Patriotic Songs will show that threads
> >running through them are generally:
> >     - A Rally to old Abe (I think that I recall the name of the Library
of
> >Congress Civil War Songs is something like 'Music of Lincoln'.... but I
may
> >be wrong.  e.g. "We are coming Father Abraham, 100,000 strong"
> >     - Preserving the Union, and just plain fighting
>
> Anne Pemberton
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>
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