maandag 25 december 2017

The Merry Sleigh (1843) / The Merry Sleigh Ride (1844) / One Horse Open Sleigh (1857) / Jingle Bells (1859) / Sleigh Ride Party (1898)


"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung American Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857.




It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir; however, historians dispute this, stating that it was much too "racy" (and secular) to be sung by a children's church choir in the days it was written.

The original sheet music, under the name "One Horse Open Sleigh", was dedicated to "John P. Ordway, the founder of Ordway’s Aeolian Minstrel Troupe, a detail that has often gone unnoticed". Ordway’s theater in Boston Massachusetts was the site of the first-ever public performance of "Jingle Bells" on September 15, 1857, when the blackface minstrel Johnny Pell sang the song in a bit entitled, “Dandy Darkies.”



Mrs. Otis Waterman, one of Pierpoint's friends, described the song as a "merry little jingle", which became part of its new name when published in 1859 under the revised title of "Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh".







But years before "Jingle Bells" was written, in 1849, blackface minstrel troupes performed a song titled "Darkie(s) Sleighing Party", also called "Jingle Jingle Clear The Way" or "Jingle, Jingle All The Way" and or "The Merry Sleigh Ride".



Here's a song sheet from 1851:




A playbill from Ordway’s Aeolians dated 7 December 1853 includes "Jingle-Jingle, Clear de Way", sung by S.C. Howard.


A playbill from 21 January 1854 includes "Jingle, Jingle All the Way", also sung by S.C. Howard.



In a playbill from Kunkel’s Nightingale Opera Troupe in New York dated 22 April 1853, and others for 7 and 9 January 1854, the song is listed as the "Darkies Sleighing Party" sung by Harry Lehr. The earlier performance includes the directions “with imitations.”

Inspiration for all the versions above could have come from a poem titled "The Merry Sleigh", lyrics written by Lieutenant G.W. Patten and published in The Ladies Companion and Literary Expositor vol. 20 (December 1843)



With music by I.B. Woodbury, it was published in Boston in 1844: "The Merry Sleigh ride"
 





The first recorded version of the song came about in 1889, released on an Edison North American cylinder.

According to the Edison "Musical Cylinder Accounts", on September 30, 1889, banjo-player Will Lyle was the first artist to record "Banjo Jingles", also the first Christmas record, although no known copies of this record survive.
One of the earliest vocal examples of "Jingle Bells" does survive on an Edison brown wax cylinder entitled, "Sleigh Ride Party".
That version was recorded almost 9 years later by the Edison Male Quartette.

(c) Edison Male Quartette (1898) (incorporated in "Sleighride Party")
Jere Mahoney (T), John H. Bieling (T), Samuel H. Dudley (Bar), William F. Hooley (Bs)
Recorded June 1898 in New York
Released on Edison Gold Moulded Cylinder #2218
 

 



In 1902, almost the same Quartette made a recording of "Sleighride Party", released on the same Edison Cylinder #2218.
Only difference: Harry MacDonough had replaced Jere Mahoney, and the name of the group was changed to Haydn Quartette.

On the next link you can listen to 3 versions (all 3 with the same release-number #2218, some acapella and some with piano-accompaniment)




(c) Greater New York Quartet (1898) (incorporated in "The Sleigh Ride Party")
Released on Columbia Brown Wax Cylinder #9040



Listen here:


Or here:




The Haydn Quartette also recorded several versions for the Columbia-label and for the Victor-label.

(c) Invincible Quartette (=Haydn Quartet) (1902) (incorporated in "The Sleigh Ride Party")
Released on Columbia Disc Record #450


Listen here:




(c) Haydn Quartet) (1901) (incorporated in "A Sleighride Party")
Recorded February 7, 1901 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor Monarch #3088






(c) Haydn Quartet) (1904) (incorporated in "Sleighride Party")
Recorded January 28, 1904
Released on Victor 658






(c) Columbia Mixed Quartette (1915)  (incorporated in "Medley Of Old-Time Songs")
Recorded July 24, 1915
Released on Columbia A-1811




Listen here (at 2 min and 24 sec):  Medley of Old Time Songs : Columbia Mixed Quartette



(c) Victor Male Chorus (1916)  (incorporated in "Favorite College Songs")
Recorded July 7, 1916 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 35573
 




The first "complete" version of "Jingle Bells", with the familiar title, I could find:

(c) Shannon Quartet (1925) (as "Jingle Bells")
Recorded August 21, 1925 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 19791


Listen here:




In 1935 Benny Goodman's instrumental version was the first act to hit the US Charts.

(c) Benny Goodman and his Orchestra (1935) (as "Jingle Bells")
Recorded July 1, 1935 in New York
Released on Victor 25145


Listen here:



In 1941 a vocal version by Glenn Miller also made the US Charts (#5)

(c) Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (1941) (as "Jingle Bells")
Recorded October 20, 1941.
Released on Bluebird 11353



Listen here:




The version by Bing Crosby (with the Andrews Sisters) hit the US Charts twice (in 1943 and 1947)

(c) Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (1943) (as "Jingle Bells")
Recorded September 29, 1943
Released on Decca 23281



Listen here:




(c) Lisette Jambel (1948)  (as "Vive Le Vent")
French lyrics by Francis Blanche
Released on Pathe PA 2584




Listen here;



Even The Beatles sang a snippet of the song in their 1964 Christmas Record.


woensdag 13 december 2017

Ar Hyd y Nos (1746) / The Live Long Night (1800's) / All Through The Night (1873)


"Ar Hyd y Nos" (English: "All Through the Night") is a Welsh song sung to a tune that was published on page 151/152 in Edward Jones' "Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards" (1784).
The 1784 Edward Jones version is not the one we're familiar with nowadays. This applies to both the Welsh and English version, both on the same page
 

Here are the Welsh lyrics

      Er bod rhai yn taeru'n galed
      Ar hyd y nos
      Ddarfod imi golli'nghariad
      Ar hyd y nos
      Minnau sydd heb fedru coelio
      Imi golli'nghariad etto
      Imi golli'nghariad etto
      Ar hyd y nos

And here the English lyrics

      Fain would some with vows persuade me
      Ar hyd y nos
      That my faithful swain has fled me
      Ar hyd y nos
      But my beating heart will falter
      Ere it thinks his heart can alter,
      Ere it thinks his heart can alter,
      Ar hyd y nos



On page 185 the English version is listed separately:


In 1799 this version was also published in the US by J. Hewitt in New York (with an extra verse)

      Fain would some with vows persuade me
      A-ty'd-y-nos
      That my faithful Swain has fled me
      A-ty'd-y-nos
      But my beating heart will falter
      Ere it thinks that his can alter,
      Ere it thinks that his can alter,
      A-ty'd-y-nos

      He's so constant I believe him
      A-ty'd-y-nos
      He'd be true did I deceive him
      A-ty'd-y-nos
      And I would not give him credit
      He were false altho he did it
      A-ty'd-y-nos




But William Roberts is likely responsible for the earliest notation of this air published in "Ffrewyll y Methodistiaid" (English: "Whipping The Methodists"), an anti-Methodist anterliwt, written in 1746.



Between 1799 and 1805 Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) wrote an arrangement to the tune with new words by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818) (better known as "Monk Lewis")
In Anthony van Hoboken's List of Works by Joseph Haydn it is Hob.XXXIb:9 "Ar Hyd Y Nos (The Live Long Night)"



Listen here:




In 1862 John Thomas compiled a series of books called "Welsh Melodies with Welsh and English Poetry". It was a collaborative work with John Jones (Talhaiarn) creating the Welsh words and Thomas Oliphant writing the English (which was often not a translation) and authored by John Thomas the Welsh composer and harpist. There were four volumes, the first two published in 1862, the third in 1870 and the fourth in 1874.
"Ar Hyd Y Nos" was published as song #3 on page 19 in Vol 1.
 




Here are Thomas Oliphant's lyrics written in 1862:

(1) While the moon her watch is keeping
      All through the night
      While the weary world is sleeping
      All through the night
      O'er my bosom gently stealing
      Visions of delight revealing
      Breathes a pure and holy feeling
      All through the night.

(2) Fondly then I dream of thee, Love
      All through the night
      Waking, still thy form I see, Love
      All through the night
      When this mortal coil is over
      Will thy gentle spirit hover
      O'er the bed where sleeps thy lover
      All through the night.




The most commonly sung Welsh lyrics were written by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832-1887), published in 1873 in "Songs of Wales" by Brinley Richards, Boosey & Co, London. The English lyrics for this version were written by Walter Maynard (=Thomas Willert Beale)
 



Here are John Ceiriog Hughes lyrics written in 1873

      Holl amrantau'r sêr ddywedant
      Ar hyd y nos
      "Dyma'r ffordd i fro gogoniant,"
      Ar hyd y nos.
      Golau arall yw tywyllwch
      I arddangos gwir brydferthwch
      Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch
      Ar hyd y nos.

      O mor siriol, gwena seren
      Ar hyd y nos
      I oleuo'i chwaer ddaearen
      Ar hyd y nos.
      Nos yw henaint pan ddaw cystudd
      Ond i harddu dyn a'i hwyrddydd
      Rhown ein golau gwan i'n gilydd
      Ar hyd y nos.


Here are Walter Maynard's lyrics written in 1873

(3) Love, fear not if sad thy dreaming
      All through the night,
      Through o'ercast, bright stars are gleaming
      All through the night.
      Joy will come to thee at morning,
      Life with sunny hope adorning,
      Though sad dreams may give dark warning
      All through the night.

(4) Angels watching ever round thee
      All through the night,
      In thy slumbers close surround thee
      All through the night.
      They should of all fear disarm thee,
      No forebodings should alarm thee,
      They will let no peril harm thee,
      All through the night.





The most commonly sung English lyrics were written in 1884 by Sir Harold Boulton (1859-1935)
Here's sheetmusic published in 1897 in Cincinnati, OH




(5) Sleep my love and peace attend thee
      All through the night
      Guardian angels God will lend thee
      All through the night
      Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
      Hill and vale in slumber steeping
      Love alone his watch is keeping
      All through the night

(6) Though I roam a minstrel lonely
      All through the night
      My true harp shall praise thee only
      All through the night
      Love's young dream, alas, is over
      Yet my strains of love shall hover
      Near the presence of my lover
      All through the night

(7) Hark, a solemn bell is ringing
      Clear through the night
      Thou, my love, art heavenward winging
      Home through the night
      Earthly dust from off thee shaken
      Soul immortal thou shalt waken
      With thy last dim journey taken
      Home through the night.








Early in the 20th Century most recorded versions use the Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (6) + (7),
In 1914 Julia Culp was one of the few to use the complete Thomas Oliphant lyrics (1) + (2).
Starting in the sixties most versions start with Boulton verse (5) and incorporate the Thomas Oliphant verse (1).
In 1998 Priscilla Herdman even used lyrics from 3 poets: Boulton (5) + Oliphant (1) and Maynard (4)


Oldest Welsh version I could find:

(o) Madge Breese (1899)  (as "Ar Hyd y Nos")
(John Ceiriog Hughes lyrics) Welsh
Recorded March 11, 1899 in London
Released on Berliner Gramophone 3099


Or here:




(c) Harry MacDonough (1905) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (7)
Recorded October 27, 1905
Released on Victor 5102



Also released on Victor 16245







(c) Evan Williams (1906) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (7)
Recorded February 2, 1906 in London
Matrix 3495e
Released on Gramophone Concert Record # G.C. 3-2426



Listen here:




(c) Henry Burr (1906) (as "All Through The Night"
No 5 hit USA
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (7)
Released on Columbia 3498







(c) Julia Culp (1914) (as "All Through The Night")
Thomas Oliphant lyrics (1) + (2)
Recorded March 4, 1914 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 64414
 






(c) Geraldine Farrar (1916) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (6) + (7)
Recorded May 23, 1916 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victrola 87254
 






(c) Charles Harrison (1920) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (7)
Released on Brunswick 5034





(c) Henry Kirby Davies (1922) (as "Ar Hyd y Nos")
(John Ceiriog Hughes lyrics) Welsh
Recorded March 3, 1922 in New York
Released on Victor 73317
 



(c) Shannon Four (1926) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (7) (Although the label says Maynard)
Recorded November 1920
Released on Vocalion B 15151






(c) Paul Robeson (1937) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (6) + (7)
Recorded October 18, 1937 in Abbey Road Studio No.1 in London
Released on HMV B-8668





(c) Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (1938) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5)





(c) Kingston Trio (1960) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + an adapted Thomas Oliphant lyric (1) + 1 verse with own lyrics


Listen here:




(c) Mystics (1960) (as "All Through The Night"
With a young Jerry Landis (=Paul Simon)
With own adapted English lyrics by Kal Mann.


Listen here:




(c) Jo Stafford and Gordon Macrae (1963) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1)


Listen here:




(c) Vera Lynn (1963) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyrics (5) + (6)


Listen here:




(c) Peter, Paul and Mary (1969) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Walter Maynard lyric (4)


Listen here:




(c) Harpers Bizarre (1969) (as "All Through The Night")
Adapted own lyrics by (Scoppertone/Petersen/Templeman)



Listen here:




In 1976 Nana Mouskouri sang both a Welsh/English and a German version

(c) Nana Mouskouri (1976) (as "Ar Hyd Y Nos (All Through The Night)")


Listen here:



(c) Nana Mouskouri (1976) (as "In Dieser Nacht")


Listen to her German version here:




(c) Judy Collins (1990) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1)


Listen here:




(c) Priscilla Herdman (1998) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Walter Maynard lyric (4) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1)


Listen here:




(c) Nancy Wilson (2001) (as "All Through The Night")
Same lyrics as the Kingston Trio (1960)
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + an adapted Thomas Oliphant lyric (1) + 1 verse with Kingston Trio lyrics

Listen here:




(c) Olivia Newton-John (2007) (as "All Through The Night")
featuring Michael McDonald 
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1) + The 1960 Kingston Trio adapted Oliphant lyric (1)


Listen here:




(c) Sheryl Crow (2008) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1) + Harold Boulton lyrics (6) + (7)


Listen here:




(c) Alan Stivell (2009)  (as "An hirañ noz")
Alan Stivell sings the song in Breton, Welsh and English on his 23rd album Emerald


Listen here:




(c) Heart and Richard Marx (2014) (as "All Through The Night")
Harold Boulton lyric (5) + (an amalgam of Walter Maynard lyric (4) and Harold Boulton lyric(1)) + Thomas Oliphant lyric (1)





More info here:





 More versions here:



zaterdag 9 december 2017

Za ciesaře Augusta (1420) / Ezechielis Porta (1420) / Gaudete (1582)



Gaudete ("rejoice" in Latin) is a sacred Christmas carol, which is thought to have been composed in the 16th century, but could easily have existed as a monophonic hymn in the late medieval period, with polyphonic Alto, Tenor, and Bass parts added during the 15th century, particularly due to its Medieval Latin lyrics. The song was published in Piae Cantiones, collected by a Finnish student in 1582. 

Here below are the complete facsimiles of this song collection.


In this collection the chorus of "Gaudete" is notated as a 4 part polyphonic hymn

The Discantus, Altus and Tenor parts are on page 81
 
 

No music is given for the verses in Piæ Cantiones. They derive from the medieval Bohemian song "Ezechielis Porta", which Finnish clerical students would have encountered in Prague and which shared a tune with a Czech vernacular Christmas song ("Za ciesaře Augusta") that still survives.

"Ezechielis Porta" is notated in 1420 on page 225 in the Czech hymn-book "Jistebnický kancionál". Above the lyrics it says: sing as "Za ciesaře Augusta" ("In The Reign Of Caesar Augustus").



And the lyrics and music notation of "Za ciesaře Augusta" itself is on page 74 of the same "Jistebnický kancionál". (Thank you Jiri Zurek for pointing me out to this song)


Click on the bookcover in the next link and you can look inside the complete fascimiles of this book:






The tune of "Za ciesaře Augusta" is indeed similar to the verses of Gaudete.

Here's a sample of "Za ciesaře Augusta" by the Czech musical ensemble Musica Bohemica.



And compare this with the verses of Gaudete:

In the Youtube-clip below, with a score of Gaudete in the original tonality, the verse starts at 33 seconds




(c) Steeleye Span (1972) (as "Gaudete")
The electric folk group Steeleye Span had a hit in 1973 (No. 14, UK singles chart) with an a cappella recording of the song.
Guitarist Bob Johnson had heard the song when he attended a folk-carol service with his father-in-law in Cambridge, and brought it to the attention of the rest of the band.





(c) Angelo Branduardi (1996) (as "Gaudete E Personent Hodie")





(c) Mediæval Bæbes (1997) (as "Gaudete")


Listen here:





(c) Chris Squire (2007) (as "Gaudete")
Chris Squire - bass, vocals
Steve Hackett - guitars
Gerard Johnson - keys
Jeremy Stacey - drums
The English Baroque Choir, conducted by Jeremy Jackman


Listen here (at 38 min and 45 seconds):




(c) Jethro Tull (2008) (as "Gaudete")



Listen here:




(c) Erasure (2013)

On October 28, 2013, British synthpop group Erasure released their electronic version of "Gaudete" as the first single off their Christmas-themed album Snow Globe. Their version reached the Top 30 in UK indie singles chart and the Top 40 in Billboard dance chart.