PDFS of Western Lyre, etc.

[secon...@att.net]

Greetings all,

Thought I would pass on this link:

http://virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org/virtuallibrary/vl_CinciRoom.aspx

has PDFS of the Western Lyre, Juvenile Harmony and Mason's Sacred Harp, and a book called Oriola by Willam Bradbury.

Enjoy!

John Lamb
Harrison, TN

[Ryan Wheeler]

Thank you for this link!

The Juvenile Harmony is a gem. It has a number of tunes in common
with the Sacred Harp and the Missouri Harmony. Does anyone know the
relation between The Juvenile Harmony and our current books? Was it a
source for White and Carden, or do they share a common source?

-Ryan Wheeler
Geneva, IL

[Nikos Pappas]

The 1836 ed. is slightly different and enlarged than the 1st ed. of 1825.  98% of its contents are lifted from "Missiouri Harmony" and "Kentucky Harmony."  There  are about 3 pieces unique to the book.  The compiler was a baptist from Miami County, whose father came to Ohio from Pennsylvania.  In terms of its influence on the "Sacred Harp," it's kind of convoluted.  Houser, who had family in Kentucky, evidently acquired a copy of this book.  Houser then printed the few unique pieces to Knight's book in "The Hesperian Harp," including HAMILTON, OHIO, and CINCINNATI.  However, with the exception of HAMILTON, none of the others are the earliest, nor the direct versions of the folk hymns in the Southern shape-note repertory.

HAMILTON - tune appears in several versions known as HAMILTON, FELICITY, CHRISTMAS, ECSTACY

• HAMILTON - Knight, "The Juvenile Harmony" 1825 (OH); Houser, "The Hesperian Harp" 1848 (GA)
• FELICITY - Funk, "Collection of Genuine Church Music" 1832 (VA)
• CHRISTMAS - McCollum and Campbell, "Cumberland Harmony" ed. 2 1834 (TN); Caldwell, "Union Harmony" 1834/7 (TN); Johnson, "American Harmony" ed. 2 1839 (TN); Jackson, "Knoxville Harmony" 1838/40 (TN); Leonard and Fillmore, "Christian Psalmist" at least by 1850 ed. (IN); Johnson, "Western Psalmodist" 1853 (TN)
• ECSTASY - Jones, "Southern Minstrel" 1849 (MS)

CINCINNATI - tune appears in several versions known as FLORILLA, CINCINNATI, JUDGMENT, FLIGHT OF TIME, THE
 

• FLORILLA - Davisson, "Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony" at least by the 3rd ed. 1825 (VA), Smith, "Church Harmony" at least by the 4th ed. 1834 (PA); Jones, "Southern Minstrel" 1849 (MS)
• CINCINNATI - Knight, "Juvenile Harmony" 1825 (OH); Houser, "The Hesperian Harp" 1848 (GA)
  
• JUDGMENT - Walker, "Southern Harmony" 1835 (SC); Jackson, "Knoxville Harmony" 1838/40 (TN)
• FLIGHT OF TIME, THE - Johnson, "Western Psalmodist" 1853 (TN)

OHIO - tune appears in several versions known as COME MY BRETHREN, OHIO, MIDNIGHT CRY (THE), MERCY (Christus der uns selig macht), BOUNDLESS MERCY, BELIEVER AND HIS SOUL

• COME MY BRETHREN - Eunice Alexander, Ms. copybook ca. 1807 (MA, MD); "Jubilee Harp" 1866 (MA); Hill, "The Revivalist" 1869 (NY)
• OHIO - Knight, "Juvenile Harmony" 1825 (OH); Houser, "Hesperian Harp" 1848 (GA).  Secular words set to this tune as found in Knight also appear in Anthony's songster, "The Western Minstrel, or Ohio Melodist" 1831 (OH)
• MIDNIGHT CRY - Elizabeth Adams, "Elizabeth Adams' Music Book. 1832" (SC); Walker, "The Southern Harmony" 1835 (SC); Jackson, "Knoxville Harmony" 1838/40 (TN); White and King, "The Sacred Harp" 1844 (GA); Houser, "Hesperian Harp" 1848 (GA); McCurry, "Social Harp" 1855 (GA); Swan, "The New Harp of Columbia" 1867 (TN, AL)
• MERCY (Christus der uns selig macht) - Smith, "Supplement to the Church Harmony" 1841 (PA)
• BOUNDLESS MERCY - Walker, "Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist" 1846 (SC), Funk, "Harmonia Sacra" at least by 1860 (VA), Wenger, "The Philharmonia" 1875 (IN)
• BELIEVER AND HIS SOUL, (A DIALOGUE) - Walker, "Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist" 1846 (SC); Walker, "Christian Harmony" 1873 (SC)

So to make a long story short, Knight versions of his tunes only appeared in one Southern souce, Houser.  However, the tune families had been circulating through the different tune regions of the U.S.  Knight's is usually one of the earliest sources, but not the earliest, and not particularly influential on other compilers.

Nikos Pappas

[Gabriel Kastelle]

So many lost treasures!!! -- that's one of the big things I love
shape note 'tradition' for, but it also causes despair sometimes...
So hard today to just get people together and singing heartily and
well, which has to be more common to keep more music alive....

Thanks, all, for singing, and for these fabulous sleuthing finds and
details and the sharing of them!

-- Gabriel K.
New London, CT