Judgment Hymn - Jeremiah Ingalls

[Carol Medlicott]

Hi All,

Can anyone enlighten me further on the origin of the tune Judgment Hymn 99 from Tom Malone’s new edition of Jeremiah Ingalls’ Christian Harmony?  The source of the tune is given as the original Christian Harmony, but what about its earlier origins?

Thanks to anyone who can offer insights!

Carol Medlicott

Cincinnati, OH

[Wade Kotter]

Carol:

Ingalls' Christian Harmony is the only published source for this tune
recorded in Temperley's Hymn Tune Index. In light of this, I can think
of at least four options for the origin of the tune:

1. Ingalls borrowed the tune from an earlier printed source that
Temperley did not examine

2. Ingalls took the tune from an earlier manuscript source

3. Ingalls recorded the tune from oral tradition

4. Ingalls composed the tune, perhaps modeling it after a traditional
tune or using elements of the traditional style

Perhaps someone on the list has David Klocko's 1978 dissertation handy.
If I remember correctly, Klocko explores the origin of each Christian
Harmony tune in great detail and comes to the conclusion that several
tunes in the Christian Harmony were actually composed by Ingalls, so my
option 4 above is not out of the question. To my inexpert ear, however,
there are hints of the "traditional style" in the tune. I'm thinking,
for example of the "scotch snaps" in measures 5, 11 and 12, and the
avoidance of mi in the tenor. But I'll leave it to those who know much
more about these things than I to identify which of the above options
is the most likely, or if there's another option that I didn't think
of.

Wade

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[Thomas Malone]

Carol --

Great song! 

To me, Ingalls's tune is a not-so-distant cousin of 102 in The Sacred Harp.

If someone on this list could point you towards the "folk-tune" orgin of that melody, or 267 and 457 for that matter, I think you'd have your answer.


Tom Malone


P.S.  Klocko lists this tune as not based on any previous published secular tune. Holyoke has a major key setting one year earlier but the melodies are not clearly related.

Klocko also points out that this tune is in the rather rare 9.8.9.8 poetic meter, and that tunebooks of the period rarely included that meter. In Ingalls's book, this is the only example of it.

--
Tom Malone
Boston University
www.SingIngalls.org

[Nikos Pappas]

Carol, a version of this tune with slightly different ornamentation appeared in two tunebooks compiled by Amos Sutton Hayden, the first musician to publish a tunebook for the Disciples of Christ.  Hayden calls the tune "Bollman" in his first tunebook, Introduction to Sacred Music, and "Bollman. [A Judgment Hymn]" in his second, The Sacred Melodeon.  He also specified that the tune should be sung to identical words that appear in Ingalls' source, though he includes practice verses in his first tunebook, indicating the proper text as Song 50 in Alexander Campbell's "Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs."  Although the ornamentation is slightly different, the core melodic notes are identical.  Hayden, born near Austintown, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve was a member of one of the founding families of the Mahoning Association, which established the Disciples of Christ in Ohio before the merger with Stone's Christian movement in Kentucky.  The history of the Mahoning Association is outlined in Hayden's History of the Disciples of the Western Reserve.  If I were to offer an explanation for the appearance of this tune in Hayden's book, it would be because of the westward migration of New England families into northern New England and New York, and the Great Lakes area of the original Northwest Territory ca. 1780-1830.  I've seen this phenomenon time and time again with northern tunes moving into the limited New England diaspora of the American West.  This phenomenon also parallels other religious denominations active in the Western Reserve around the same time period and their tune repertories.  This northern area is where all of the folk hymns unique to Ingalls' settings appear (this does not include the "popular"-style pieces by Ingalls such as "Northfield," "New Jerusalem," etc.) with examples from Vermont, New York, and Ohio ca. 1810-1850.

Nikos Pappas

[Stephen Conte]

My last post referred to a Kentucky Old Regular Baptist hymn known
variously as "Come Ye Nigh Ye Sons of Moabites" or "Come All Ye Nigh".

The link I gave in that post is actually a download link:
http://cumberlandbooks.com/oldregular/audio/ORB07-03-04/ORB07-03-04e.mp3

Here is another link, this one to a search that finds four examples of the
hymn:
http://cumberlandbooks.com/oldregular/?s=Come+All+Ye+Nigh

Stephen Conte

[berkleym...@sbcglobal.net]

As George Pullen Jackson has noted, Ingalls' "Judgment Hymn" was later
published in only slightly variant form in Amos S. Hayden's 1848 "The Sacred
Melodeon".

It also seems to me that a tune with a similar name, "Judgment", is a
variant. Although Judgment appears in Long Meter, apparently for the first
time in "The Kentucky Harmony" (1816), it could easily be used for a hymn in
9,8,9,8 meter.

(If you don't have the facsimilie of the 1816 book, you can see it in my
Hesperian Harp site at http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/HesperianHarp.htm )

Berkley

[Stephen Conte]

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:33:20 -0600, Thomas Malone <shap...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> To me, Ingalls's tune is a not-so-distant cousin of 102 in The Sacred
> Harp.
>
> If someone on this list could point you towards the "folk-tune" orgin of
> that melody, or 267 and 457 for that matter, I think you'd have your
> answer.

I agree - Ingall's tune, and 102, 267, and 467, are all variants one of
another.

It is also the tune of the Masonic song "We are the True Born Sons of
Levi", and of a Kentucky Old Regular Baptist hymn known variously as "Come
Ye Nigh Ye Sons of Moabites" or "Come All Ye Nigh" (hear it at
http://cumberlandbooks.com/oldregular/audio/ORB07-03-04/ORB07-03-04e.mp3).
The ORB hymn and the Masonic song are very close in text as well as in
tune. Which is interesting because the Old Regulars don't allow lodge
membership.

The nearest secular example I know is a certain version of "John Riley".
Also, "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens".

Ever,
Stephen Conte

[Nikos Pappas]

I agree as well that it is related to "Judgment" which actually appeared in Patterson's Church Music before it appeared in Davisson's Kentucky Harmony.  Boyd reharmonized this tune, then circulating most likely in oral dissemination.  I would also argue that "Fulfilment," "Parting Friends," and "Wayfaring Stranger" are all related tunes to the "Judgment" tune, and the "Judgment Hymn" tune.  However, the tunes are not dependent on each other, but instead comprise independent regional examples of a basic tune family.  "Judgment Hymn" and "Bollman" represent a northern circle.  "Judgment" as found in its various harmonizations represents the middle states with examples from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.  Finally, "Fulfilment," "Parting Friends," and "Wayfaring Stranger" comprise the southern branch.  Neither of the basic tune regions influenced each other for the harmonizations or settings of the tune melody, being largely independent circles of expression.  As I said in my earlier e-mail, "Bollman" and "Judgment Hymn" are the northern versions of this tune family and while related to the others, should not be seen as a "proto" tune or as a setting that influenced the other regional musicians.

I am curious about the recorded hymn however.  I do not hear the connection between "Judgment Hymn" to this piece.  For one, the recorded hymn is in major mode and "Judgment Hymn" and the others are in minor.  Yes there is a general contour of the opening line of a slight ascent before a fall.  But, other than that, I do not hear any relation.  Could someone enlighten me?

Nikos

[Stephen Conte]

Dear Nikos and Singers,

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:14:23 -0600, Nikos Pappas
<nikos.a...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am curious about the recorded hymn however. I do not hear the

> connection between "Judgment Hymn" to this piece. For one,the recorded

> hymn is in major mode and "Judgment Hymn" and
> the others are in minor. Yes there is a general contour of the
> opening line of a slight ascent before a fall. But, other than that, Ido
> not hear any relation. Could someone enlighten me?

I don't know that I'm able to enlighten anyone, but I did post the
observation and so will try to add a little, although this is like trying
to describe how General Tso's chicken, Southern fried chicken, and
Tandoori chicken are really all the same thing even though they're not.
In biology classes we used to talk about the "lumpers" and the
"splitters", and I must confess to being the ultimate "lumper".

So, looking for broad resemblances, reframing from major to minor,
recognizing that the recording is a very rudimentary and truncated tune,
and factoring the "lining" and ornamentation in the recording, they sound
to me like the same basic melody. Totally subjective, I know, except for
the fact that Richard Chase suggests the same thing in "American Folk
Tales and Songs". Chase wrote concerning "The Wayfaring Stranger", "In
Virginia I once heard it used with the carol 'We are the true-born sons of
Levi.'" (p. 162)

(Chase also gives three "Wayfaring Stranger" tune variations, and the text
of "The Dear Companion"; the relevant pages are online at
http://books.google.com/books?id=YccUi0k25xAC&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=%22wayfaring+stranger%22+%22sons+of+levi%22&source=web&ots=CvPv3kar-D&sig=V3Qfj9ZMzekHrjL5r2Ty7qJdeyo#PPA162,M1).

Another name for "Come All Ye Nigh/We are the true-born sons of Levi" is
"Bright Morning Star" and is known as such to some of our singers.

Thank you for the very interesting observations on regional distrubution
of the tune.

Ever,
Stephen Conte

[Stephen Conte]

Concerning the following, which I posted earlier:

> ...Richard Chase suggests the same thing in
> "American Folk Tales and Songs". Chasewrote concerning "The Wayfaring

> Stranger",
> "In Virginia I once heard it used with the carol'We are the true-born
> sons of Levi.'" (p. 162)

This rather vague and ambiguous reference has intrigued me ever since I
first read it 40 years ago. In the interval, I have searched a dozen
university libraries and the internet, and have not found any tune for
this "carol" other than one used by the Old Regular Baptists in "Come All
Ye Nigh" and by the shapenote singers in the "Bright Morning Star", which
sounds like the same tune.

Chase, and most everybody else, also suggests Irish antecedants for the
Wayfaring Stranger but I have not found anyone who actually names the
supposed candidates, although I have found where the old Jacobite tune "Mo
Ghile Mear" is said to be related to the tune of "Sons of Levi". Comparing
the tunes, I can't see the relation, perhaps because the Irish stylings of
the specimens I've located are so pronounced.

If anyone knows more about this I would welcome the information.

Ever,
Stephen Conte

[Richard Hulan]

I've found this recent thread very interesting, though I don't have
time to dig out all those books and compare the tunes suggested by
Conte, Pappas et al. Some of you know that John Garst and I have
worked over the Poor Wayfaring Stranger thing, off and on, for thirty
years or so; he has done much more with the musical side, and I have
perhaps done more with the textual -- although we did much of it in
consultation with each other (and with some who are no longer with us).
Anyway, I'd just like to toss out one suggestion, triggered by Tom's
response to Carol's initial inquiry:

On Dec 13, 2007, at 6:33 PM, Thomas Malone wrote:

> If someone on this list could point you towards the "folk-tune" orgin
> of that melody, or 267 and 457 for that matter, I think you'd have
> your answer.

and

> Klocko also points out that this tune is in the rather rare 9.8.9.8
> poetic meter, and that tunebooks of the period rarely included that
> meter. In Ingalls's book, this is the only example of it.

That meter is more common in German, and other languages that have
frequent unaccented last syllables as part of their grammar. The ninth
syllable of every other line is unaccented, and that's much less common
in modern English. (Sometimes in translating German or Swedish hymns,
to name a couple of examples, there is the temptation to use English
that is not modern -- but has lots of unaccented endings, making it
easier to match up the thought of the original text with a similar or
cognate English word.)

Anyway, it could be that the "folk-tune" origin, if any, lies in German
folksong rather than English. In regard to the primary TEXTUAL
ancestor of "I am a poor wayfaring stranger," which is an 1816 German
broadside from Virginia, the author appears to have had in mind one of
several German hymn tunes in that meter -- the most likely suspect
being Neumark's setting for "Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten."
This is available (among many other places) in Funk's 1816 Virginia
tunebook. Here is a fairly weak sample of that tune:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/non/de/wernurlg.htm

I realize that the Ingalls book, the Granade text set to FULFILLMENT
102, Patterson's book, etc. are older than the 1816 broadside; I'm just
offering the suggestion, based on the uncommon (in English) meter.

Dick Hulan
Spfld VA