Written accidentals in the 1844, 1850 and 1859 editions [long]

[Wade Kotter]

Given some recent threads, I thought it would be interesting to look at written accidentals in the first three editions of the Sacred Harp. Here's what I found:

1. 1844 1st Edition - 9 songs with written accidentals; majority of written accidentals function as leading tones in minor

AYLESBURY (28T) [minor, 4 pts., in John Chetham, A Book of Psalmody, 1717]

Treble: 1 raised 7th (si), moves to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

Alto: 1 raised 7th (si), moves to 1-la [not raised in 1991 ed.]

WINDHAM (38B) [minor, 4 pts., Read, 1785]

Treble: 1 raised 7th (si), moves up to 1-la [not raised in 1991 ed.]

Alto: 3 raised 7ths (si), all move up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

Tenor: 1 raised 7th (si), moves up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.

COWPER (168) [minor, 4 pts., Holden, 1803]

Alto: 3 raised 7ths (si), 2 are consecutive followed by 1-la, 1 moves directly up to 1-law [retained in 1991 ed.]

Tenor: 1 raised 7th (si), moves up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

PHOEBUS (173) [minor, 4 pts., Billings,1770]

Alto: 2 consecutive raised 7ths (si), both move up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

VERMONT (180) [minor, 4pts., Billings, 1778]

Treble: 2 raised 7ths (si), both move up to 1-la [neither is raised in 1991 ed.; a raised 7th was added in a different spot that moves down to a 6-fa)

Alto: 6 raised 7ths (si), 2 are consecutive followed by 1-la, 4 move directly up to 1-law [all are retained in 1991 ed.]

Tenor: 4 raised 7ths (si), 2 are consecutive followed by 1-la, 2 move directly up to 1-law [one is not raised in 1991 ed., others are retained]

Tenor: 1 raised 6th (fi) preceded by a raised 7th and followed by a 5-la [typo?- raised 6th not in 1991 ed.]

Bass: 2 raised 7ths (si), both move up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

GREENWICH (183) [minor, 4 pts., Read, 1785]

Alto: 3 raised 7ths (si), all move up to 1-la [retained in 1991 ed.]

WORCESTER (195) [major, 4 pts., Wood, 1778]

Tenor: 2 raised 4ths (fi), both move up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed.]

LENA (210) [minor, 3 pts., Belknap, 1794]

Treble: 1 raised 7th (si), moves down to 5-la

Tenor: 2 raised 7ths (si), both move up to 1-la

Bass: 1 raised 7th (si), moves up to 1-la

[1991 has Alto part with 3 raised 7ths; all more up to 1-la]

MASONIC ODE (228) [major, 3 pts., ?] {Tune not included in 1991 ed.}

Tenor: 2 raised 4ths (fi), move up to 5-sol

2. 1850 2nd Edition - 1 song added as part of appendix

UXBRIDGE (266T) [major, 4 pts., Mason] {Tune not included in 1991 ed.}

Treble: 2 raised 1tonics (fi), 1 moving up to 2-sol, 1 moving down from 2-sol

3. 1850 3rd Edition - None of the added songs included written accidentals

Tentative conclusions:

It looks to me like White and King retained the written accidentals included in the sources they used for the first 9 songs; this is probably also true of the revision committee that chose UXBRIDGE for the 1850 appendix. I sincerely doubt that White or King added written accidentals on their own! In all cases, these tunes appear to represent a tradition where the use of raised 7ths in minor and raised 4ths & tonics in major was common. I assume White & King and later the revision committee kept the accidentals on purpose, most likely because they wanted to be faithful to their sources, although I don't think we can completely rule out the idea that they intended the written accidentals to be sung as written.

I'd be very interested in how singers today approach the songs on this list that remain the 1991 ed. My guess is that some sing the written accidentals and some ignore them. Also, I think it's interesting that the 1991 editors retained most but no all of the written accidentals in the 8 tunes that are still in the book. Were the changes intentional, accidental (no put intended), or, most likely, both? If most were intentional, might this suggest how the 1991 editors commonly heard these tunes sung?

Probably the next thing I should do is compare these songs as printed in the 1844 and 1850 editions to the originals if possible, but this is enough for now.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

[Robert Vaughn]

Interesting stuff, Wade. Of those accidentals you mention are not raised or retained in the 1991 edition, do you know if they were retained by the 1911 James and 1936 Denson editions?

I thought it might also be interesting to compare the Cooper approach to the tunes below that are still in that book. For this I will assume that the typeset retained through the years reflects the 1902 printing of Cooper, which I do not have. With "newer printing" I will not try to determine whether it was changed in 2000 or 2006.

AYLESBURY (28T) [minor, 4 pts., in John Chetham, A Book of Psalmody, 1717]

Accidentals appear in the original printing.
Accidentals are not retained in the newer printing.

WINDHAM (38B) [minor, 4 pts., Read, 1785]

Accidentals appear in the original printing.
Accidentals are not retained in the newer printing.

COWPER (168) [minor, 4 pts., Holden, 1803]

Accidentals do not appear in either the original or newer printing.

PHOEBUS (173) [minor, 4 pts., Billings,1770]

Accidentals do not appear in the original printing.

WORCESTER (195) [major, 4 pts., Wood, 1778]

Accidentals appear in the original printing.

UXBRIDGE (265B) [major, 4 pts., Mason] {Tune not included in 1991 ed.}

Accidentals appear in the original printing.

Maybe all this proves we don't know what we want to do with accidentals. I say "we", but I know what I want to do with them (think Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland).

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

---

From: Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 3:31 PM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] Written accidentals in the 1844, 1850 and 1859 editions [long]

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[invisibl...@gmail.com]

Good work.  Now can we find out which of these sharps were actually written by the composers and get rid of the rest?  :)

Matt Bell

[Wade Kotter]

Thanks for the kind words, Matt. I see that I left out a bit of information on Belknap's LENA. The written accidentals in the 1844 treble, tenor and base are retained in the 1991 ed. And all of the accidentals in the 1991 ed. match with the original as transcribed by Warren in his "Daniel Belknap (1780-1820): Collected Works." I have a sneaking suspicion that it was Warren who provided the 1991 editors with Belknap's original alto. Anyway, in this case, the accidentals were actually written by the composer, unlike that raised 7th that "wormed" it's way into the tenor of Swan's POLAND.

By the way, I've located several 19th century printings of POLAND where the final three notes of the melody are la-si-la, so the 1991 Sacred Harp is not alone is perpetuating this "unauthorized" raised 7th. I suspect someone, perhaps Holden himself, "corrected" Swan's original to give it a leading tone and that this "corrected" version became the more popular version in the 19th century.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: "invisibl...@gmail.com" <invisibl...@gmail.com>
To: wadek...@yahoo.com
Cc: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Written accidentals in the 1844, 1850 and 1859 editions [long]

[Wade Kotter]

That should read "1 song in Appendix"

Wade

---

From: Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com>

To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 9:13 PM

Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Written accidentals in the 1844, 1850 and 1859 editions

1850 2nd Edition - 2 songs in Appendix

PLEYEL'S HYMN (317T) [major, 4 pts., arr. from Pleyel, ca. 1790]

Treble: 1 raised 5th (si), moves up to 6-la [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

Alto: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

Bass: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

[Wade Kotter]

It probably won't come as a surprise that I missed some songs with accidentals the first time through. Here we go:

1844 1st Edition - 4 additional songs

WINTER (38T) [major, 4 pts., Read, 1785]

Treble: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed.] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [retained in 1936 Denson ed.]

CORONATION (63) [major, 4 pts., Holden, 1793]

Tenor: raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed.] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [retained in 1936 Denson ed.]

RHODE ISLAND (70) [minor, 3 pts., Pilsbury?, 1799] {tune not in 1991 ed.)

Treble: 2 raised 7ths (si), both move up to 1-la [removed in 1870 but put back in 1911 James ed. without accidentals and with alto] [tune left out of 1936 Denson ed.]

NEWBURGH (182) [major, 4 pts., Munson, 1798]

Alto: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed.] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [retained in 1936 Denson ed.]

1850 2nd Edition - 2 songs in Appendix

PLEYEL'S HYMN (317T) [major, 4 pts., arr. from Pleyel, ca. 1790]

Treble: 1 raised 5th (si), moves up to 6-la [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

Alto: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

Bass: 1 raised 4th (fi), moves up to 5-sol [retained in 1991 ed., on p. 523)] [retained in 1911 James ed.] [tune not in 1936 Denson ed.]

[Warren Steel]

At 03:31 PM 5/23/2012, Wade Kotter wrote:
[summary of accidental sharps in early editions]

>Tentative conclusions:
>It looks to me like White and King retained the written accidentals
>included in the sources they used for the first 9 songs; this is probably
>also true of the revision committee that chose UXBRIDGE for the 1850
>appendix. I sincerely doubt that White or King added written accidentals
>on their own! In all cases, these tunes appear to represent a tradition
>where the use of raised 7ths in minor and raised 4ths & tonics in major
>was common. I assume White & King and later the revision committee kept
>the accidentals on purpose, most likely because they wanted to be faithful
>to their sources, although I don't think we can completely rule out the
>idea that they intended the written accidentals to be sung as written.

It's clear that notated accidentals may either be observed
or ignored. Field recordings and current practice show that
a great many singers ignore them. Karen Willard has collated
important documents that show that ignoring accidentals has a
long and honorable history within the patent note traditions.
Ananias Davisson railed against them, and systematically
removed them from the music he published. B.F. White retained
them, as you say, in earlier songs, but he and King did not add
any of their own. Discussions in The Organ, quoted by John
Bealle, show evidence that White shared Davisson's opinion,
though less stridently, and at least approved of ignoring them.
Those interested in the subject might start here.
http://pacificnwsacredharpsingers.org/Accidentals.pdf

To ignore written accidentals is to assert that there are
but two seven-note pitch repertories or scale systems--the
sharp key (major) and the flat key (minor). It does not
address the issue of the exact pitches involved--whether
they conform to a pythagorean or tempered scale, or
whether the sixth or seventh degrees of the minor mode
receive any "unusual" treatment.

--
Warren Steel mu...@olemiss.edu
Professor of Music University of Mississippi
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/

[Wade Kotter]

Warren:

Thanks for the reminder about Karen's compilation, which includes John's quotations from The Organ. I see that Karen inserted the following note at the end of her extract from John's book: "not answered is why White didn't emulate Moore & Davisson & strip out accidentals when he reprinted songs that had them." May I be so bold as to expand on Karen's note by noting that also "not answered" is why many later editors (James, the Densons, Hugh McGraw, etc.) chose in most cases to retain the accidentals in old songs that had them and also added songs that included accidentals even though I'm sure they knew that a large number of singers ignore them.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 7:08 AM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] Re: Written accidentals...

[Robert Vaughn]

Checked these in Cooper and found:

CORONATION (63) [major, 4 pts., Holden, 1793]

Retained in both original Cooper and the newer printing

NEWBURGH (182) [major, 4 pts., Munson, 1798]

Accidental retained in original printing.
Accidental removed in newer printing.

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

---

From: Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com>

To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:13 PM

Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Written accidentals in the 1844, 1850 and 1859 editions

[CHRIS BROWN]

Hi

 

We now know that the ECG was clear as we had hoped. Waiting til 22 June

for CT scan results is an awful long time.

 

We were in Chepstow on Thursday evening for a lecture to raise money for The Art Fund. Had leisurely drive south on Friday via Farleigh Hungerford Castle which Chris

visited often as a child and stopped for lunch in Leominster where we unexpected saw the Olympic flame going through.

 

Chris had decided he wanted to go to the Lewes singing today so booked us into an hotel for 2 nights - luxury suite, pool, spa................ a BIG surprise - he said he thought I deserved a touch of luxury!!! What a guy!!

 

I'm off to Winchester this morning to meet up with Terry. It's Winchester Folk Festival this weekend and her West Gallery quire are doing a workshop for 2 hours. Then we're off to Eastleigh airport to pick up her friend who has been in France for a week, then some girlie time together before I head back to the hotel to meet up with Chris.

 

---

From: "Wade Kotter" <wadek...@yahoo.com>
To: "Fasola Discussions" <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>

[Robert Vaughn]

Wade,

Was looking back over this subject. You wrote, "May I be so bold as to expand on Karen's note by noting that also 'not answered' is why many later editors (James, the Densons, Hugh McGraw, etc.) chose in most cases to retain the accidentals in old songs that had them and also added songs that included accidentals even though I'm sure they knew that a large number of singers ignore them." At least in the case of some of the later editors we still might be able to ask them. Yesterday as I was looking through songs in the James book, I noticed one from Southern Harmony called "Indians Farewell." (p. 509) S. M. Denson added alto to it, and it a few places sharped the seventh (it's a minor tune). It isn't that way in Southern Harmony. One wonders is that what he heard the singers singing?

W. M. Cooper appears to have not used accidentals, though printing them in some places where used by the composers. His rudiments indicate he believed the Sacred Harp is diatonic music. Whereas J. S. James goes into the chromatic scale and even gives the chromatic syllables for ascending and descending the major scale, Cooper simply wrote, "The chromatic scale which is made up of a scale of semitones in music will not be introduced here, as the diatonic will answer every purpose in this work." (p. 22). And I dearly love his definition of accidentals: "Q. Why are they called accidentals? A. For the lack of a better name. (p. 18)"

 

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

---

From: Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com>