Lover's Lamentation

[Rachel Hall]

I'm hoping someone can help me track down the original source of the
anthem Lover's Lamentation. Davisson claims it in the Kentucky
Harmony; however, there's an earlier version published in the Beauties
of Harmony (1814). The BH version is 3-part, has a solo section, and
starts and ends in C major but is mostly in A minor. Davisson's
version is 4-part, fills in the solos, and is solidly in A minor. The
KH version is in the 2005 Missouri Harmony and the BH version is
here: http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Beauties_of_Harmony_(Lewis,_Freeman)

Has anyone seen this anthem in an earlier book? Any info on the
composer?

thanks,

Rachel

[Wade Kotter]

Rachel:

Somehow your link to the 1814 BH was corrupted in the message I received, probably because of the parentheses in the url. It worked for me by pasting the full url, including (Lewis,_Freeman) comma into my browser. You can also get to it by using the following link:

http://www.archive.org/details/beautiesofharmon1814lewi

Click on the PDF link at the left to download the scanned image. Lover's Lamentation is on p.190-191 (page 200 in the PDF file). Interestingly, the text is a little unusually for an anthem because it's in CM with rhyming. This text goes back at least as far as 1767 (it's the second hymn on this page):

books.google.com/books?id=DhADAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA133

And it was set to a few different plain tunes in the 19th century as a Google Books search on the first line will reveal. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any printings of Lover's Lamentation prior to 1814; Temperley did not index anthems in his Hymntune Index.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

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From: Rachel Hall <rh...@sju.edu>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 8:57 AM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] Lover's Lamentation

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FAQ: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8623821/Fasola-Discussions-FAQ.html

[Will Fitzgerald]

Not germane to Rachel's question, but the rudiments in this book are
quite interesting and beautifully presented.

Do we know that Lewis wrote them (I don't know anything about Freeman Lewis).

Will

--
Will

[Rachel Hall]

I'd noticed the rudiments too -- also, it's the only one of the old
books I'm aware of that presents songs in alphabetical order! I'd be
interested in finding out more about the Beauties of Harmony in
general. I'm guessing Lewis used Wyeth's, Patterson's, and the Easy
Instructor as sources, but must have had others. It's quite an
impressive book.

Rachel

[Wade Kotter]

Looking at the Preface, Lewis does appear to take credit for at least part of the rudiments, referring to them as "my gamut" and saying that "A portion of the Gamut in this book is original." He also claims to have experience in teaching music, so my claim below regarding not teaching singing schools is questionable.However, my comments regarding him not being a composer are at least partially supported by the fact that does not claim that any of  the "few pieces, which were never printed, until is this work."

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com>
To: "will.fi...@gmail.com" <will.fi...@gmail.com>; Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Lover's Lamentation

I agree with your comments on the rudiments. From what I've read, Freeman Lewis was a surveyor by profession and occasionally taught school; compiling tune books was a sideline. Contrary to what some sources suggest, I don't believe there is any solid evidence that he had significant training or experience in music, nor did he claim any of the tunes that were published in his books. And I've never found evidence that he taught singing schools. I suspect the rudiments were either borrowed from another source (very common in those times) or ghost written by an experienced musician who might also have helped in compiling the book.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Will Fitzgerald <will.fi...@gmail.com>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Lover's Lamentation

[Wade Kotter]

I agree with your comments on the rudiments. From what I've read, Freeman Lewis was a surveyor by profession and occasionally taught school; compiling tune books was a sideline. Contrary to what some sources suggest, I don't believe there is any solid evidence that he had significant training or experience in music, nor did he claim any of the tunes that were published in his books. And I've never found evidence that he taught singing schools. I suspect the rudiments were either borrowed from another source (very common in those times) or ghost written by an experienced musician who might also have helped in compiling the book.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Will Fitzgerald <will.fi...@gmail.com>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Lover's Lamentation

[Warren Steel]

At 12:29 PM 10/20/2011, Will Fitzgerald wrote:
>Not germane to Rachel's question, but the rudiments in this book are
>quite interesting and beautifully presented.
>Do we know that Lewis wrote them (I don't know anything about Freeman Lewis).

I think so. It fits in with the carefully considered
attributions of tunes in his books. Lewis (1780-1859)
was born in Basking Ridge, Somerset Co., New Jersey, but
lived in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, where he
was a near neighbor of Amzi Chapin, Samuel Wakefield,
Seth Ely and other renowned teachers and compilers. He
was a schoolteacher, singing-master, and surveyor and
mapmaker--some of his maps and plats survive. I agree
that the rudiments of The Beauties of Harmony are
unusually well done.

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

[Wade Kotter]

Now that we have established in another thread that Freeman Lewis was a singing-school master and probably wrote some or all of the rudiments to his "Beauties of Harmony," I'd like to open up the question of Freeman Lewis as a composer. Here are the three tunes that I've seen credited to Freeman Lewis:

DAVIS: According to Temperley's hymn tune index, this tune first appeared as DAVIS in the 1813 first edition of Wyeth's "Repository of Sacred Music Part Second" without attribution. The first compiler to provide the attribution to Freeman Lewis is Davisson in the 1820 first edition of "A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony," where the tune is called GRATITUDE and appears with a text different from all other printings up to 1820. As far as I can determine, this tune never appeared in any of Freeman Lewis' tune books, so it remains a mystery to me why Davisson attributed it to Freeman Lewis. An early variant of this tune is NEW-SALEM, first published without attribution in Metcalf's "The Kentucky Harmonist" in 1818. In many later sources the tune is attributed to Lewis and is often called BELOVED, presumably because of it's association with Joseph Swain's text "O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight," which is based on the Song of Solomon.

BOURBON: According to Temperly, this tune first appears unattributed in the 1814 first edition of "The Beauties of Harmony." A variant of the tune under the same name, also without attribution, first appeared in Metcalf's "The Kentucky Harmonist" in 1818. A third variant, under the name DISMISSION, first appeared unattributed in the 1820 first edition of "The Missouri Harmony." Interestingly, the earliest attribution of this tune to Freeman Lewis in Davisson's 1820 Supplement; in this case, the variant is that published in by Lewis in 1814.

DUNLAP'S CREEK: Attributed by Davisson to F. Lewis in the 1820 Supplement, according to Temperley this tune first appeared without attribution in the 1814 first edition of "The Beauties of Harmony." However, in the 1816 edition of "The Beauties of Harmony," Lewis added an attribution to S. M'Farland; the tune is also attributed to S. McFarland in Armstrong's "The Pittsburgh Selection of Psalm Tunes," also dated to 1816. Since, as Warren mentioned, Lewis was very careful with his attributions, I doubt he would attribute the tune to someone else if he were the composer.

Based on this, it appears that the apparently inaccurate attributions of these tunes to Freeman Lewis go back to Ananias Davisson. But why would Davission attribute them to Lewis? I suspect for BOURBON and DAVIS that Davission had an early copy of "The Beauties of Harmony" and assumed that Davis wrote the unattributed tunes in his collection, of perhaps was just identifying his source for the tunes. This, of course, doesn't explain why Davisson would also attribute GRATITUDE to Lewis. These are the only tunes attributed to Lewis by Davisson in the 1820 Supplement.

Any comments?

[Wade Kotter]

I'll defer to Warren on this one and hope he will venture an answer to one question: Are you aware of any evidence for Freeman Lewis as a composer as well as a singing-master and tune book compiler?

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

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From: Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>

[Warren Steel]

At 03:28 PM 10/20/2011, you wrote:
>I'll defer to Warren on this one and hope he will venture an answer to one
>question: Are you aware of any evidence for Freeman Lewis as a composer as
>well as a singing-master and tune book compiler?

No evidence of Lewis as a composer. It's possible that, like
some compilers (e.g., Benham), he attributed tunes to others, but
that some of the unattributed tunes might be his own. He is often
given credit for DUNLAP'S CREEK, but he attributes it unambiguously
to McFarland. He specifies between Amzi and Lucius Chapin,
probably drawing on information from Amzi, and attributes 95TH
to Colton, not Chapin--his attributions seem much more reliable
than those of Wyeth. A few other compilers print tunes in
alphabetical order, a scheme that would seem to appeal mainly to
singing-masters who know the titles of tunes, not to church
choristers who might prefer a metrical arrangement or a graded
arrangement from simple to difficult.

[Robert Vaughn]

Wade, I had a note written down from sometime in the past that a tune named MEDITATION was written by Freeman Lewis. I don't know where I got that, so I looked online to see what I could find. Looks like it may be the same tune as DAVIS (in 11s.8s. with Swain's text). I found it so attributed in Songs of pilgrimage: a hymnal for the churches of Christ.

http://books.google.com/books?id=UT6yB2_514YC&pg=PA499&lpg=PA499

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: "mu...@olemiss.edu" <mu...@olemiss.edu>; Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:44 PM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] Freeman Lewis as a composer?

[Rachel Hall]

This information on Lewis is interesting. I'm still trying to solve
the mystery of Lover's Lamentation, though. So Lewis didn't write it;
Davisson claims it but seems to have just arranged the song. Davis'
sources seem to include the Easy Instructor, Wyeth's I, books by Law
and Holden, and maybe Patterson's (or maybe they just knew the same
folks). The minor-major ambiguity and folk-y melody of Lover's
reminds me of some songs in Wyeth's II, though it's not in that
collection. Does anyone remember seeing it anywhere?

This makes me realize how incredibly useful the HTI is!

Rachel

[Wade Kotter]

Robert:

Yes, that's definitely a variant of DAVIS. I've also seen variants under the name DULCIMER, which is the name given a variant of this tune in current LDS hymn book as the setting for an early LDS parody of Swain's text . I assume this attribution ultimately goes back to Davisson's attribution in the Supplement, but probably indirectly. My guess is that the attribution by Davisson is incorrect, but that it took on a life of it's own as the tune became very popular in several variants beginning as early as the 1820s and continuing down to today. It sure sounds like a folk tune to me, especially in the version published by Wyeth in 1813.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Robert Vaughn <rl_v...@yahoo.com>

[Wade Kotter]

Rachel:

I have an 1813 copy of Wyeth's I, as you call it; Lover's Lamentation is not in it. It is also not in the photocopy I have of the 1810 edition of the Easy Instructor. I don't have access to any of the Law or Holden collections. Given the folk-y melody of Lover's as you describe it, I sincerely doubt it's in any of Law's or Holden's collections, but they're worth looking into. My guess, which might not count for much, is that it's one of the tunes that Lewis describes in his preface as appearing in print for the first time.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

From: Rachel Hall <rh...@sju.edu>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:37 PM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] Re: Lover's Lamentation

[j frankel]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 6:44 PM, Wade Kotter <wadek...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Now that we have established in another thread that Freeman Lewis was a singing-school master and probably wrote some or all of the rudiments to his "Beauties of Harmony," I'd like to open up the question of Freeman Lewis as a composer. Here are the three tunes that I've seen credited to Freeman Lewis:

DAVIS: According to Temperley's hymn tune index, this tune first appeared as DAVIS in the 1813 first edition of Wyeth's "Repository of Sacred Music Part Second" without attribution. The first compiler to provide the attribution to Freeman Lewis is Davisson in the 1820 first edition of "A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony," where the tune is called GRATITUDE and appears with a text different from all other printings up to 1820. As far as I can determine, this tune never appeared in any of Freeman Lewis' tune books, so it remains a mystery to me why Davisson attributed it to Freeman Lewis. An early variant of this tune is NEW-SALEM, first published without attribution in Metcalf's "The Kentucky Harmonist" in 1818. In many later sources the tune is attributed to Lewis and is often called BELOVED, presumably because of it's association with Joseph Swain's text "O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight," which is based on the Song of Solomon.

 

 

Is this in any way related to the Southern Harmony (& Lloyd's Hymnal) song "Samanthra", which uses that text?  (I'd need to see the music in shapes to check, & from where I'm sitting at present I can't see any music at all.)

 

Just curious.

 

 

[Wade Kotter]

Good question, but no, they are different tunes. Here's DAVIS from the Southern Harmony:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony/files/gif/Davis/710.html

And here's SAMANTHRA from Davisson's "A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony" as reset by Robert Stoddard:

http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/016%20Samanthra.pdf

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: j frankel <ghos...@gmail.com>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Freeman Lewis as a composer?