Henry Stone, The Century Illustrated, "Memoranda on the Civil War: A Song in Camp" (1887), emphasis added Īccording to historian Christian L. Charles Ives quoted the song in several compositions, including his own patriotic song, "They Are There". Louis Moreau Gottschalk thought so highly of the song that in his diary he confided that he thought "it should be our national anthem" and used it as the basis for his 1863 concert paraphrase for solo piano "Le Cri de délivrance," opus 55, and dedicated it to Root, who was a personal friend. It is estimated that over 700,000 copies of this song were put in circulation. The song was so popular that the music publisher had 14 printing presses going at one time and still could not keep up with demand. Ī modified Union version was used as the campaign song for the Lincoln- Johnson ticket in the 1864 presidential election, as well as in elections after the war, such as for Garfield in the 1880 U.S. A patriotic song advocating the causes of Unionism and abolitionism, it became so popular that composer H. The " Battle Cry of Freedom", also known as " Rally 'Round the Flag", is a song written in 1862 by American composer George Frederick Root (1820–1895) during the American Civil War. (See the box on page 70 for details.Cover of the 1862 sheet music for "Battle Cry of Freedom" To help students learn their parts, we have isolated both parts and put them on our web site. This divisi is easily achievable, with step-wise movement. But chorally, it is arranged as a 2-part piece with a further simple divisi at the end. This song was as much a military selection as one played and sung around a campfire with whatever instruments were available.Īs a choral piece, this can easily be done in the classroom or in performance in unison singing only part 1. But when it settles into the verse part of the tune, we have added folk instruments of then and now – banjo, guitar, and mandolin. It has a big concert opening and a big ending. Our arrangement captures the feel of an army band expanded to be an orchestra. If you are interested in the original forms, they are readily available on the Internet. Such things were very common, and remain so today as songs are adapted, parodied, and sung rousingly for the polar opposite cause from the original.īecause all sets of original lyrics were not so kid-friendly, we have adapted them for this arrangement. It is interesting to note that while the lyrics were forcefully pro-Union, saying derisive things about the South and its armies, the tune became so popular that people on the Confederate side of the conflict adapted the song with lyrics that were positive for their cause. Selling sheet music was the primary way that composers supported themselves while writing music. If you share this information with your students, discuss the fact that at the time people only experienced music by hearing someone perform it, or by performing it themselves, mostly with sheet music. So much so, that at the peak of its popularity, the publisher was running 14 presses at the same time, all printing the sheet music, and even then they could not keep up with demand. The song quickly caught on with people in the North. This boisterously patriotic song was written by George Frederick Root in 1862 in the midst of America's great Civil War, a terrible few years of our history.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |