The Story of the Hymns and TunesButterworth, Hezekiah
Religion
The Story of the Hymns and Tunes
Butterworth, Hezekiah
Hymns -- History and criticism; Religious poetry
Sympathetic admiration for the air, "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled,"
(or "Bruce's address," as it was commonly called), with the syllables of
Robert Burns' silvery verse, lingered long in the land after the wars
were ended. It spoke in the poem of John Pierpont, who caught its
pibroch thrill, and built the metre of "Warren's Address at the Battle
of Bunker Hill" on the model of "Scots wha hae."
Stand! the ground's your own, my braves;
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
* * * * *
In the God of battles trust:
Die we may, or die we must,
But O where can dust to dust
Be consigned so well,
As where Heaven its dews shall shed,
On the martyred patriot's bed,
And the rocks shall raise their head
Of his deeds to tell?
This poem, written about 1823, held a place many years in school-books,
and was one of the favorite school-boy declamations. Whenever sung on
patriotic occasions, the music was sure to be "Bruce's Address." That
typical Scotch tune was played on the Highland bag-pipes long before
Burns was born, and known as "Hey tuttie taite." "Heard on Fraser's
hautboy, it used to fill my eyes with tears," Burns himself once wrote.
Rev. John Pierpont was born in Litchfield, Ct., April 6, 1785. He was
graduated at Yale, 1804, taught school, studied law, engaged in trade,
and finally took a course in theology and became a Unitarian minister,
holding the pastorate of Hollis St. Church, Boston, thirty-six years. He
travelled in the East, and wrote "Airs of Palestine." His poem, "The
Yankee Boy," has been much quoted. Died in Medford, Mass., Aug. 26,
1866.
"MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE."
This simple lyric, honored so long with the name "America," and the
title "Our National Hymn," was written by Samuel Francis Smith, while a
theological student at Andover, Feb. 2, 1832. He had before him several
hymn and song tunes which Lowell Mason had received from Germany, and,
knowing young Smith to be a good linguist, had sent to him for
translation. One of the songs, of national character, struck Smith as
adaptable to home use if turned into American words, and he wrote four
stanzas of his own to fit the tune.
Mason printed them with the music, and under his magical management the
hymn made its debut on a public occasion in Park St. Church, Boston,
July 4, 1832. Its very simplicity, with its reverent spirit and
easy-flowing language, was sure to catch the ear of the multitude and
grow into familiar use with any suitable music, but it was the foreign
tune that, under Mason's happy pilotage, winged it for the western world
and launched it on its long flight.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side
Let freedom ring.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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