The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #96387   Message #1884445
Posted By: Haruo
13-Nov-06 - 03:05 AM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Alt. tunes for Battle Hymn of Republic
Subject: Lyr Add: Beatty Battle Hymn Refrain
In the ca. 1920 Esperanto hymnal Espero Internacia, published by or for (it's not clear which) the Christian Home Orphanage in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Ann E. Beatty's Esperanto translation of Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is set to a tune of Ms. Beatty's composition (which I call, hymnologically, BATTLE HYMN (BEATTY)). Her tune works okay for the stanzas, but her refrain is not the usual "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!" but a new text. It runs
De la sankta Mond-Savanto Vidis gloron la homar',
En la mondo tiel sanga estas nun martirtombar',
Estu jena la rakonto, ke ne restu sklavular'!
Antaŭen marŝas Di'.

which I have put into English as
Humankind have seen the glory of the Sovereign One who saves,
In the wartorn world so gory testify the martyrs' graves.
May the ending of the story tell that now there are no slaves:
For God is marching on.

This is a free rendering at least as committed to a strong rhyme-scheme as it is to transmitting literal meaning.

The entire song is now in my online hymnal, at
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Beatty)

and the Esperanto version at
BATAL-HIMNO DE LA RESPUBLIKO.

It's public domain.

But I'm interested in what other tunes have been used for the text besides the ubiquitous and well-suited (the words were written for the tune, after all) JOHN BROWN'S BODY. The only other candidate I know of (suggested in another Esperanto hymnal, Leonard Ivor Gentle's Esperanta Himnaro) is a tune by Henry Walford Davies, called VISION, which I gather doesn't have the refrain at all. I've never knowingly seen or heard it.

Haruo