Origins: America, The Beautiful

Subject: America, The Beautiful
From:
Date: 24 Jun 98 - 11:54 AM

I am looking for the words to this song Need them quick

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Bert C
Date: 24 Jun 98 - 12:23 PM

Francis

Here are images of the original sheet music from the Lester S Levy Collection:

First Page
Second Page

The words are a little fuzzy, but readable.

Bert C

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Francis
Date: 24 Jun 98 - 05:54 PM

Thank You Bert. I am going to use this as the closing song for my 4th of July Fireworks Show. My group is singing to fill in the time between ball games and the fireworks. Thanks Again

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Cuilionn
Date: 25 Jun 98 - 12:59 AM

There are a number of additional verses and alternate choruses that have been penned by more recent singer/songwriters, including the following one, which is used by Alaskan singer/songwriter Libby Roderick:

"America, America, / God shed Her grace on me / and crown our good with humanhood / so we can all be free

I believe the above version appears on her first album, entitled "If you see a dream." While it may not suit your purposes, it's worth a listen.

Gabh spòrs,

--Cuilionn

Subject: ADD: America, The Beautiful^^
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 25 Jun 98 - 06:36 AM

Maybe this will help......Tiger

AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL
(words: Katharine Lee Bates; music: Samuel A. Ward)

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!
America, America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
America, America, God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!
America, America, may God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream, that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.^^

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 25 Jun 98 - 12:09 PM

Cuilionn: I have grown to admire and respect you but "humanhood"? If we need a gender inclusive word this one isn't it. I am all for gender inclusive words but brother and sister do not translate to human. On the other hand, I can't think of one word that can stand for sister/brotherhood. As for God Her/Himself, He/She is beyond gender and hence the substitution doesn't bother me. - Philip Hudson

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Genie
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 02:54 PM

Personally, I don't like to tinker with the words of time-honored beloved songs like this (unless a word is really offensive in today's society). And I take "brotherhood" as just as gender-neutral as is the term "fraternal twins."

But if want to keep the God reference gender neutral, one simple way is to change the phrase,
"...God shed His grace on thee," to
"...May God shed grace on thee."

This seems a very minor change and does not involve coining new terms or using awkward phrasing.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: MMario
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 02:57 PM

"siblinghood" ?

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 03:31 PM

"America the Beautiful" (Bert C's links above) at the Levy (new link) is not the usual Materna tune (by Samuel A. Ward) but Parke W. Hewins' composition (1917).

~Masato

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Genie
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 04:27 PM

Thanks for pointing that out, Masato.

According to a documentary I saw on PBS or the History Channel, Bates's poem enjoyed widespread popularity right upon its first publication. Since it had no tune, people sang it to all sorts of extant melodies (including, I think, the tune we now use for Amazing Grace). By far the most commonly used one, during the first two years after the poem was published, was "Auld Lang Syne." Then someone discovered that Samuel Ward's already published "Materna" was a perfect fit for Bates's poem, and that became the accepted tune for the song.

Genie

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 08:10 PM

Another composition by Clarence Grant Hamilton is in Maria Leiper and Henry W. Simon, A Treasury of Hymns (Cornerstone Library, 1953, 1968, p. 125), alongside of the Ward tune, and with this note:

Several settings have been made for the hymn ["America the Beautiful"]. Ward's MATERNA (originally and still associated with "O mother dear, Jerusalem") is not likely to be dislodged as the most favored tune, but AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, by Clarence Grant Hamilton, is sometimes used. Mr. Hamilton was professor of music at Wellesley College at the time Miss Bates was professor of English there, and the two were good friends. It is assumed by Miss Bates' biographer, Dorothy Burges, that the Hamilton tune--sung at Wellesley for many years--was preferred by Miss Bates.

~Masato

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 07 Aug 02 - 10:50 PM

From HERE (underline added):

America The Beautiful
"America The Beautiful" was written by Katharine Lee Bates, Wellesley Class of 1880, in its original form in the summer of 1893 after a trip to Colorado Springs. It first appeared in print in The Congregationalist two years later, and within a few months Silas G. Pratt set it to music. In 1904, after receiving many requests for use in publications and special services, Katharine Lee Bates rewrote it to simplify the text. She made one additional change in the wording of the third stanza a few years later, to give us the version we know today.
Over sixty original musical settings, some by distinguished musicians, have been written for the hymn. The music by S.A. Ward became the most widely accepted version and is the one still used today.
Amazed by its immediate and lasting success, Katharine Lee Bates wrote: "That the hymn has gained, in these twenty odd years, such a hold as it has upon our people, is clearly due to the fact that Americans are at heart idealists, with a fundamental faith in human brotherhood."

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Kaleea
Date: 08 Aug 02 - 02:19 AM

I really love this hymn--that is how I think of it. When I was in music school, twentymmmmmmm years ago, several of my professors & many folks across the nation were suggesting it as a better choice for our national anthem, (as opposed to an old English drinking song tune--ironic, huh)especially since The Star Spangled Banner is quite difficult for the amateur to sing. I don't think it will happen, but it's an interesting thought. I also am one who thinks that if "Oiving" (Irving Berlin) were alive today, "God Bless America" would be freely sung by any American in most any performance situation without penalty or royalties. I believe that he would be greatly honored to know that his song was so revered that all his fellow country"men" (hey, I'm of the female persuasion & I ain't mad about the use of a generalized term-- Kaleea goes into the native hick twang common to her native geographic location-- ". . . this here ain't France whur even taybulz n churz n pinsulz aire spoke uv as male er female!"--OK, back to my rampage) love his song so that they sang it to comfort a nation--his nation--at one of their/our most desperate times of need. What greater compliment & honor could a composer have? This I believe because when he came to America, he was a child of poor immigrants, & he was extremely patriotic & dearly loved America; & inasmuchas his "family" was able to have plenty of $$ from his many other fabulous songs & Broadway shows, that one more or less should not lighten their piggy bank very much. OK, I'm done for now.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Genie
Date: 08 Aug 02 - 02:05 PM

Kaleea, "Oiving" Berlin actually signed over all royalties to "GBA" to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts when (or shortly after) he introduced the song, via Kate Smith, in 1938. The song was so popular in WWII that there was a large movement to replace "SSB" with "GBA" as the national anthem. Berlin's reply was that we already had a national anthem and did not need two.

He actually wrote the song in WWI, not long after he became a naturalized US citizen, and about the same time he got drafted, but was persuaded by a business associate not to publish it at the time, since "patriotic" songs were kind of a dime a dozen during the WWI hype. It was Hitler's actions in Europe in the mid 1930's that prompted Berlin to write a patriotic song then (note the verse to GBA), but it is said that he could not write oner he liked as much as GBA, so he tweaked a lyric or two and gave it to Kate Smith to sing on Armistice Day (now Veterans' Day) 1938. He did not want this song to be a commercial activity for him or his family. (cf. the threads on "God Bless America" and "Patriotic Songs" and "national anthem.")

Genie

Subject: ADD Versions: America the Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 07:38 PM

Katharine Lee Bates wrote three versions (differences underlined).

(1) The first version published in The Congregationalist (weeekly journal), July 4, 1895:

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America ! America !
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once and twice, for man's avail,
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

(2) Revised version in 1904:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife.
When valiantly, for man's avail,
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

(3) The final version in 1911:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

--SOURCE: Lynn Sherr, America the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation's Favorite Song (Public Affairs, 2001, p. 75)

Subject: Lyr Add: MATERNA (O MOTHER DEAR, JERUSALEM)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 21 Dec 05 - 11:07 PM

Title: Materna (O Mother Dear, Jerusalem)
Author: Ward, Samuel Augustus
Published in Hymns of Hope, Hymn no. 325
Publisher: Knickerbocker Press/The Century Company, New York, 1906

Source: The Library of Congress: I Hear America Singing

Click here for a scan of the music and text.


Materna

Words: David Dickson (1583-1663), "O Mother dear, Jerusalem", 17th c.
Music: Samuel A Ward (1848-1903), 1882
First published in 1888?

1. O Mother dear, Jerusalem!
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
They joys when shall I see?...
O happy harbor of god's saints!
O sweet and pleasant soil!...
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.

2. No murky cloud o'ershadows thee,
Nor gloom, nor darksome night;
But every soul shines as the sun;
For God Himself gives light,
O my sweet home, Jerusalem,
Thy joys when shall I see?
The King that sitteth on thy throne
In His felicity?

3. Thy gardens and thy goodly walks
Continually are green,
Where grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.
Right through thy streets, with silver sound,
The living waters flow,
And on the banks, on either side,
The trees of life do grow.

4. Those trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring:
There evermore the angels are,
And evermore do sing.
Jerusalem, my happy home,
Would God I were in thee!
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see!

Amen.

(Founded on "F.B.P." MSS., 16th or 17th Cent.)
-----
David Dickson was a Scots Presbytarian clergyman, and his poem/hymn was partly based on a number of medieval sources. The complete poem has 31 stanzas.

Ward wrote the melody for "Materna" on his way home from Coney Island, riding on the boat back to Newark. Supposedly, lacking paper, he wrote the notes on a shirt-cuff loaned by a friend. He died the year before Dr. Clarence A. Barbour, a Baptist minister in Rochester, NY, put the words of "America" and the tune of "Materna" together (1904). Ward's widow gave permission to use the tune in this setting.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 22 Dec 05 - 02:00 AM

America the beautiful -- Patriotic Melodies (Library of Congress)

The music of sheet music (1917) is that composed by William Arms Fisher. "Materna" (O Mother Dear, Jerusalem) is from a hymnal published in 1906.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: America, The Beautiful
From: Artful Codger
Date: 22 Dec 05 - 01:23 PM

I came across information stating that "Materna" was first published by Ward in 1888, though this source failed to mention where. Since Barbour matched it with "America" in 1904, it could not have first appeared in the 1906 hymnal (or edition?) from which the Library of Congress scan was made.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 01:51 AM

Where can I find the Clarence Grant Hamilton tune for "America the Beautiful"? We're having a hymn sing at Fremont Baptist October 18, and while the main thematic focus will be on Shepherd hymns, we will also be saluting the 150th anniversaries of the births of Katharine Lee Bates and Carl Gustav Boberg. For the former, I want us to sing "America, the Beautiful" to a non-customary tune (and what better than the one written for it by Professor Bates's friend and colleague, and preferred by her). But I can't locate it. The tune "WALLACE (Hamilton)" that is given by the blueletterbible.org website, allegedly on the basis of The Cyber Hymnal, is in fact the tune for the other Bates song we're going to do, her Magi piece "The Kings of the East are riding". It is metrically entirely unsuitable for "O beautiful for spacious skies".

Haruo

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 12:15 PM

I have long thought that this song, speaking to our greatest aspirations as a people rather than the grimness of wars endured, might be a better fit as a national anthem.

I believe that true patriotism is an unselfish devotion to the betterment of one's people rather than simply a willingness to bleed and die for them. Samuel Johnson's oft-cited quote that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" need not apply. False patriotism; that is, self-serving behavior touted as patriotism that is simply politically motivated or for reasons of self-aggrandizement is what needs to go.

But suggestions that America the Beautiful would be more suitable inevitably meet with the objection that the song is too "soft" or that it does not pay sufficient homage to the fallen heroes in our past. I'm a 1960's army veteran, and I have immense respect for those who gave "the last full measure of devotion." Still, I think it would be desirable to move on from dwelling on human sacrifice in favor of the hope and promise of our better nature.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 01:27 PM

Haruo,

Hamilton's "America the Beautiful" is in Wellesley Song Book (1914), pp. 72-73.

Masato

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: mg
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 01:30 PM

I think we should get going and make it the national anthem. And it does really commemorate veterans.

Now someone ...lots of people would not like God in there...so substitute tree or life or sun or something.

Humanhood? What an ugly word. Don't even let it be considered. lmg

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 01:44 PM

Hamilton's composition is also in Songs of Wellesley : a collection of songs for the use of the Glee Club and students of Wellesley College (1906), pp. 42-43.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Uly
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 02:17 PM

I used to like this song a lot more before I realized it's talking about Manifest Destiny. (That's what an education does to a person, it makes you not like songs you used to like.)

But I'd still prefer it as an anthem to the unsingable one we've got now.

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 02:31 PM

I don't think "Anacreon in Heaven" is unsingable, and I'd rather see "This Land Is Your Land" as the national anthem, with the "on the other side" verse, but I agree that "America the Beautiful" would be an improvement over the unfriendly castigation of Brits and Hessians we currently have.

Haruo

Subject: RE: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 02:33 PM

Thanks for the Wellesley links, Masato sensei! Utaimasyo yo!

Haruo

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 02:53 PM

Well, Uly, by the time the song was written in 1895, the Destiny had already become more-or-less Manifest, and the central part of the North American Continent was a united country from coast to coast.

Oh, I suppose you can read elements of praise for Conquering Europeans into the song, but I think it's more an expression of love for a beautiful land which had become a haven for refugees from Europe. It is shameful that the indigenous peoples of America and refugees from other lands weren't welcome, but I don't think Katharine Lee Bates had much awareness of those who were excluded from this country.

I have always loved this verse:

America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

It's not often that one hears a national hymn that recognizes that the nation has flaws and a need for self-control. And while I'm sure the song causes problems for those who don't believe in God, I think it's remarkable that an American song written in 1895 recognizes a God that is not exclusively Christian - I can't see anything in the song that would be unacceptable to Jews or Muslims. But no, I don't think that its recognition of God makes it an acceptable national hymn for the current age.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: mg
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 02:53 PM

It is a pretty song someone supposedly wrote on a train trip. Do we have reason to believe she was really into manifest destiny? Of course she might have absorbed it in the spirit of the times but is this a post-hoc academic evaluation of a pretty song or was it intended for some political purpose when it was written? mg

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 03:58 PM

No insult intended to anyone, but I'm fairly well disgusted with "political correctness" and all its extremes. It has robbed us of the ability to laugh even at ourselves. Every sentence is parsed to make certain absolutely no one is offended in any possible way. It reminds me of Ernest Gallo's comment that "We make our wine to offend as few people as possible." The result is blandness and, perhaps, inoffensiveness without vigor or much substance.

I tire of the arguments of revisionists who try to judge the actions of historical people by the standards of today. Since some are so wary of the very mention of God, I include atheists and agnostics, who are perfectly entitled to their views, so long as they don't trample on the rights of the majority, who still seem to believe in some form of Deity. Vice versa. I'll just cite the old native American adage, "Walk a mile in my moccasins." And I still admire the song, whatever Ms. Bates was thinking at the time.

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 05:34 PM

I think I'd agree, TJ - I like the song far better than The Star-Spangled Banner, but I don't think such a song should be officially adopted as our national anthem in this day and age because there are too many people who can't support it.
Nonetheless, it's my favorite patriotic song, and I love to sing it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 06:19 PM

We tried the Hamilton tune (and also one by William Arms Fisher) today; both work, and offer a refreshing change from MATERNA. We do intend to sing the Hamilton tune at the hymn sing in October (which, incidentally, any and all hymnnutty Mudcatters are welcome to attend).

Haruo

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 01:59 AM

How about sheet music for the Hewins tune? I've got a midi, but it's pretty ornate and would take a fair amount of work to squeeze back into SATB or whatever.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 11:15 AM

The Hewins tune (pdf) is at the Levy collection.

Levy Call Number: Box 011, Item 038
Title: America the Beautiful. "God Shed His Grace on Thee."
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by Katharine Lee Bates, Wellesley, Mass.; Music by Parke W. Hewins, Wellesley Hills, Mass.
Publication: n.p.
Date: 1917

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Stringsinger
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 11:42 AM

Izzy Berlin wrote a classic song that was misappropriated by political hacks. His original intention was to write a song of peace. That is was used as a pretext for phony patriotism is not his fault, very much in the way that Dixie was stolen by a Southern New Orleans publisher from Dan Emmett and used as a propaganda vehicle for the South.

America The Beautiful is a remarkable wedding of words and music. It appears seamless in that is suggests a single composer/author. What a great collaboration!

The words were prescient about "thine alabaster cities gleam and ....... in spite of human tears" or the nobleness of those who sacrificed their lives in the wake of 911.

I'd say it could be a folk song eventually. It needs to be rewritten to suit new environments by many people.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 09:39 PM

Will C. Macfarlane's tune is in Frederic H. Ripley's Harmonic Second Reader (1903, pp. 130-131).

Will C. Macfarlane's and Margaret Carter Metcalf's tunes are in The Hosanna: A Song and Service Book for the Sunday School and Home (1920, pp. 130-133).

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 10:32 PM

Thanks, Masato! More welcome anytime!

While we're at it, anybody got any old alternate tunes for the Battle Hymn of the Republic? I only know of the Beatty tune.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 11:07 PM

Haruo, I posted the Martin Shaw tune of "Battle Hymn of Republic" at Tune Req Alt_ tunes for Battle Hymn of Republic.

Subject: RE: Origins: America, The Beautiful
From: Haruo
Date: 27 Aug 09 - 11:34 PM

That's right, you did, and I noted it and then totally forgot it just now when I was posting to this thread. Sorry, Masato! Thanks for reminding me of that thread.

Haruo