19th century
Shaker Hymns
About 1805, the first hymns were written down with text only, without any tunes. The first printed Shaker hymnbook, Millennial Praises, was printed at Hancock, Massachusetts in 1813 and had 140 hymn texts but no tunes. But there were tunes written down in the manuscript volumes.
This is a page from a Shaker manuscript journal page dated 1808,
with an early Shaker hymn, "The Happy Journey (O the happy journey that we are pursuing),"
written in
Shaker letteral notation...
"The Happy Journey" is included on the CD: Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals
Like the hymns, songs also had texts but usually with only one verse.
By the 1850s, thousands of hymns and songs had been written.
After the Civil War, the number of single line songs declined but harmonized hymns (SATB) remained strong throughout the remainder of the 19th century.
Shaker Anthems
Around 1815, the third type of Shaker music was introduced -- the anthem.
This was a longer piece of unrhymed music, similar to anthems by New England composers like William Billings and Jacob French.
One of the most prominent early anthems was "Mount Zion"
by Elder Issachar Bates, composed about 1815, as shown in this
manuscript copy..
This anthem was performed by alto soloist Carolyn Dickson on the CD
The Humble Heart: Twenty-Four Shaker Spirituals
A modern edition of "Mount Zion" is included in the music supplement
of this monograph:
"Come Life, Shaker Life": The Life and Music of Elder Issachar Bates
Issachar Bates had been a fifer in the American Revolution and a Baptist song leader before he joined the Shakers in 1801.
He was the first Shaker tunesmith and later made missionary journeys to Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and was also a church elder at various communities before returning to New Lebanon, NY in 1835.
His best known spiritual was the dance song: "Come Life, Shaker Life."
A much later anthem was Elder James Russell's 1883 anthem,
"Millennial Praise"
[recorded on Love is Little and Simple Gifts of Shaker Music].
All three types of Shaker music (songs, hymns, and anthems)
continued to be written throughout the 19th century.
Music Collection
The words and music for many 19th century Shaker titles are included in the songbook and accompanying CD titled:
Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals.
This CD and songbook has 36 Shaker spirituals representing all the major Shaker communities, from Maine to Kentucky.
The collection has a representativeselection of different types of Shaker music, such as dance songs, gift songs, greeting songs, humility songs, march songs, anthem and gospel hymns. In addition to the words and music for all the spirituals, there are also extensive notes and a bibliography of Shaker collections and editions.
An arrangement of the title song,"Love is Little" is included on this CD:
The Humble Heart: Twenty-four Shaker Spirituals
The best known 19th century Shaker song is "Simple Gifts" (also known by its first line: 'Tis the gift to be simple). It was composed in 1848 at Alfred, Maine.
Unfortunately, this song is often incorrectly identified as a "Traditional Shaker Hymn." Actually"Simple Gifts" is not a hymn.
Read all about it and hear it performed in an authentic version at this link:
Joseph Brackett's 'Simple Gifts'
More>>>
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