That prophecy of the old “mammy” was literally fulfilled. These two songs grew by degrees, as they passed from mouth to mouth, until they reached their present state. Don’t you do it, honey.” The mother was so impressed with the words of the old “mammy” she gave up her fell design and allowed herself to be taken off down into Mississippi, leaving her baby behind. In love, she laid her dear old hand upon the shoulder of the distressed mother and said, “Don’t you do it, honey wait, let de chariot of de Lord swing low, and let me take one of de Lord’s scrolls an’ read it to you.” Then, making a motion as reaching for something, and unrolling it, she read, “God’s got a great work for dis baby to do she’s goin’ to stand befo’ kings and queens. On her way to throw herself and the child into the Cumberland River, muttering, “Before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave,” an older slave woman stopped her: 78–82 ( Google Books), relayed a story involving a young slave mother in Tennessee, Sarah Hannah Sheppard, who in a bout of despair had intended to kill herself and her newborn baby rather than allow it to be raised into a life of slavery. (1873–1925), in his book Folk Song of the American Negro (Nashville: Fisk University, 1915), pp. Our readers may, by the aid of the piano or the melodeon, get a glimpse of the quaint, weird music, but only those who in earth’s sorrow have longed for the coming of the chariot of the Lord can comprehend the song as it is sung by the Jubilee Singers themselves.
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We give, with this article, one of their most characteristic melodies, but the type cannot interpret its full meaning. In every one is the deep undertone of a tender and true Christian experience. They are still more, the songs of the ransomed children of God. They are not mere slave songs nor yet the songs of the emancipated. They are nature’s rendering of the great miserere of humanity. Their voices, though very sweet, could never enchain and thrill as they do by the simple power of concordant sounds. The writer of the article felt very differently about the ability of the written score to convey the full experience of hearing the group sing: It is found, however, that they all submit to the laws of musical language, and if they are sung or played exactly as written, all the characteristic effects will be reproduced.įrom this collection, “Swing low, sweet chariot” was reprinted in The Christian Weekly,, with a brief story about the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Some of the phrases and turns in the melodies are so peculiar that the listener might not unreasonably suppose them to be incapable of exact representation by ordinary musical characters. It was taken down from the singing of the band, during repeated interviews held for the purpose, and no line or phrase was introduced that did not receive full endorsement from the singers.
The public may feel assured that the music herein given is entirely correct. In the preface, Seward declared his confidence in his ability to capture the songs in standard music notation: This first collection published for Fisk contained 24 songs. The task of transcribing the group’s songs fell to Theodore Seward (1835–1902), a prominent musician and music editor at the time. During a successful campaign stop in New York City, they established a connection with publisher Biglow & Main. George Leonard White (1838–1895), Fisk’s treasurer and music professor, gathered the group and took them on tour to help raise money for the school, leaving Nashville, Tennessee on 6 October 1871. The Jubilee Singers were students at Fisk, most of whom had been former slaves.
This spiritual, one of the best known spirituals in circulation, was first printed in Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University (1872 | Fig.
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