The poem by Walt Whitman[1] is a vivid description of a hundred year-old woman who has survived capture in Africa and suffered a life time of slavery and now sees, in the Union soldiers and their banners, the prospect of emancipation. The context is General Sherman’s March to the sea [2], towards the end of the civil war, and Burleigh [3] makes Ivesian use of phrases from the popular marching song ‘Marching through Georgia’ [4] to make this evident.
The work was one of Herbert Witherspoon’s ten favorite American songs in 1915[5]
- [1] https://iwp.uiowa.edu/whitmanweb/en/writings/civil-war/week-35/ethiopia-saluting-the-colors
- [2] Wikipedia (Sherman's March to the Sea)
- [3] https://afrovoices.com/harry-thacker-burleigh-biography/
- [4] Wikipedia (Marching Through Georgia)
- [5] https://www.musicalamerica.com/pages/index.cfm?pagename=10-16-1915_p3&historical
Burleigh’s setting was first published in 1915 by the New York office of G. Ricordi in two keys: (C minor, plate 116339; D minor, plate 116157)
Posted at 04:36, 24 December 2022 by Carolus (administrator)
Edited at 04:41, 24 December 2022 by Carolus (administrator) |
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