Joseph Philbrick Webster
Compositions for: Piano
The Orphan's LamentLorenaSweet By and ByThe American EnsignI Am Weary Let Me RestBrave Men, Behold Your Fallen ChiefThe Star of LoveBury Me in the Garden, MotherAnnie LeeThe Patriot Mother's PrayerWhen I Courted Mary AnnAlways of TheeNew Star Spangled Banner2 on Earth and 2 in HeavenA-Smoking His CigarWe Are the Gay & Happy Suckers from the State of IllinoisDog and GunI'll Twine Mid the RingletsOnly Love MeOur SoldierPaul VaneThe Harp of AffectionThey Buried Her Under The Old Elm TreeZula ZongGet Out of Mexico!Oh Say to My Spirit Thy Bride Will I BeOur Country's in Danger and Calls for You NowThe Sailor Boy's Song of the SeaAppeal of the Reformed InebriateDriftingThe Grand Rally!The RosebushAn Hour at the Old Play GroundBrother In the ArmyEvelynI Am Weary and Faint in the Battle of LifeOh, Fallen HeroOnwardThe Ivy and ElmHurrah for General Grant!I'm Dreaming of the Sweet Spring TimeIn Dreams of My ChildhoodJenny WadeMy Heart Is Still in MichiganThat's SoThe Slave's AppealThe Wounded Boy at KenesawThere's a Change in the Things I LoveUnder the VioletsColumbia, My Native LandI Stand Beside a Lonely GraveOn the Banks of the PearlScott and the VeteranSoftly, Lightly, Sweetly SingThe Fay of the FallsThe Irish VolunteerGreen Old HillsJessie Darling Come in DreamsKatie WestKitty M'Cree O'TossellNorthmen AwakeOur OwnSeven OudSong of the SlaveThe Dear, Sweet Bells of MemoryTread LightlyUnder the Beautiful StarsDrifting into HarborFill Up the Ranks BoysHattie BellMy Beautiful, for TheeOh! That I Were a Man of WealthOlive of LoveOur Neutral FriendOur Soldiers Welcome HomeOur Turn Is ComingThe Dying VolunteerThe Old Door-StepThe Soldier to His MotherThe Volunteers WifeI'm Looking Down Upon You MotherMother, Can I Go?My Father's GraveMy MargaretThe Love of the Good and TrueGoing Up & Coming DownLittle MaudOh How I Love My Mountain HomeProtect the FreedmanThe Little Frock and ShoesTouches of Little HandsWill the Angels Take Me Up?Brother and the Fallen DragoonDon't Be Sorrowful, DarlingFloraline ShoreKiss the Little Ones for MeLet Independence Be Our BoastThe Old Man DreamsUncle Sam's BoysOh! Spare the Old HomesteadThe Master's Gold YearThe Past We Can Never Recall JamieWildwood FlowerArrangements for: Piano
Sweet By and ByThe Ivy and ElmThere's a Change in the Things I LoveWildwood Flower
WikipediaJoseph Philbrick Webster, also known as J.P. Webster (February 18, 1819 – January 18, 1875), was an American songwriter and composer most notable for his musical compositions during the antebellum and American Civil War periods of United States history, and his post-war hymns.
Amongst his most notable works are the ballad "Lorena" (1857), often considered the most popular song of the American Civil War (on both sides), "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets" (written in 1860 and later known as "Wildwood Flower") and "In the Sweet By and By" (1868), one of the best-known Christian hymns in American history.
J.P. Webster was born in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 22, 1819. From an early age he expressed an interest and talent in music, and went on to study with distinguished composers such as
Lowell Mason and
George James Webb, including a three-year course of study beginning in 1840 in Boston. Afterwards he travelled extensively throughout the Eastern United States as a concert singer, including notable stays in New York City and Madison, Indiana, where he performed with the famous "Swedish Nightingale"
Jenny Lind, as her pianist. After years of travel, Webster eventually settled in Racine, Wisconsin.
Sometime before 1859 Webster developed what was commonly called "Lake Michigan Throat", a severe form of bronchitis, forcing him to abandon his singing career and move himself, and by then a wife and children, farther south and away from the lake to Elkhorn, Wisconsin. No longer having the strength in his voice for singing, Webster turned his attention to composing music. This was a passion that would produce over 1,000 songs, including music for ballads, hymns, patriotic drama, and a cantata.
During the Civil War years Webster taught and composed a variety of songs related to the war. He also participated as a drill sergeant for the Elkhorn "Wide Awakes", whose role was to act as the local home guard. As the war began to close, Webster returned his focus to writing ballads and hymns. About this time he also opened what was considered a "respectable saloon", which attracted young literary men of the town with which he would have future musical collaborations. One of these young men was Sanford Fillmore Bennett, who would later write the lyrics for "In the Sweet By and By".
Webster remained in Elkhorn until his death on January 18, 1875, at the age of 56. He is buried at the Hazel Ridge Cemetery in Elkhorn, where his epitaph reads, "Joseph P. Webster. In the Sweet By and By We Shall Meet". His former residence is now the home of the Walworth County Historical Society, which acts as a museum to both Webster and thousands of Civil War era antiques and unique items.
