Instruments: Voice
Arrangements:
Trombone + ...
Trombone(2) + Trumpet(2) (Rondeau, Michel) French horn(2) + Trombone(4) + Trumpet(4) + Tuba (Rondeau, Michel)Other
Mixed chorus (Robert A. Hudson) Organ (Joyner, Lyn) Mixed chorus (Cornelius-Bates, Benjamin)
Wikipedia"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder
Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village.
The tune was written in 1848. There are two conflicting narratives of Shaker origin as to the composer of the song. One account attributes the song to a "Negro spirit" heard at Canterbury, New Hampshire, which would make the song a "gift song" received by a Shaker from the spirit world. Alternatively, and more widely accepted, the song's composer is said to be
Joseph Brackett (1797–1882) of Alfred, Maine. A lifelong resident of the state, he first joined the Shakers at Gorham when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement.
The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until
Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944. (Shakers once worshipped on Holy Mount, in the Massachusetts portion of the Appalachians). Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950 in his first set of Old American Songs for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated.
Copland used Brackett's original verse for the lyrics to his one-verse song:
’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free ’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ’Twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gained, To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed, To turn, turn will be our delight, Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.
Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a “dancing song” or a “quick dance”. "Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references to "turning" in the last two lines have also been identified as dance instructions. When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where they started, "come 'round right".
A manuscript of Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon, New York, Shaker community records this original version of the melody:
The song resembles to a slight extent several repetitions of the opening measures of
William Byrd's renaissance composition, "The Barley Break", which Byrd intended to imitate country children playing a folk game. Similarly, Brackett is claimed to have come up with the song as an imitation of what folk music sounds like.
A somewhat similar musical theme arises also in a brass ensemble work Canzon per sonare no. 2 by Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1555-1612).
Many people have mistakenly believed that the tune of "Simple Gifts" was a traditional Celtic one but both the music and original lyrics are actually the compositions of Brackett. "Simple Gifts" has been adapted or arranged many times since by folksingers and composers.
A well known version is by English songwriter Sydney Carter, who adapted the Shaker tune for his song "Lord of the Dance", first published in 1963.
The Carter lyrics were adapted, in ignorance of the actual origins, without authorization or acknowledgments by Ronan Hardiman for Michael Flatley's dance musical Lord of the Dance, which opened in 1996. The melody is used at various points throughout the show, including the piece titled "Lord of the Dance." Other adaptations of the lyrics by Carter have occurred in the widespread belief that they are traditional, and in the public domain.
Two additional, later non-Shaker verses exist for the song, as follows:
And an additional alternative:
Another alternate verse:
A Version Broadcast During Music and the Spoken Word
