The Boston Camerata

Recorded at Mechanics Hall, Worcester (U.S.A.) 15-19 September 1997

Erato CD 3984-2 1668-2

"An astonishing recording" -- Télérama, Paris

BOSTON CAMERATA

Anne Azéma, Margaret Swanson soprano
Elizabeth Anker contralto
Timothy Leigh Evans tenor
Donald Wilkinson, baritone
Joel Frederiksen, bass, guitar
Robert Mealy and Anne Black violin, viola
Emily Walhout, violoncello
Anne Trout, bass
Jesse Lepkoff and Kathryn Roth, flutes
Michael Collver, cornet, recorder
Steven Lundahl, baritone horn, recorder
Ben Harms, percussion
Megan Henderson, fortepiano
Joel Cohen, guitar

assisted by:
John Delorey, tenor
Stephen Falbel, bass
Daniel Rothschild Stone, boy soprano
and members of the HARVARD UNIVERSITY CHOIR
Murray Forbes Somerville, director

Producer: Ysabelle Van Wersch-Cot
Sound engineer:Jacques Doll
Assistant: Mark Donahue/Soundmirror
Technical facilities: Soundmirror
Cover: The Fourth of July in the country, color drawing by Charles G. Bush

We would like to thank the following for the use of original source material:
The Harvard University Music Library, the Newburyport, MA Public Library;
Barbara Owen, John F. Garst.

This recording was made possible in part thanks to a generous grant from The Florence Gould Foundation.

Program Notes

by Joel Cohen

Our view of the American past is shaped by many things -- dimly remembered history lessons from our earliest school days; the posturings of present-day public people; and, perhaps most importantly, by the popular media -- radio, television, and the movies. Talk about static! Can we ever, then, experience our collective past as it "really" was? Hardly -- those days are gone forever. But, on the other hand, can we get closer to our roots than heretofore? Can we eliminate some of the distortion and noise? At least as far as music goes, I am convinced that a cleaner, truer approach is possible.

The partsongs, marches, anthems, jigs, and ballads we perform for you here were all part of American life during the early decades of the country's existence: between the founding of the Republic and the Civil War. This, the everyday music of villages and towns, represents a hybrid tradition. Notated and harmonised in a rough, pragmatic way by musicians of the time, these pieces are not learned or complex enough to be taken seriously as "high" art by most music historians. Yet, since they managed nonetheless to make their way onto paper and into "polite" society, they are surely a bit more refined and worldy-wise than the folk song of the truly rural settlers. It is in this neglected, between-two-worlds repertoire, I maintain, that we can find much of the soul of early America.

A few of our works have retained popularity since those earlest times; some tunes, once secular "hits", now survive, spiritualised, in the still-vital shapenote hymn tradition. But many of these pieces, once beloved in their day, have not been heard in generations, and have been transcribed and edited specially for this recording from original sources.

You will hear in our performances the kinds of musical instruments that were played a century and a half ago; softer and more rounded in tone than their modern counterparts. Though we don't know with any certainty how "art" music may have been sung in nineteenth-century America, the timbres of the musical instruments provide important parallel clues as to how the human voice may have sounded before the age of roaring tenors and the Boeing 747.

The result? You will experience a lighter, less aggresive tonal pallette than the one we tend to associate with patriotic fervour, or with history with a capital H. Yankee Doodle can be heard as the perky, disrespectful teenage piece it originally was. On the Road to Boston makes one visualise the road, perhaps the old one from Quincy and Dorchester; much narrower than the commuter-clogged Southeast Expressway, unpaved, with horse and foot traffic only -- and no billboards. And the untutored harmonies in a piece like Clovergreen give a truer, sharper sense of life on the (cultural) frontier than the sugary sweetness of the same tune played b y saxophones (as Auld Lang Syne) on New Year's Eve from coast to coast. True it is that we can't go back to those places, but fragments of what they once were do illumine and enrich our contemporary imagination.

L'Arbre de la Liberté
Joel Cohen

Notre perception de l'Histoire américaine est façonnée par beaucoup de choses: vagues réminiscences des leçons d'histoire de notre lointain passé d'écolier, attitude des hommes publics de notre époque, et, peut-être plus encore, influence des médias populaires (radio, télévision, cinéma). Que de parasites! Nous sera-t-il jamais possible, dans ce cas, de revivre notre passé collectif tel qu'il a «réellement» été? Guère: cette époque est bel et bien révolue. Mais, d'un autre côté, pouvons-nous être simplement plus proches de nos racines que nous l'avons jamais été? Pouvons-nous éliminer une partie des distorsions, du bruit? Au moins en ce qui concerne la musique, je suis convaincu qu'une approche plus propre, plus authentique est possible.

Les chants polyphoniques, marches, hymnes, gigues et ballades que nous exécutons ici pour vous ont tous fait partie de la vie des Américains durant les premières décennies d'existence du pays, de la fondation de la République à la guerre de Sécession. Ce répertoire, musique quotidienne des villages et villes, représente une tradition hybride. Notés et harmonisés de manière approximative et pragmatique par les musiciens de l'époque, ces morceaux ne sont pas suffisamment savants ou complexes pour être sérieusement considérés comme du «grand» art par la plupart des historiens de la musique. D'un autre côté, puisqu'ils sont malgré tout parvenus jusque sur le papier et dans la «bonne» société, ils sont certainement un peu plus raffinés et policés que les chansons populaires des vrais colons ruraux. Je maintiens que c'est dans ce répertoire entre-deux-mondes et négligé que nous pouvons trouver un bon aperçu de l'âme de l'Amérique naissante.

Quelques-unes des pièces présentées ici sont restées populaires depuis cette époque reculée; certains airs, «tubes» profanes en leur temps, survivent aujourd'hui, spiritualisés, dans la tradition toujours dynamique des shapenote hymns. Mais nombre de ces pièces, très appréciées à leur époque, n'ont pas été entendues depuis des générations et ont été transcrites et éditées spécialement pour le présent disque à partir de sources originales.
*« Shapenote hymns»: musique sacrée rurale américaine caractérisée par une notation musicale inhabituelle, où les notes sont remplacées par des figures, ou shapenotes (triangle, rond, carré, etc.), auxquelles correspondent les syllabes de la solmisation de la gamme. Les shapenotes permettent ainsi au débutant de déduire la hauteur des sons de la forme de la note, sans avoir à connaître les clés ou les intervalles.

Nos interprétations vous permettront d'entendre le genre d'instruments de musique en usage il y a un siècle et demi, d'une sonorité plus douce et plus ronde que leurs contreparties modernes. Si nous ne savons pas de manière certaine comment était chantée la musique «artistique» dans l'Amérique du xixesiècle, le timbre des instruments de musique fournit des indices parallèles importants quant à la manière dont devait sonner la voix humaine avant l'âge des ténors rugissants et du Boeing 747.

Le résultat? Vous découvrirez une palette de timbres plus légère, moins agressive que celle que nous avons tendance à associer à la ferveur patriotique ou à l'Histoire avec un grand H. Yankee Doodle redevient ici le morceau déluré, adolescent, irrespectueux qu'il était à l'origine. Grâce à On the Road to Boston, on imagine cette route de Boston, peut-être la vieille route venant de Quincy et Dorchester, beaucoup plus étroite que notre Southeast Expressway encombré de banlieusards, non pavée, où l'on ne circulait qu'à pied ou à cheval, et sans panneaux d'affichage. Tandis que les harmonies toutes simples d'une pièce comme Clovergreen donnent un sentiment plus vrai et plus vif de la vie à la Frontière (culturelle) que la mièvrerie du même air _joué au saxophone (sous le titre Auld Lang Syne) d'une côte à l'autre, lors du réveillon du Jour de l'An. Certes, il ne nous est pas possible de retourner sur les lieux, mais des fragments de ce qu'ils furent illuminent et enrichissent indubitablement notre imagination contemporaine.

Der Freiheitsbaum
Joel Cohen

Unsere Vorstellungen von der amerikanischen Vergangenheit sind durch mancherlei Eindrücke geprägt: durch vage Erinnerungen an den Geschichtsunterricht unserer frühesten Schulzeit, durch das Verhalten unserer im Licht der Öffentlichkeit stehenden Zeitgenossen und am meisten vielleicht durch die Massenmedien Radio, Fernsehen und Film. Und nichts ist gesichert. Können wir unter diesen Umständen unsere kollektive Vergangenheit so nachvollziehen, wie sie "wirklich" war? Kaum. Die alten Zeiten sind für immer dahin. Andererseits : können wir unseren Wurzeln näher kommen als bisher? Können wir gewisse Verzerrungen und Nebengeräusche ausschalten? Zumindest was die Musik angeht, so bin ich überzeugt, daß eine genauere, unverfälschte Annäherung möglich ist.

Die hier eingespielten partsongs, Märsche, Hymnen, Jigs und Balladen sind allesamt Bestandteil des amerikanischen Lebens in den ersten Jahrzehnten seit der Erlangung der Selbstständigkeit, d.h. der Epoche zwischen der Gründung der Vereinigten Staaten und dem Sezessionskrieg. Diese volkstümliche Musik der Dörfer und Städte beruft sich auf eine vielfältige Tradition. Die Stücke - ein wenig bieder und sozusagen für den Hausgebrauch von Musikern jener Zeit aufgezeichnet und harmonisiert - sind nicht kunstvoll und komplex genug, um von der Mehrzahl der Musikwissenschaftler als "große" Kunst ernstgenommen zu werden. Indessen sind sie zu Papier gebracht worden und haben sich Zugang verschafft zu der "gebildeten" Gesellschaft; sie sind also sicher ein wenig verfeinerter und gekonnter als die Volkslieder der einfachen Siedler. In diesem verkannten Repertoire "zwischen zwei Welten" finden wir meines Erachtens viel von der Seele des frühen Amerika wieder.

Die hier ausgewählten Stücke haben zum Teil ihre Popularität der Anfänge bewahrt; einige davon, einst weltliche "Hits", überleben in der immer noch lebendigen Tradition der geistlichen shapenote-Lieder. Doch viele der seinerzeit beliebten Stücke sind seit Generationen nicht mehr zu Gehör gekommen. Sie wurden eigens für diese Einspielung nach authentischen Quellen bearbeitet und herausgegeben.

Für unsere Aufnahme haben wir Instrumente verwendet, die vor anderthalb Jahrhunderten gespielt wurden, sanfter und runder im Ton als ihre modernen Gegenstücke. Wenn wir auch nicht mit Gewißheit sagen können, wie "Kunst"musik im Amerika des 19. Jahrhunderts gesungen wurde, so liefern uns doch die Timbres der Musikinstrumente interessante Anhaltspunkte für die Art des Klanges der menschlichen Stimme vor dem Zeitalter der röhrenden Tenöre und der Boeing 747.

Das Ergebnis ist eine leichtere, weniger agressive Klangpalette als diejenige, die wir gern mit patriotischer Begeisterung oder mit der großen Geschichte verbinden. Yankee Doodle ist als jenes übermütige, respektlose Teenager-Stück zu hören, das es ursprünglich gewesen ist. On the Road to Boston beschwört eine alte Straße, vielleicht die von Quincy und Dorchester kommende, viel schmaler als der vom Stoßverkehr verstopfte Southeast Expressway, ungepflastert, nur für Pferde und Fußgänger und ohne Werbeplakate am Wegrand. Und die ungelernten Harmonien eines Stückes wie Clovergreen geben ein wahreres und schärferes Bild vom kulturellen Leben im wilden Westen als die süßliche Saxophon-Fassung desselben Liedes, die ebenso wie Auls Lang Syne von Küste zu Küste am Sylvesterabend gespielt wird. Gewiß gibt es keinen Weg zurück zu diesen Schauplätzen, doch Fragmente dessen, was sie einst waren, erhellen und bereichern die Phantasie des heutigen Menschen.

Program sources and commentary

I. Liberty Tree

Yankee Doodle
sources: a broadside with music, "Yankey Doodle, or (as now Christened by the SAINTS of New England) The Lexington March"; and Moses Kimball's manuscripts, Newburyport, Ma.
The saucy words to this version of "Yankee Doodle," are rather different from the ones we learned in kindergarten. And they offer a healthy reminder of how much sheer irreverence was a part of the real American Revolution, before official mythmakers preempted the story of that unusual event. Students of that ever-fascinating subject, American sexual mores, will note that the gay subculture of Boston seems already to have been flourishing in the eighteenth-century.

Chester
source: William Billings, The Singing Master's Assistant (Boston, 1778)
Originally set to a sacred text, Chester became the unofficial anthem of the American Revolution once it was fitted out by the composer with these new and fiery words. Our performance keeps Billings' original harmonies, adding fifes, drums and strings for instrumental color.

Liberty Tree
source: The American Patriotic Songbook (Boston, 1813)
In 1775, Thomas Paine wrote his song text to an English tune, Once the Gods of the Greeks, and together text and melody became enormously popular in the colonies. Radical atheist that he was, Paine might well have turned in his grave had he known that Liberty Tree would be "spiritualised" during the nineteenth century. You can hear this tune, with a religious text, on The Boston Camerata's The American Vocalist (Erato CD 2292-45818-2, I shall be satisfied).

The Boston March
source: Moses Kimball's manuscripts, Newburyport, Ma.
This lively march, with a modally-inflected melody, appears in a number of eighteenth-century American instrumental sources. Young Moses Kimball had an amateur band and musical club in late eighteenth-century Newburyport, Massachusetts; his descendants bequeathed the lot of them, and a marvelously evocative hand-written diary, to the Public Library of that seaport town. We have drawn on Moses' musical manuscripts for a number of the pieces on the present recording.

David's Lamentation
source: William Billings, The Singing Master's Assistant (Boston, 1778). Ubiquitous in 19th and 20th century shapenote songbooks.
This powerful and still-popular work (heard regularly at shapenote conventions) is actually a political song within a spiritual "envelope." The biblical text serves as Billings' metaphor for the social situation in North America at the time of the music's composition. As in the same author's Lamentation over Boston, published in the same songbook, the subject is the strife and internal conflict generated by the War of Independence.

Jefferson and Liberty
tune source: Greensleeves (traditional)
From the year 1801, fifteen years after the Declaration of Independence, this political ballad reaffirms late eighteenth-century revolutionary values within the context of Jeffersonian Republicanism.

Rights of Woman
sources: a.text -- The Providence Gazette, May 25, 1793 b. music -- The American Musical Miscellany (1798)
The tune of "God Save the King" found innumerable uses in eighteenth-century North America. Here it supports an early feminist text, proof again that the undercurrents of the American Revolution were social and ethical as well as political.

The Appletree
source: Jeremiah Ingalls, The Christian Harmony (Exeter, New Hampshire, 1805)
Ingalls' very important collection of spiritual songs contains many ballads, folk-tunes, and popular ditties of early America, adapted to religious use. This one is hard to sing; it clearly began life as an instrumental march, which is how we perform it here.

II. Dormant

Dormant
source: Jacob French, Harmony of Harmony (Holyoke, Ma. 1802)
Much early European music lies dormant in the old American songbooks. Here is a fuguing tune whose opening melodic phrase and fuguing subject both appear to be derived from the famous Lachrimae pavane by Elizabethen lutenist and songwriter John Dowland (1563-1626).

Hero and Leander
source: Moses Kimball's manuscripts, Newburyport, Ma.
Yet another sleeping beauty. Rediscovered by chance in the summer of 1997, as we were researching and editing repertoire for the present recording, this striking three-part song is derived from a French air de cour, Lorsque Léandre Amoureux, by Pierre Guédron (ca. 1575-ca. 1620).Also by chance, Guédron's original had been recorded a few months before by the Boston Camerata and can be heard on the Erato CD Douce Beauté. (no. xxxx). How the French work migrated from Versailles ca. 1610 to Newburyport, Massachusetts ca. 1790 is still a mystery; but we can suppose that Guédron's original tune became a folk melody, passing into oral tradition, before being re-harmonised, in a rougher style, at a later date.

Mary's dream
sources: a. instrumental version -- Jeremiah Ingalls, The Christian Harmony
b. voice parts -- The Social Lyrist, Harrisburg, Pa., 1840
A spooky ballad, whose tune also shows up in several spiritual guises. Jeremiah Ingalls adapted and harmonised it in 1805; it is called Clamanda in the mid-nineteenth century Sacred Harp, (recorded by the Boston Camerata on its CD, Angels (Erato 0630-14773-2) and it also became a Shaker song.

III. Jolly Soldier

On the Road to Boston
source: Moses Kimball's manuscripts, Newburyport, Ma.
The original composition is probably a duet for two flutes; the cellist in Moses Kimball's little Newburyport band added a bass part, and the resulting out-of-kilter harmonies recall some of the deliberately distorted march music of Stravinsky's L'histoire du soldat.

Jolly Soldier
source: The Social Harp, Philadelphia, 1855
A harmonised version of an old ballad tune. There are other strophes in other sources, but they unfortunately do not fit this version of the melody. The Social Harp is unusual among Southern shape note song books, because it includes a high proportion of secular songs.

Jefferson and Liberty
source: unidentified early (ca. 1800) anthology of flute music, Joel Cohen collection
This instrumental dance is perhaps derived from, or related to, the ballad of the same name sung earlier in this program. The present tune, like Greensleeves, follows the harmonic outlines of the Renaissance passamezzo antico and romanesca ground basses, popular in Elizabethan England.

Abraham's Daughter
source: War Songs for Anniversaries and Gatherings of Soldiers, Boston, n.d.
A brisk modal melody, related to the Mary's Dream/Clamanda tune family, and to the passamezzo antico ground bass..

Brave Wolfe
sources: early broadsides, Brave Wolfe (with music) and The Death of the Brave General Wolfe.
This powerful ballad about the fall of Québec to the British, is related (ironically enough) to the well-known sixteenth-century French carol, Une jeune fillette.

Irish air
source: unidentified early (ca. 1800) anthology of flute music, Joel Cohen collection

The Blue Bells of Scotland
source: a. text -- One Hundred Songs of Scotland (Boston, 1858) b. music -- The Social Harp
In The Social Harp, this tune appears with different words (Singing School). We have re-matched the music and its harmonisation with the better-known text.

IV. The Working Boy

The Working boy
source: Beadle's Dime School Melodist (New York, 1860)
This jaunty tune survives today in the polka reperoire, as a "Cracowia." Another version of the same melody, with a religious text, has been recorded by the Boston Camerata (Go Worship at Emmanuel's Feet) on the American Vocalist CD (Erato 2292-45818-2).

Poor old Maids
source: The Singer's Companion (New York, 1857)
Quoth the anonymous compiler of The Singer's Companion: "We have never seen this tune in print, and give it from the recollections of childhood...It is an old English air, at least as early as the days of George III."

Bob in the Bed
source: unidentified early (ca. 1800) anthology of flute music, collection of Joel Cohen
What Bob was doing in the bed is not specified by the tune source, but may have something to do with the earnest and unfulfilled desires of the ladies in the preceding song. Late-Victorian proprieties notwithstanding, it is by no means impossible to find a healthy subcurrent of ribaldry running through our early American secular repertore.

Old Tare River
source: Old Tare River, mid-19th century sheet music
Based on an eighteenth century English tune, The Rose Tree, the present work is a minstrel song. Like many others in its genre, the original sung verse is vulgarly racist. The music, though, retains its charm and, sans text, is given over in our performance to some early nineteenth-century parlor instruments.

The Rose Tree
source: Knoxville Harmony (Knoxville, Tennessee, 1838)
Another version of The Rose Tree, this time as a #E6DDCC spiritual (our only example in this program, besides Parting Friends of that fascinating genre) from a rare and little-known book of shapenote songs preserved in the Barbara Owen collection.

V. Parting Friends

Clovergreen
sources: a. instrumental: Knoxville Harmony
b. voice parts -- The Social Lyrist
This is, of course, Old Lang Syne, whose tune was widely diffused in North America. As elsewhere in our recording, the angular, almost "medieval" harmonies you hear from both voices and instruments are drawn from the original sources.

Parting Friends
source: The Social Harp
Related to two other folk spirituals, Wayfaring Stranger and Fulfillment, this is one of the most beautiful of the shape note songs. The stark and simple harmonisation in the original source is perfection itself; when Virgil Thompson "borrowed" this piece for a film score, he had the good sense not to change it.

Ode on Science
source: By Deacon Janaziah, 1798. Ubiquitous in 19th and 20th century shapenote songbooks.
This secular anthem is a real flag-waver, and a constantly popular work among gatherings of shapenote singers since the eighteenth century. The march tune in the second half (introduced in our performance by the flutes and drums) is related to Turkey in the Straw.

acknowledgements for use of original source material to: The Harvard University Music Library, the Newburyport, Ma. Public Library; Barbara Owen, John F. Garst

musical arrangements by Joel Cohen (S.A.C.E.M.)

Song Texts

1 Yankey Doodle,
or, The Lexington March
1. Sheep's head and Vinegar
Butter Milk and Tansy
Boston is a Yankee town
Sing Yankee Doodle Dandy:
Yankee Doodle doo,
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Mind the music and the step,
With the girls be handy.

2. Christmas is a-coming boys,
We'll go to Mother Chases,
And there we'll get a sugar drum
All sweeten'd with Melasses.
Yankee Doodle doo, etc.

3. Heigh ho for our Cape Cod,
Heigh ho Nantasket,
Do not let the Boston wags
Feel your oyster basket.
Yankee Doodle doo, etc.

4. Dolly Bushel let a Fart,
Jenny Jones she found it,
Ambrose carried it to the mill
Where Doctor Warren ground it.
Yankee Doodle doo, etc.

5. Two and two may go to Bed,
Two and two together,
And if there is not room enough
Lie one on top of t'other.
Yankee Doodle doo, etc.

2 Chester
1. Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav'ry clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New-england's God for ever reigns.

2. When God inspir'd us for the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forc'd,
Their Ships were Shatter'd in our sight,
Or swiftly driven from our Coast.

3. The Foe comes on with haughty Stride,
Our troops advance with martial noise,
Their Vet'rans flee before our Youth,
And Gen'rals yield to beardless boys.

4. What grateful Off'ring shall we bring?
What shall we render to the Lord?
Loud halleluiahs let us Sing,
And praise his name on ev'ry Chord.

3 Liberty Tree
1. In a chariot of light from the regions of day,
The Goddess of Liberty came;
Ten thousand celestials directed the way,
And thither conducted the dame,
This tall budding branch, from the garden above,
Where millions with millions agree;
She bro't in her hand, as a pledge of her love,
The plant she call'd Liberty Tree.

2. This celestial exotic struck deep in the ground,
Like a native it flourish'd and bore;
The fame of its fruit, drew the nations around,
To seek out its peaceable shore.
Unmindful of names or distinction they came,
For freemen like brothers agree:
With one spirit endow'd, they one friendship pursued.
And their temple was Liberty Tree.

3. Beneath this fair branch, like the patriarchs of old,
Their bread, in contentment they eat;
Unwearied with trouble, or silver or gold,
Or the cares of the grand and the great.
With timber and tar, they old England supplied,
Supported her power on the seas;
Her battles they fought, without having a groat,
For the honour of Liberty Tree.

4. But hear, o ye swains, ('tis a tale most profane)
How the tyrannical powers,
King, Commons, and Lords, are uniting amain,
To cut down this guardian of ours;
From the east to the west, blow the trumpet to arms,
Thro' the land let the sound of it flee,
Let the far and the near, - all unite with a cheer,
In defense of our Liberty Tree.

4 Boston March
Instrumental

5 David's Lamentation
(2 Samuel 18, 33)

David, the King, was grieved and moved;
He went to his Chamber and wept,
And as he went, he wept and said,
O my Son,
Would to God I had died for thee,
O Absalom, my Son.

6 Jefferson and Liberty
1. The gloomy night before us flies,
The reign of Terror now is o'er;
Gags, Inquisitors and Spies,
Its herds of Harpies are no more.
Rejoice! Columbia's Sons, rejoice!
To tyrants never bend the knee.
But join with heart and soul and voice,
For Jefferson and Liberty.

2. No Lordling here with gorging jaws
Shall wring from Industry the food,
Nor fiery Bigot's holy Laws,
Lay waste our fields and streets in blood.
Rejoice! Columbia's Sons, rejoice! etc.

3. Here strangers from a thousand shores,
Compell'd by Tyranny to roam,
Shall find amidst abundant stores,
A nobler and a happier home.
Rejoice! Columbia's Sons, rejoice! etc.

4. From Georgia to lake Champlain,
From Seas to Mississipi's Shore,
Ye Sons of Freedom loud proclaim,
The Reign of Terror is no more.
Rejoice! Columbia's Sons, rejoice! etc.

7 Rights of Woman
1. God save each female's right
Show to her ravaged sight
Woman is free;
Let freedom's voice prevail
And draw aside the vail
Supreme effulgence hail,
Sweet Liberty.

2. O let the sacred fire
Of Freedom's voice aspire
A woman too;
Man makes the cause his own
And fame his acts reknown,
Woman thy fears disown
Assert thy due.

3. Woman aloud rejoice
Exalt to thy feeble voice
In chearful strain.
Let woman have a share,
Nor yield to slavish fear
Her equal rights declare
And well maintain.

8 The Appletree
Instrumental

9 Dormant
Sleep, downy sleep, come close my eyes,
Tir'd with beholding vanity,
Sweet slumber come and drive away
The toils and follies of the day.

10 Hero and Leander
1. Leander in the bay
Of Hellespont all naked stood,
Impatient of delay,
He leap'd into the fatal flood.
The raging seas
Whom none please,
'Gainst him their malice show,
The heav'ns concord
The rain doth pound,
And loud the winds did blow.

2. Then casting round his eyes,
Thus of his fate he did complain,
" Ye cruel rocks and main,
What 'tis to miss
A lover's bliss,
Alas ye do not know,
Make me your wreck,
As I come back,
But spare me as I go."

11 Mary's Dream
1. The moon had climbed the highest hill,
Which rises o'er the source of Dee,
And from the eastern summit shed
Her silver light on tower and tree;
When Mary laid her down to sleep
Her thoughts on Sandy far at sea;
When soft and low a voice she heard,
Say, "Mary, weep no more for me."

2. She from her pillow gently raised
Her head, to ask who there might be,
And saw young Sandy shiv'ring stand,
With visage pale and hollow e'e.
" O, Mary dear, cold is my clay;
It lies beneath a stormy sea.
Far, far from thee I sleep in death,
So Mary weep no more for me."

3. "Oh, maiden dear, thyself prepare;
We soon shall meet upon that shore,
Where love is free from doubt and care,
And thou and I shall part no more!"
Loud crow'd the cock, the shadow fled,
No more of Sandy she could see,
But soft the passing spirit said,
" Sweet Mary, weep no more for me."

12 On the road to Boston
Instrumental

13 Jolly Soldier
I once was a seaman stout and bold,
Oft-times I've ploughed the ocean;
I've ploughed it all o'er and o'er again,
For honor and promotion.
Aboard of man-of-war and merchantman,
Many be the battles that I've been in;
It was all for the honor of George Washington,
And I'll still be the jolly, jolly soldier.

14. Jefferson and Liberty
Instrumental

15 Abraham's Daughter
or, Raw Recruits
1. Oh! kind folks listen to my song,
It is no idle story,
It's all about a volunteer,
Who's goin' to fight for glory;
Now don't you think that I am right?
For I am nothing shorter,
And I belong to the Fire Zou, Zous,
And don't you think I oughter,
We're goin' down to Washington
To fight for Abraham's daughter.

2. Oh! should you ask me who she am,
Columbia is her name, sir,
She is the child of Abraham,
Or Uncle Sam, the same, sir.
Now if I fight, why ain't I right?
And don't you think I oughter,
The volunteers are a-pouring in
From ev'ry loyal quarter,
And I'm goin' long to Washington
To fight for Abraham's daughter.

3. We'll have a spree with Johnny Bull,
Perhaps, some day or other,
And won't he have his fingers full,
If not a deal of bother;
For Yankee boys are just the lads
Upon the land or water;
And won't we have a "bully" fight,
And don't you think we oughter,
If he is caught at any time,
Insulting Abraham's daughter.

4. But let us lay all jokes aside,
It is a sorry question;
The man who would these states divide,
Should hang for his suggestion.
One Country and one Flag, i say,
Whoe'er the war may slaughter;
So I'm goin' as a Fire Zou-a,
And don't you think I oughter,
I'm goin' down to Washington
To fight for Abraham's daughter.

16 Brave Wolfe
1. Cheer up your hearts, young men, let nothing fright you.
Be of a gallant mind, let that delight you.
Let not your courage fail, till after trial,
Nor let your fancy move, at the first denial.

2. Love, here's a diamond ring, long time I've kept it,
'Tis for your sake alone, that I have kept it -
When you the posy read, think on the giver,
Madam, remember me, or I'm undone forever.

3. Brave Wolfe then took his leave of his dear jewel,
Most surely did she grieve, saying "Don't be cruel" -
Said he, "'Tis for a space that I must leave you,
Yet love, where'er I go, I'll not forget you."

4. So then this gallant youth did cross the ocean,
To free America from her invasion -
He landed at Quebec with all his party,
The city to attack, both brave and hearty.

5. Brave Wolfe drew up his men in form so pretty,
On the plains of Abrahamn before the city -
There, just before the town, the French did meet them,
With double numbers, they resolved to beat them.

6. When drawn up in a line, for death prepared,
While in each other's face their armies stared -
So pleasantly brave Wolfe and Montcalm talked,
So martially between their armies walked.

7. Each man then took his post at their retire,
So then these numerous hosts began to fire.
The cannon on each side did roar like thunder,
And youths in all their pride were torn asunder.

8. The drums did loudly beat, colors were flying,
The purple gore did stream, and men lay dying,
When shot from off his horse, fell this brave hero,
And we lament his loss in weeds of sorrow.

9. The French began to break their ranks and flying,
Brave Wolfe began to wake as he lay dying -
He lifted up his head while guns did rattle
And to his array said, "How goes the battle?"

10. His aide-de-camp replied, "'Tis in our favor,
Quebec with all her pride, we soon shall have her,
She'll fall into our hands with all her treasure."
" O, then, brave Wolfe replied, "I die with pleasure."

17 Irish Air
Instrumental

18 The Blue Bells of Scotland
1. O where and o where is your Highland laddie gone?
O where and o where is your Highland laddie gone?
He's gone to fight the French for King George upon the throne,
And it's o, in my heart that I wish him safe at home.

2. O where, and o where, did your Highland laddie dwell?
O where, and o where, did your Highland laddie dwell?
He dwelt in merry Scotland at the sign of the blue bell;
And it's o, in my heart that I love my laddie well.

3. Suppose, and suppose that your Highland lad should die?
Suppose, and suppose that your Highland lad should die?
The bagpipes should play over him, I'd sit me down and cry,
And it's o, in my heart that I hope he will not die.

19 Working Boy
1. I am a little husbandman,
Work and labor hard I can,
I'm as happy all the day
At my work as if 'twere play,
Tho' I've nothing fine to wear,
Yet for that I do not care.

2. When to work I go along,
Singing loud my merry song,
With my wallet on my back,
And my wagon whip to crack,
O, I am more happy then,
Than the little gentleman.

3. I have a hearty appetite,
And I soundly sleep at night;
Down I lie, content, and say,
" I've been useful all the day."
Rather be a plow-boy then,
Than a useless gentleman.

20 Poor Old Maids
1. Threescore and ten of us,
Poor old maids!
Threescore and ten of us,
Not a soul to give a buss,
What will become of us?
Poor old maids!

2. Long time we've tarried,
Poor old maids!
Long time we've tarried,,
Soon shall we be buried,
O that we were married!
Poor old maids!

3. All alone we go to bed,
Poor old maids!
All alone we go to bed,
Put our night-caps on our head,
But not a word to us is said -
Poor old maids!

21 Bob in the Bed
Instrumental

22 Ole Tare River
Instrumental

23 The Rose Tree
There is a land of pleasure,
Where streams of joy forever roll;
'Tis there I have my treasure,
And there I long to rest my soul;
Long darkness dwelt around me,
With scarcely once a cheering ray,
But since my Saviour found me,
A lamp was shown along the way.

2. My way is full of danger,
But 'tis the path that leads to God
And like a faithful soldier,
I'll march along the heav'nly road:
Now I must gird my sword on,
My breast-plate, helmet and my shield,
And fight the host of satan,
Until I reach the heavn'ly field.

3. I'm on the way to Zion,
Still guided by my Saviour's hand,
O come along dear sinner,
And see Imanuel's happy land,
To all that stay behind me,
I bid a long, a sad farewell,
Come now or you'll repent it,
When you do reach the gates of hell.

24 Clovergreen
1. Seek not with gold or glitt'ring gem
My simple heart to move,
To share a kingly diadem
Would never gain my love.
The heart that's form'd in virtue's mold
For heart should be exchanged;
The love that once is bought by gold
May be by gold estranged.

2. Can wealth relieve the labouring mind,
Or calm the soul to rest?
What healing balm can riches find
To soothe the bleeding breast?
'Tis love, and love alone has power
To bless without alloy;
To cheer affliction's darkest hour
And heighten ev'ry joy.

25 Parting Friends
Farewell, my friends, I'm bound for Canaan,
I'm trav'ling through the wilderness;
Your company has been delightful,
You, who doth leave my mind distressed.
I go away, behind to leave you,
Perhaps never to meet again,
But if we never have the pleasure,
I hope we'll meet on Canaan's land.

26 Ode on Science
The morning sun shines from the east,
And spread his glories to the west,
All nations with the beams are blest,
Where'er the radiant light appears.
So science spreads her lucid ray
O'er lands which long in darkness lay.
She visits fair Columbia,
And sets her sons among the stars.

Fair freedom her attendant waits,
To bless the portals of her gates,
To crown the young and rising states
With laurels of immortal day:
The British yoke, the Gallic chain,
Was urged upon our necks in vain,
All haughty tyrants we disdain,
And shout, Long live America.

I. Liberty Tree

1 Yankee Doodle 2'56
2 Chester 2'11
3 Liberty Tree 2'34
4 The Boston March 1'11
5 David's Lamentation 1'45
6 Jefferson and Liberty 2'39
7 Rights of Woman 1'12
8 The Appletree 1'12

II. Dormant

9 Dormant 2'29
10 Hero and Leander 2'13
11 Mary's dream 3'59

III. Jolly Soldier

12 On the Road to Boston 0'49
13 Jolly Soldier 3'23
14 Jefferson and Liberty 1'03
15 Abraham's Daughter 2'19
16 Brave Wolfe 4'49
17 Irish air 1'22
18 The Blue Bells of Scotland 2'00

IV. The Working Boy

19 The Working boy 2'03
20 Poor old Maids 0'57
21 Bob in the Bed 0'32
22 Old Tare River 1'53
23 The Rose Tree (The Knoxville Harmony) 2'06

V. Parting Friends

24 Clovergreen 3'41
25 Parting Friends 3'46
26 Ode to Science

This recording was made possible in part thanks to a generous grant from The
Florence Gould Foundation.

Liberty Tree wins critical acclaim!

" Joel Cohen pursues, with Liberty Tree , the exploration of a precious heritage...with just the right popular enthusiasm, a fine sense of rhythm and color, and a varied instrumental accompaniments, singers and players brilliantly revive these songs of a young America."
-- Le Monde de la Musique (Paris), October 98

"The Boston Camerata is one of the many jewels in Erato's crown. Under Joel Cohen's direction, this exquisite vocal group of half a dozen voices, plus equally refined instrumental ensemble, invariably serves up beautifully judged performances."
-- BBC Music Magazine (London), October 98

"An astonishing recording...at once epic, heroic, nostalgic, and tender...this is the real America!"
-- Telerama (Paris), July 15, 1998

"Joel Cohen, wiith his singers and musicians, has a real devotion to this repertoire. And you can hear that."
-- Ouest France , June 26, 1998

"Fascinating...the young members of the Boston Camerata play and sing with enthusiasm and conviction, and they are to be heartily congratulated on their enterprise."
-- Ian Lace, Film Music on the Web (Internet Site)