Musical Monday #4 -Battle Hymn of the Republic

“Ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country”. —John F. Kennedy

“Battle Hymn of the Republic” Music edited by William Steffe (1830-1890)
Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) Arranged by Peter Wilhousky (1902-1978)

One of America’s most beloved patriotic songs, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” has a fascinating origin. Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics in 1861 after hearing the tune “John Brown’s Body” at a public viewing of union troops while in Washington D.C. She recalled: “I went to bed that night as usual, . . . awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, ‘I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.’ So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed, and found, . . . .an old stump of a pencil, . . . I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.” The lyrics were first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly in 1862, and it is believed that the song was completed when William Steffe edited the tune and added the “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” refrain.

Mrs. Howe, an active abolitionist, was married to Samuel Howe, a physician who reformed education for the blind. He was also a member of the controversial “Secret Six,” a group that helped fund the work of the American abolitionist, John Brown.

Peter Wilhousky, the director of music for the New York City public schools, created this heartfelt arrangement of “The Battle Hymn.” He was the “go to person” for putting together choirs for important events: the 1939 New York World’s Fair broadcasts with Toscanni and the NBC Orchestra, the White House performance for Woodrow Wilson, and an All City Chorus for the Music Educator’s Conference held in Madison Square Garden. He was the driving force in establishing a Young Audience program which brought the New York Philharmonic to the youth of NYC, and he also wrote the popular Christmas piece, “Carol of the Bells.”

—John. V Sinclair

“When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.” —Harry S Truman (Especially on the 4th of July, it is a moral imperative that a boy from Independence, Missouri quotes Harry Truman.)