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Henry Clay Work

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Work in his posthumously published 1884 collection of songs

Henry Clay Work (October 1, 1832, Middletown – June 8, 1884, Hartford) was an American composer and songwriter of the mid-19th century. He is renowned for his musical contributions to the Union in the Civil War and his sentimental ballads, some of which promoted the growing temperance movement. Many of Work's songs were performed at minstrel shows and Civil War veteran reunions. Although largely forgotten nowadays, he was one of the most successful songwriters of his time, comparable to Stephen Foster and George F. Root in sales and sheer influence.

Born to a Connecticutian family in 1832, Work's upbringing was modest and rather galling but also instrumental in gearing him to appreciate songwriting. His father, Alanson, was an abolitionist who tirelessly strove to free fugitive slaves, for which he was briefly imprisoned. While lacking much formal education, less so in musical theory, his passion for writing and music manifested itself early on. His first permanent occupation was as a printer. In his spare time, he wrote poems for various newspapers.

Work first published a complete musical piece in 1853, "We Are Coming, Sister Mary," sold to the popular troupe Christy's Minstrels for ample profit. It encouraged him to pursue songwriting further, migrating to Chicago two years later. His career came of age at the Civil War's outbreak; compelled to contribute to the Union struggle, Work started writing patriotic tunes for the local publishing firm Root & Cady. Impressed by "Kingdom Coming" (1861), Root hired him for the war's duration, during which he drove the firm to unprecedented success and produced some of the most iconic wartime songs—most notably, "Marching Through Georgia" (1865).

Work embarked on an extensive maritime tour around Europe after the war's close; "The Ship That Never Returned" (1865) was written around this time. Upon returning to the United States, he invested much of his wealth to establish a farm but it bore no fruit, leaving him impoverished. In conjunction with Root & Cady's failure in 1871, Work's songwriting efforts declined considerably.

He committed to another collaboration with Chauncey M. Cady, formerly of Root & Cady, in the latter half of the 1870s, yielding one sole success—but a considerable success at that—"Grandfather's Clock" (1876). Work could not reproduce his wartime fame and fortune, further saddened by financial and domestic woes such as his wife being consigned to a mental asylum. He died without much recognition in 1884; a New Haven Journal-Courier obituary succinctly encapsulates his legacy:

Our country has produced few song writers whose works have been more widely sung than Mr. Work. Some few of his productions have not only been on the lips of nearly every man, woman and child in America, but have been known and sung, with some variations, in every part of the world. [...] Mr. Work excelled in war songs. It would be difficult to find a survivor of the rebellion who had not joined in the chorus of "Rally 'Round the Flag"[a] and "Kingdom Coming," or the old slavery song "Old Nicodemus."[b] His songs were of the popular order and touched the popular heart.[1]

Early life[edit]

Henry Clay Work, named for distinguished statesman and former House speaker Henry Clay,[2] was born on October 1, 1832, in Middletown, Connecticut.[3] The Work family was of Scottish origin; their surname derived from Auld Wark, a significant stronghold during the Anglo-Scottish wars. To avert religious persecution, they migrated to the north of Ireland. Soon after, in 1720, Joseph Work emigrated to the United States, settling in Ashford, Connecticut.[4] Henry Work's background was modest, "pass[ing] his boyhood days almost in want"[5] without much formal education.[6]

Routes of the Underground Railroad, through which Alanson Work helped manumit fugitive slaves.

When aged just three, his father, Alanson, resettled the family near Quincy, Illinois, to better their fortunes.[7] He was "a noted and fearless anti-slavery advocate,"[8] organizing the family home into a station of the Underground Railroad, a network for fugitive slaves to escape to freedom.[9] For aiding thousands of slaves flee from bondage,[10] Alanson was sentenced to twelve years' hard labor in Missouri in 1841. He was conditionally pardoned four years later, forced to return to Connecticut and abandon the Railroad.[11] The efforts of Henry Work's father left a stirring impression on him, having spent much time with the freed slaves.[12] In his 1923 biography of the composer, Bertram G. Work remarked:

"That Henry Clay Work drew much of the inspiration for his songs from his youthful experiences cannot be doubted. During his most impressionable years, he came in contact with many noted anti-slavery workers; perhaps even assisted his father in his humanitarian work."[13]

He became familiar with the African-American dialect and minstrelsy, and, above all, came to terms with slavery's bitter injustice. Work grew to share his father's staunch abolitionism, manifesting itself in his later compositions, many of which accordingly endowed with "a pronounced moralistic zeal."[14]

While in Illinois, he attended irregular Latin and Greek courses at Mission Institute.[15] These fostered a deep interest in philology; aged twelve, he noted his "considerable progress" in inventing two languages, "one in which English letters were used to form new words, and one that had an alphabet of its own."[16] In music, Work was largely self-taught, save for some lessons at a church singing school and exposure to camp meetings in his neighborhood.[17] He quickly grew acquainted with the principles of musical notation and would devise original melodies while laboring at the family pasture.[18]

In 1845, obliged by the terms of Alanson's release from prison, the Work family migrated back to Middletown, save for Henry, who stayed a year longer.[2] Then aged fourteen, he reluctantly commenced his apprenticeship as a tailor, but his father soon allowed him to pursue a career more "congenial to his tastes" in printing, specializing in typesetting music.[19] Work never permanently strayed from this trade.[20] He later became a proofreader, granting him further insight into the English language, indispensable for his songwriting ventures.[18] In his spare time, his "everyday thought" of writing and music took effect, penning numerous poems, adapting them to melodies, and contributing them to various newspapers.[21]

Early career[edit]

Formative years[edit]

In 1853 Work composed his first song with original lyrics and melody, "We Are Coming, Sister Mary". Instead of sending it to a gazette's "poet's corner", he submitted it to Edwin P. Christy, founder of the renowned eponymous minstrel troupe based in New York City that had initiated Stephen Foster's career.[22] Christy was "well pleased" and performed it at his shows, received with respectable praise and some popularity.[23] He later sold it to the local publishing firm Firth, Pond & Co. for the sufficient remuneration of $25,[c][d] bestowing Work the profit.[20] This encouraged him to pursue "more ambitious efforts as a composer,"[18] publishing a comic song, "Lilly-Wily Woken," for the New York firm William Hall & Son two years later.[24]

While his career had been moderately fruitful so far, Work started doubting his songwriting capabilities. He passed the rest of the decade without publishing any music, choosing to focus exclusively on printing.[25] For this reason he migrated to Chicago in 1855, aged twenty-three, and took up a new printing job.[26] Two years later, he married Massachusettsan Sarah Parker and bought a cottage at Hyde Park.[27][e] In March 1861, with his passion for songwriting revived, Work published a song commemorating the steamer Lady Elgin's shipwreck, "Lost on the Lady Elgin," meeting little success.[29]

Background to his Civil War career[edit]

George F. Root of Root & Cady, with whom Work collaborated throughout the Civil War.

The following month, the American Civil War broke out, overhauling Work's aspirations and laying out a clear path for new opportunities. After the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12–13, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Southern rebellion.[30] Music, which "aroused herself to meet the exigencies of the times,"[31] was instrumental to raising the Union's spirits, rallying civilians and troops, both White and Black, round a collective struggle for unity.[32] Folk music enthusiast Irwin Silber notes:

"Throughout the war, soldiers and civilians of the Union states were inspired and propagandized by a host of patriotic songs. An endless stream of compositions poured forth from the dedicated pens of scores of professional song writers and hundreds of eager amateurs. [...] a few of these songs caught the tempo and the spirit across the country carried on the lips of millions of Americans."[33]

Being in such high demand, patriotic song submissions began pouring into local newspapers and music labels, most of which were rather trite.[34] It is estimated that approximately two thousand were published as sheet music in 1861 alone.[35]

No firm attained such success in publishing Unionist music as Chicago-based Root & Cady, "the largest of [...] the era."[36] and "the most prolific producers of wartime music"[37]. It was established in 1858 by Ebenezer T. Root and Chauncey M. Cady, and, from 1860 onwards, principally operated by George F. Root.[38] Root was one of the most renowned composers of the Civil War era, with such tunes as "Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" to his name.[39] By the war's opening weeks, his firm was receiving roughly sixty daily submissions; throughout the conflict, it published over a hundred songs.[40] In fact, it issued the very first Unionist composition, "The First Gun is Fired!", in response to the attack on Fort Sumter.[41] However, the Union still lacked much antislavery vigor.[42] Having just been remotivated to write music, Work, who had witnessed the hardships of slavery firsthand, was drawn to Root & Cady, conveniently situated in his hometown of Chicago. He would engage in a hugely successful partnership with the firm throughout the war and in subsequent years.[43]

Civil War career[edit]

Cover sheet of Our National War Songs, featuring many of Work's Unionist compositions.

Work's music "captured the spirit and struggle of the Civil War,"[44] composed with "a fiery partisanship."[45] From 1861 to 1865 he penned 27 patriotic songs and published them for Root & Cady.[46] He is held as one of the preeminent Unionist bards, whose compositions faithfully reflected the nation's progress and civilian struggles during the war.[47] His musical contributions to the Union have been paralleled with military efforts on the battlefield itself.[48] An 1884 anthology of Unionist compositions, Our National War Songs, illustrates their value in the struggle, listing more songs penned by Work than any other composer.[49] Chief among them are "Kingdom Coming" (1861), "Song of a Thousand Years" (1863), "Babylon is Fallen" (1863), "Wake Nicodemus" (1864) and "Marching Through Georgia" (1865).[50] They met nigh unrivalled success; Work's career, as well as Root & Cady's, crested during the war.[51]

Author Florine Thayer McCray notes that many of Work's songs uniquely evoke "the very atmosphere of awakening plantation life" and echo "the cottonpicker’s musing hum and the roustabout’s refrain."[52] They expose slaves' concerns in plantation life, thematically similar to the minstrelsy tradition, which Work turned on its head to endorse emancipation and Black enlistment.[53]

1861[edit]

"Brave Boys Are They" kickstarted Work's wartime career,[54] but it was not until March when his music started leaving an impression. That month, George F. Root bought out another of his Unionist compositions, "Our Captain's Last Words," meeting considerable sales.[55] Root met him in person a short while after as Work presented the manuscript for a new song; his autobiography gives an account of the encounter:

"One day early in the war a quiet and rather solemn-looking young man, poorly clad, was sent up to my room from the store with a song for me to examine. I looked at it and then at him in astonishment. It was "Kingdom Coming"—elegant in manuscript, full of bright, good sense and comical situations in its "darkey" dialect—the words fitting the melody almost as aptly and neatly as Gilbert fits Sullivan—the melody decidedly good and taking, and the whole exactly suited to the times. 'Did you write these words and music?' I asked. A gentle 'Yes' was the answer. 'What is your business, if I may inquire?' 'I am a printer.' 'Would you rather write music than set type?' 'Yes.' 'Well, if this is a specimen of what you can do, I think you may give up the printing business.'"[56]

He saw great potential in Work's "gift for composition"[57] and, in a time that "called for patriotic songs with a strong Union flavor,"[37] assigned him a songwriting post lasting until the Civil War's end.[43]

"Kingdom Coming"
First verse and chorus


Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa,
Wid the muffstash[f] on his face,
Go long de road some time dis mornin',
Like he gwine to leab de place?
He seen a smoke, way up de ribber,
Whar de Linkum gumboats lay;
He took his hat, an' lef' berry sudden,
An' I spec[g] he's run away!

De massa run? ha! ha!
De darkey stay? ho! ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom comin',
An' de year ob Jubilo![58]

"Kingdom Coming" and minstrelsy[edit]

"Kingdom Coming" sung by Frank Cumit in 1927.

"Kingdom Coming" is deemed "the first of [Work's] important songs"[59] as well as his "unquestioned masterpiece," cementing itself in the Civil War as a "favorite" of African American troops.[60] A cornerstone symbol of the war's progress, it portends the Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order effectively liberating all slaves held captive in Confederate territory.[61] The song adapts a prototypical event in African-American minstrelsy; a "hypocritical and cowardly" slave owner, fearing being captured by incoming Union military forces, escapes his plantation, subsequently taken over by his slaves, who lock their overseer up as retribution for his cruelty.[62] The "year of Jubilo [Jubilee]" alludes to the biblical practice of freeing bondsmen every 50 years (described in Leviticus 25, OT), an indelible symbol of liberation from oppression; to subjugated Blacks, it represents the end of their servitude.[63]

Minstrel performer Thomas D. Rice as Jim Crow, the personification of a stereotyped African-American dandy.

A staple of minstrelsy, "Kingdom Coming" reverses the African-American music tradition in sympathizing with, rather than satirizing, the plight of slaves.[64] Starting from the 1830s lower-class Northern theater became dominated by troupes of blackface performers. Dressed in extravagant costumes and armed with banjos, they acted as caricatured African Americans reminiscing about their days in the agrarian South. The Romantic portrayal of antebellum Southern plantation life, with slaves and their owners residing harmoniously, gave uninformed Northern audiences a false impression of African Americans' toil in an era when slavery was growing into a dangerously divisive political issue.[65] Stephen Foster, a pioneer of minstrel music, idealized the South in his early compositions; "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground", recounting "de darkeys" lamenting their "massa"'s death, (1852) provides a clear example:

Down in de cornfield,
hear dat mournful sound;
All de darkeys am-a weeping,
Massa's in de cold, cold ground.[66]

With African Americans stereotyped as blithe, imbecilic, docile servants, racism pervaded Northern society even after the Civil War's close; derogatory "coon songs" such as "All Coons Look Alike to Me" (1896) continued to influence public attitudes.[67] As such, blackface minstrelsy made a mockery of African-American struggles in the antebellum, but this was not the case with "Kingdom Coming," portraying a realistic picture of plantation life and humanizing slaves. In fact, instead of the oppressive master reigning supreme over his slaves as generally observed in minstrel songs, these roles are inverted as the slaves take over the plantation and overcome their overseer.[64] Work had witnessed their hardships firsthand in his youth and hence genuinely understood their concerns, unlike many other minstrel show composers.[68]

Prior to the Civil War, slaves turned to simple, sometimes comic, songs to lighten their labor.[69] However, from 1861 onward, African-American music took a new serious form, serving as a collective call for liberation. Negro spirituals such as "Oh! Let My People Go" (1862), alluding to Israel's journey to freedom in the promised land in Exodus, consoled stifled African American populations and rallied support for emancipation.[70] While not a spiritual but a serio-comic, "Kingdom Coming," likewise centered around a biblical metaphor (the Jubilee in Leviticus), vastly appealed to African-American Union troops, who repeatedly sang it as they marched to the South.[71] The song's allure was bolstered by its employment of African-American Vernacular English, the dialect of slaves and African Americans, which Work had been exposed to as a child.[72] Its "robust melody,"[59] blending in perfectly with the lyrics, reflects Work's mastery of harmony.[73]

First advertised by Edwin P. Christy in April 1862, "Kingdom Coming" became a cornerstone of any minstrel show's repertoire.[74] Convinced of its potential, the publisher George F. Root embarked on a widespread advertising campaign to promote the song.[75] Such was its success that Root could not keep up with orders, claiming it to be his firm's most profitable composition "for nearly a year and a half" and "the most successful patriotic song in the West."[76] Within a few years, it sold 75,000 copies of sheet music.[77] After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in September 1862, approximately 10,000 Chicagoans gathered at Clark Street to celebrate the occasion; "Kingdom Coming", symbolizing the proclamation's outcome, was one of the abolitionist songs chanted, along with "John Brown's Body."[78] While time has not been kind with the song, up until the 19th century's close, it was reportedly as popular as "Dixie."[79]

1862–1863[edit]

In 1862 he wrote the song "Grafted into the Army," "a delightful comedy tune."[80]

In 1863 he wrote the song "Babylon is Fallen," the sequel to "Kingdom Coming."

Massa was de kernel[h] in de rebel army,
Ebber since he went an' run away;
But his lubly darkeys, they has been-a watchin',
When dey take him pris'ner tudder day.[81]

1864[edit]

"Come, Home Father" was a temperance classic, and "Wake Nicodemus" became a minstrel show favorite.[82]

"Come Home, Father" and temperance[edit]

Sheet music cover of the prominent temperance song "The Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine," later a watchword for women to avoid mingling with drunkards.

Besides the Union struggle, Work devoted himself to the temperance movement, "[expressing] his passionate convictions about Prohibition" through music.[83] The movement gained much traction after the Civil War's close as many moralistic fraternities, most notably, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, called for public education on the perils of alcohol. The drunkard was framed as "sinful" and culpable for the degeneration of lives throughout the country.[84] "Reform literature" was the popular medium through which temperance could be propagated, often taking the form of simple, sentimental and persuasive lyrics; biographer George W. Ewing notes that "Many, if not most, of the hymnbooks of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contain at least two or three temperance hymns."[85] It borrowed elements from the Realist literary movement of the time, document the hardships of domestic life with particular stress on the oppression of women at the hands of their husband's indulgent habits.[86]

In line with the ever-growing movement, Work composed several songs spotlighting the perils of alcohol consumption.[87] His most renowned is "Come Home, Father," a young girl's plea for her dad, then trifling away his pay and time in a bar getting drunk, to return home while her brother is slowly dying. Like many other temperance lyrics, it is overtly sentimental to persuade the audience of the vices of alcoholism but also realistic in tackling a pressing social issue.[88] Such was its puissance that Work received hundreds of appreciative letters from social reformers. One Louisianan woman even wrote to Work requesting a song targeted at inducing her husband to quit his extramarital affair and figuratively "return home."[89] In an 1898 New Haven Journal-Courier editorial, Florine Thayer McCray writes:

"[...] who has not sat breathless listening to the rare combination of pathos and harmony with which the changing cadences of human voices plead 'Hear the Sweet Voice of the Child' [the chorus] and felt how much more persuasive and fetching than any temperance sermon was this song [...]"[90]

A favorite at Prohibitionist meetings, "Come Home, Father" was adopted as the Women's Christian Temperance Union's theme tune.[91] The song featured as an interlude in a production of Timothy Shay Arthur's acclaimed Prohibitionist play Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There.[92]

Work wrote another moderately famous temperance song in 1877, "King Bibler's Army."[93]

1865[edit]

"Marching Through Georgia"[edit]

"Marching Through Georgia"
First verse and chorus


Bring the good old bugle boys! we'll sing another song,
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along;
Sing it as we used to sing it fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.

Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.[94]

Of all Work's Civil War compositions, none were as acclaimed and fruitful as "Marching Through Georgia", widely regarded as "the greatest of his war songs."[95] The end of 1864 saw the March to the Sea, in which Union forces crippled Confederate resources in Georgia and took over Atlanta and Savannah. Work capitalized on this to write another of his topical songs, "Marching Through Georgia," chronicling the momentous Union triumph after which Georgia became a "thoroughfare for freedom."[96] Its "suggestive verse" and "swinging meter" capture the actual enthusiasm felt by Union troops during the campaign.[52] Published in January 1865, it was a runaway success, selling 500,000 copies in its first twelve years.[97] In his autobiography published 26 years after the song's drafting, Root explained its popularity:

"It is more played and sung at the present time than any other song of the war. This is not only on account of the intrinsic merit of its words and music, but because it is retrospective. Other war songs, “The Battle Cry of Freedom” for example, were for exciting the patriotic feeling on going in to the war or the battle; “Marching Through Georgia” is a glorious remembrance on coming triumphantly out, and so has been more appropriate to soldiers’ and other gatherings ever since."[98]

"Marching Through Georgia" sung by Harlan & Stanley in 1904.

"Marching Through Georgia" quickly became a staple of any Civil War reunion; Work even sang it at one of the Grand Army of the Republic's annual campfires—something he typically resisted.[99] Its ubiquity famously inflamed General William T. Sherman, whom it is dedicated to. He grew to despise it after repeatedly hearing it in every public gathering he attended; he once remarked when attending a reunion: "Scarcely had I gotten under way, however, when the strains of that infernal tune smote upon my ear."[100]

Later career[edit]

1865–1871[edit]

Newly enriched by his war efforts, Work embarked on a tour around Europe from 1865 to 1866, during which he wrote the ballad “The Ship That Never Returned.”[101] Upon returning to the United States, he and his brother invested most of their wealth in over a hundred acres of land and multiple houses in the hopes of establishing a profitable fruit farm in Vineland, New Jersey. Their expectations were swiftly wiped out, bankrupting them both. The was the first of several personal tragedies to befall Work.[102] "[F]orced to begin life over again,"[103] ...

An unhappy marriage seems to have affected his postwar output. He settled into sentimental balladry (he was a "talented creator of sentimental ballads"[104]).

Decline[edit]

Work's motivation for songwriting declined after the Civil War.[105] The Root & Cady firm shut down in 1871, being destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, costing the owners $315,000[i] in losses.[106] It raged on from October 8 to October 10, reportedly destroying all waterworks, banking houses and railway depots, and caused a minor depression in the national stock market.[107] Every business in the city's south wing was obliterated; it was reported that: "Not a terrible calamity has even undertaken any city in modern times. The number of buildings destroyed exceeds 20,000. The number of property destroyed will exceed $200,000,000."[108][j] This made it harder for Work to rejuvenate his songwriting career.

"Grandfather's Clock"[edit]

"Grandfather's Clock"
First verse and chorus


My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;
But it stopped short never to go again
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
His life seconds numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
It stopped short never to go again
When the old man died.[109]

A massive hit was "Grandfather's Clock," published in 1876, which was popularized by Sam Lucas in New Haven, and secured more than a million sales of the sheet music,[110] along with popularizing the phrase "grandfather clock" to describe a longcase clock.[111] Although Work could have expected nothing more than a moderate hit,[112] Cady foretold its widespread success.[113] After Work sold the copyright to "Grandfather's Clock", Cady paid him $250[k] in monthly royalties, helping to lift him out of poverty.[114][l] In total, this was the highest bestowed to any American composer at the time, only possibly surpassed by Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home."[112] An 1879 issue of the San Marcos Free Press highlights its ubiquity, claiming that not knowing the song "argues yourself unknown", being "nightly played in theater and concert halls to applauding auditors."[116] American music historian John T. Howard claims that "there is scarcely a school songbook" excluding "Grandfather's Clock," a favorite among children.[45]

"Grandfather's Clock" performed by the Edison Quartet in 1905.

Death[edit]

A bust of Work near his birthplace in Middletown.

By 1880 Work was living in New York City, giving his occupation as a musician. The "last years of his life were clouded with the illness of his wife."[52] He died abruptly of heart disease on June 8, 1884, while visiting his mother's residence at Chestnut Street, Hartford.[117] He was survived by one of his four children.[118] Obituaries "brushed off"[119] his legacy, often spanning a few lines and merely recognizing him as a "noted song writer and composer", citing a few famous songs and nothing more.[120] He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hartford.[121] It was only until 25 years later that a monument in his honor was be erected, in the same cemetery.[122]

Personal life[edit]

Character[edit]

One of Work's obituaries summarized his apparent character as an "invalid-like fellow with sadness in his voice and bearing poverty in his dress."[123] Reportedly "a man of fine appearance," Work stood at about five feet ten inches, having brown hair, full whiskers and bluish-grey eyes.[124] He was "very reserved and unassuming", going as far as to refuse exposing plagiarism to his music; he made few intimate friends.[125] Despite much of his life being beclouded by tragedy, Work had a sense of humor, exhibited on one occasion when someone sang "Come Home, Father" claiming he had written it; Work stood through the performance without once speaking up.[126] Practicing what his temperance songs preached, he was a committed teetotaler and Prohibitionist activist, going as far as to advocate the outlawing of tobacco.[112]

Chicago[edit]

Work's cottage at Hyde Park.

Work migrated to Chicago in 1855 to further his trade as a printer.[26] In 1859, after Paul Cornell established a new community in the city's south wing, Hyde Park, Work purchased a plot of land from him for $175.[127][m] Roughly a year later, he oversaw the construction of his residence at 5317 Dorchester Avenue, a small, humble cottage "hardly [looking] big enough to house a piano."[128] He and his wife, Sarah, devoted themselves to the Chicagoan community, being among the first organizers of the First Presbyterian Church.[129] Work even served as township clerk from 1864 to 1866.[130] In 1867 he sold the cottage and land and took up a new residence in New York City.[131]

Pastimes and writing[edit]

Work indulged himself in mechanical studies and experiments, and during hiatuses in his musical career, he was devoted "almost exclusively"[124] to them. He invented and patented a knitting machine, a walking doll and a rotary engine.[132] In 1868 he wrote a once popular seriocomic poem, The Upshot Family, satirizing a prototypical American family; its title page catalogs most of the songs he had written by then, totaling 43.[133]

Root said of Work's style of composition: "Mr. Work was a slow, painstaking writer, being from one to three weeks upon a song; but when the work was done it was like a piece of fine mosaic, especially in the fitting of words to music."[134] Fixated on originality, he devised the melody for all his compositions, and wrote the lyrics of all but four, actively refusing requests to put others' words to music.[135][n] He went as far as to design the title pages of his songs.[137]

Legacy[edit]

In songwriting[edit]

Work on the cover of "Who Shall Rule This American Nation?", alluding to his song "Grandfather's Clock."

Florine Thayer McCray describes him as "the most inspiring and permanently popular song writer of the period just previous to, during and following the war."[52]

Work shares much of the credit for the development of the carefully refined verse-chorus structure of late-19th-century popular songs.[138] He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.[139]

In popular culture[edit]

"Kingdom Coming" was performed in Jerome Kern's 1921 Broadway musical Good Morning, Dearie, and featured briefly in the 1944 Judy Garland film Meet Me in St. Louis.[140]

"Marching Through Georgia" was used as a marching song by the Japanese and British during the Second World War.[141]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Rally 'Round the Flag", also known as "Battle Cry of Freedom", was penned by George F. Root, not by Work, as is implied.
  2. ^ Better known as "Wake Nicodemus."
  3. ^ Roughly equating to $1,020 in 2024.
  4. ^ Note that all monetary conversions were conducted on the CPI Inflation Calculator (via https://www.officialdata.org).
  5. ^ The date of Henry and Sarah's marriage is unclear. Whilst Root's concise biography of the composer gives it at 1856, Hill concludes that it "certain[ly]" took place in 1857.[28]
  6. ^ In Standard English, translating to "mustache."
  7. ^ In Standard English, translating to "expect."
  8. ^ In Standard English, translating to "coronel."
  9. ^ Roughly equating to $8.1 million in 2024.
  10. ^ Roughly equating to $5.1 billion in 2024.
  11. ^ Roughly equating to $7,850 in 2024.
  12. ^ An 1884 issue of the Evening Capital claims that Work earned $300 a month, as opposed to $250.[115]
  13. ^ Roughly equating to $6,620 in 2024.
  14. ^ According to Hill, the four songs with borrowed lyrics are "Little Hallie" (1861), written by J. L. Peters, "God Save the Nation" (1862), by Theodore Tilton, "Agnes by the River" (1868), by Mary J. McDermit, and "Traveling Homeward" (1872) by Cadet Otis. Additionally, the words to "Watching for Pa" (1863) and "The Picture on the Wall" (1864) were "adapted" by Work.[136]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^
  2. ^ a b Root et al. 1892, p. 6
  3. ^
  4. ^
  5. ^ qtd. in Root et al. 1892, p. 6
  6. ^
  7. ^
  8. ^ qtd. in Work 1923, p. 6
  9. ^
  10. ^
  11. ^
  12. ^
  13. ^ qtd. in Work 1923, p. 6
  14. ^
  15. ^
  16. ^ qtd. in Birdseye 1879, pp. 284–285
  17. ^
  18. ^ a b c Birdseye 1879b, p. 285
  19. ^
  20. ^ a b
  21. ^
  22. ^
  23. ^
  24. ^ Hill 1953a, pp. 213, 216
  25. ^
  26. ^ a b
  27. ^
  28. ^ Hill 1953a, p. 218
  29. ^
  30. ^ Carder 2008, p. 101
  31. ^ qtd. in Saturday Evening Post 1862, p. 4
  32. ^
  33. ^ qtd. in Silber 1995, p. 7
  34. ^
  35. ^ McWhirter 2012, p. 16
  36. ^
  37. ^ a b qtd. in Tribble 1967, p. 425
  38. ^
  39. ^
  40. ^ McWhirter 2012, pp. 15, 17
  41. ^
  42. ^
  43. ^ a b
  44. ^ qtd. in Song of America
  45. ^ a b qtd. in Howard & Bellows 1967, p. 135
  46. ^
  47. ^
  48. ^
  49. ^
  50. ^
  51. ^
  52. ^ a b c d
  53. ^
  54. ^
  55. ^
  56. ^
  57. ^ qtd. in Carder 2008, p. 114
  58. ^
  59. ^ a b qtd. in Ewen 1962, p. 188
  60. ^ qtd. in Bailey et al. 1991, p. 197
  61. ^
  62. ^
  63. ^
  64. ^ a b
  65. ^
  66. ^
  67. ^ Floyd 1995, p. 60
  68. ^
  69. ^ Floyd 1995, p. 52
  70. ^
  71. ^
  72. ^
  73. ^
  74. ^
  75. ^
  76. ^
  77. ^
  78. ^
  79. ^ Hursh & Goertzen 2009, p. 174
  80. ^
  81. ^
  82. ^
  83. ^
  84. ^
  85. ^
  86. ^ Silber 1995, p. 52–55
  87. ^
  88. ^
  89. ^
  90. ^ qtd. in McCray 1898, p. 10
  91. ^
  92. ^
  93. ^
  94. ^
  95. ^
  96. ^
  97. ^
  98. ^ qtd. in Root 1891, p. 138
  99. ^
  100. ^
  101. ^
  102. ^
  103. ^ qtd. in Birdseye 1879b, p. 286
  104. ^ qtd. in Ewen 1962, p. 189
  105. ^
  106. ^
  107. ^
  108. ^
  109. ^
  110. ^
  111. ^ Merriam-Webster 2007, p. 544
  112. ^ a b c Birdseye 1879b, p. 286
  113. ^ San Marcos Press 1879, p. 3
  114. ^
  115. ^ Evening Capital 1884, p. 2
  116. ^ qtd. in San Marcos Press 1879, p. 3
  117. ^
  118. ^ New Haven Journal 1884, p. 2
  119. ^ qtd. in Hill 1953a, p. 211
  120. ^ see:
  121. ^
  122. ^
  123. ^ qtd. in Tribble 1967, p. 428
  124. ^ a b qtd. in Birdseye 1879b, p. 288
  125. ^
  126. ^ Work 1923, p. 7
  127. ^ Drury 1975, p. 250
  128. ^ qtd. in Drury 1975, p. 250
  129. ^
  130. ^
  131. ^ Drury 1975, p. 252
  132. ^
  133. ^
  134. ^ qtd. in Root 1891, p. 138
  135. ^
  136. ^ Hill 1953a, pp. 213–215
  137. ^
  138. ^ Sadie & Tyrrell 2001, p. 568
  139. ^ Songwriters Hall of Fame
  140. ^
  141. ^ Tribble 1967, p. 423

Bibliography[edit]

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