Henry Clay Work
Henry Clay Work was an American songwriter and composer. He is best remembered for his musical contributions to the Union in the Civil War—songs documenting the afflictions of slavery, the hardships of army life, and Northern triumphs in the conflict. Besides patriotic pieces, he composed sentimental ballads, some of which promoted the growing temperance movement. Many of Work's compositions were performed at minstrel shows and Civil War veteran reunions. Although largely forgotten nowadays, he was one of the most successful musicians of his time, comparable to Stephen Foster and George F. Root in sales and sheer influence.
Work's father, Alanson, was an abolitionist who strove to free fugitive slaves. While a youth, Henry initiated a career in printing, one that lasted his entire life. Although lacking formal music training, his passion for song manifested itself early on as he wrote poems for newspapers. Work first published a complete musical piece in 1853, whose moderate success drove him to pursue songwriting further. His career came of age at the Civil War's outbreak; Work collaborated with the Chicagoan publishing firm Root & Cady to compose 27 pro-Union tunes, some of which, such as "Kingdom Coming" and "Marching Through Georgia" proved among the most popular of the war. After the war, Work ventured in balladry, but familial and financial woes would demotivate him considerably, worsened by Root & Cady's closure in 1871. He quit songwriting altogether for a few years. After agreeing to collaborate with Chauncey M. Cady in 1876, his output briefly resurged, yielding one sole major hit, "Grandfather's Clock". Nonetheless, Work could not reproduce his wartime fame and fortune, and he died virtually forgotten aged 51.
As a songwriter, Work is renowned for his perceived dexterity in African-American dialect, seriocomedy, and melody.
Life and career
Upbringing and youth
Henry Clay Work, named for the statesman and former House Speaker Henry Clay, was born on October 1, 1832, in Middletown, Connecticut. 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.Henry Work's background was modest, "pass his boyhood days almost in want" without much formal education. When aged just three, his father, Alanson, resettled the family near Quincy, Illinois, to better their fortunes. He was an anti-slavery advocate organizing the family home into a station of the Underground Railroad, a network for fugitive slaves to escape to freedom. For aiding thousands of slaves flee from bondage, 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.
Having spent much time with the freed slaves, the efforts of Henry Work's father left a stirring impression on him and would come to influence his songwriting. He became familiar with the African-American dialect and minstrelsy, and, above all, came to terms with slaves' routine agonies. Work grew to share his father's staunch abolitionism, manifesting itself in his later compositions, many of which were endowed with "a pronounced moralistic zeal."
While in Illinois, he attended irregular Latin and Greek courses at Mission Institute. These fostered his interest in philology. In music, Work was largely self-taught, save for some lessons at a church singing school and exposure to camp meetings in his neighborhood. He quickly grew acquainted with the principles of musical notation, devising original melodies while laboring at the family pasture.
In 1845, obliged by the terms of Alanson's release from prison, the Work family migrated back to Middletown, except for Henry, who stayed a year longer. 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. Work never permanently strayed from this trade. Typesetting granted him further insight into the English language, which, according to George Birdseye, would prove necessary for his future songwriting ventures. 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.
Early musical efforts (1853–1860)
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 eponymous minstrel troupe based in New York City that had initiated Stephen Foster's career. Christy was "well pleased" and later performed it at his shows, received with respectable praise and some popularity. He later sold it to the local publishing firm Firth, Pond & Co. for the sufficient remuneration of $25, which he bestowed on Work. This encouraged him to pursue "more ambitious efforts as a composer," publishing a comic song, "Lilly-Wily Woken", for the New York firm William Hall & Son two years later.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. For this reason he migrated to Chicago in 1855, aged twenty-three, and took up a new printing job. Two years later, he married Sarah Parker of Massachusetts and bought a cottage at Hyde Park. 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.
Civil War (1861–1865)
The following month, the American Civil War broke out. After the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12–13, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Southern rebellion. Music, which "aroused herself to meet the exigencies of the times," helped raise the Union's spirits, rallying civilians and troops, both White and Black, round their nation's cause. Being in such high demand, patriotic song submissions began pouring into local newspapers and music labels. It is estimated that approximately two thousand were published as sheet music in 1861 alone. However, the Union still lacked much antislavery vigor. Having just been remotivated to write music, Work was drawn to Root & Cady, the most prominent Northern publishing firm of the time operated by the songwriter George F. Root. He engaged in a successful partnership with the firm throughout the war and in subsequent years.Work's music "captured the spirit and struggle of the Civil War," composed with "a fiery partisanship." From 1861 to 1865 he penned 27 patriotic pieces and published them for Root & Cady. His songs reflect the Union's progress and civilian struggles during the war. They reaped much success; Work's career, as well as Root & Cady's, crested during the war.
"Brave Boys Are They", a grim overview of army life, kickstarted Work's wartime career, but it was not until March that his music started leaving an impression. That month, Root bought out another of his Unionist compositions, "Our Captain's Last Words". Root met him in person a short while after as Work presented the manuscript for a new song; his autobiography recounts the encounter:
He saw great potential in Work's "gift for composition" and, in a time that "called for patriotic songs with a strong Union flavor," assigned him a songwriting post lasting until the Civil War's end."Kingdom Coming" is deemed "the first of important songs," cementing itself as a wartime favorite of African-American troops. A "hypocritical and cowardly" slave owner, fearing being captured by incoming Union military forces, escapes his plantation, then taken over by his slaves who lock their overseer up as retribution for his cruelty. "Kingdom Coming" reverses the antebellum tradition of denigrating the plight of slaves, instead sympathizing with them. It appealed to African-American Union troops who sang it regularly as they marched to the South. First advertised by Edwin P. Christy in April 1862, "Kingdom Coming" quickly became a linchpin of minstrel show repertoires. Root could not keep up with orders for the song, claiming it to be his firm's most profitable composition "for nearly a year and a half." Up until the 19th century's close, it was reportedly as popular as "Dixie".File:"Kingdom Coming" by Henry C. Work – sung by Frank Crumit.ogg|thumb|282x282px|"Kingdom Coming" sung by Frank Cumit in 1927.|leftIn 1863, Root began issuing a periodical, the Song Messenger, with Work as its editor. They agreed that Work would be "independent and untrammeled in the expression of his views on all subjects" but this promptly sparked controversy. In a June article he admonished compilers of church music books for altering traditional tunes and corrupting their sanctity, followed up by another in July denouncing one of the adapted hymns as "hardly recognizable mutilated." Many compilers perceived these articles as defamation and demanded an apology. While the periodical survived the dispute, Work's editing post did not; he was laid off in August.
Work published a sequel of "Kingdom Coming" in July 1863 titled "Babylon is Fallen". Also written in vernacular, "Babylon is Fallen" aroused African Americans recruited for the Union army; their numbers had grown since the Emancipation Proclamation's passage. Also a favorite among abolitionists and soldiers, it sold more first-month copies than its prequel. In 1864, Work published the patriotic songs "Wake Nicodemus", a minstrel show hit, and "Corporal Schnapps", a tragic yet humorous lament noted for its employment of German dialect, said to enable "the difficult fear of laughing and crying at the same time."
Besides the Union struggle, Work devoted himself to the temperance movement. The movement gained traction after the Civil War's close as many moralistic fraternities, eminently, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, called for public education on the perils of alcohol. In line with the ever-growing movement, Work composed several influential songs spotlighting the perils of alcohol consumption. His most renowned is "Come Home, Father", a young girl's plea for her father, then trifling away his pay and time in a bar getting drunk, to return home while her brother is slowly dying. The WCTU later adopted it as their anthem.File:"Marching Through Georgia" by Henry C. Work – sung by Harlan & Stanley.ogg|thumb|284x284px|"Marching Through Georgia" sung by Harlan & Stanley in 1904
In February 1865, Work set P. G. T. Beauregard's recent evacuation of Charleston to music; the product, "Ring the Bell, Watchman", reflected the successive toppling of Confederate cities during the war's final weeks. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9 marked the Civil War's end; Work celebrated the triumph with a final wartime composition, "'Tis Finished!, or Sing Hallelujah", published in June.
Of all Work's Civil War compositions, none were as successful or acclaimed as "Marching Through Georgia". The end of 1864 saw the March to the Sea, in which Union forces crippled Confederate resources in Georgia and took over Savannah. Work capitalized on this to write another of his topical celebratory songs, "Marching Through Georgia". Published in January 1865, it was a runaway success, selling 500,000 copies in its first twelve years. "Marching Through Georgia" became a staple of Civil War reunions.