[Smt-talk] Pieces contrary to the minor/major = sad/non-sad stereotype

[Matthew Shaftel]

*Can you forward my message to the list?

The FOUNTAIN hymn focuses on the redemption and hope offered by the  
Blood of Christ. However gruesome this might be to the non-believer, I  
think the tune actually fits the Major=hope paradigm. For a very  
interesting commentary on this tune, though, take a listen to Ives's  
setting of Matthew Arnold's sonnet, "West London." The entire setting  
draws its material from the hymn tune, culminating in a direct  
quotation from the hymn. One could argue that the direct quotation  
comes off as an overly optimistic outburst (I wouldn't take up this  
particular argument, but that is a story for another time). The  
quotation from the hymn seems so stylistically removed from the rest  
of the song that it seems to borrow not only the tune, but also the  
manner in which it might have been sung in a camp-revival meeting.

_______________________________________________________________
Matthew Shaftel
Editor, MTO - a Journal of the Society for Music Theory
Associate Professor of Music Theory
Florida State University




On Oct 2, 2009, at 1:58 PM, vlschwarz at aol.com wrote:

> Has anyone mentioned the hymn "There is a Fountain Filled with  
> Blood"--which talks of blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins sung to the  
> CLEANSING FOUNTAIN tune yet?
>
> Victoria Schwarz
> Institute for the Arts
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