Greetings. I'm repeating this Jan. 23 post for Christmas 2011. To date, my file has been downloaded 1,081 times! Look at me, Ma, I'm a star.
So, I received my eBay copy of the William B. Bradbury tunebook, The Victory (1872 edition), and there on page 74 is James Pierpont's The One Horse Open Sleigh, a.k.a. Jingle Bells. Only with its original melody, which is different in spots from the one we know.
So I put together a recording, with me at the Casio WK-3800 (Patch 071). This is tricky to play, because the tenor part is up top on its own line (and notated an octave up in the treble clef), which makes putting all four voices together a royal pain, since the tenor has to be added to the bass, alto, and soprano, and played an octave lower than written. Therefore, I recorded this four bars at a time and joined the results together. Which is actually less of a hassle than renotating the thing for easier reading.
Except for a couple rushed measures, this came out nicely, I think.
The One Horse Open Sleigh (James Pierpont)
Now you say you've heard Jingle Bells in its original form. Unless you've heard it before, in which case you can say you've heard it again.
Lee
2 comments:
I know I have the same arrangement somewhere in the midst of my50 feet or more of sheet music...even the FONT used for the title is familiar as is the title. Over the years I've done a TON of pro bono (no, I'm not specifically in favor of U2 as a matter of course)music gigs around Christmas, usually for some worthy charity. After a while, you can get a little bored with playing all these Christmas carols/ songs the same 'traditional' way. That's led me to rearrange many of the classics to fit my playing on the guitar (I play keys, also, but guitar is a lot more portable when there's 30 of you covering a 5 floors multiple wing nursing home). My own Americana Folk/Country/Blues/Gospel roots come out whether I like it or not. I've taken to 'rockin' out J-Bells more and more over the years. I know I played the version you played after I found the copy that we share, but it has been a dozen years since I HEARD it played faithfully to the written score. Thanks a lot as I will tune up and play along with you until I GET it, which I'll have to do because I haven't a CLUE where MY copy is. BTW, I couldn't hear the glitch you mentioned at all. Maybe it's just because I'm up all night ( I work nights and stay up on my nights off like tonight to stay on schedule ...at 60 I have to indulge some routine to survive working nights). Anyway, Lee, your Christmas posts are as always a joy and something I anticipate with pleasure every year...and if I ever find someone coming west to Erie, don't be surprised if there are suddenly a couple of boxes of classic religious music at your door. All the best of the holy days to you.
The Robert DeCormier Singers and Ensemble recorded a choir version based on that original tune, lyrics and arrangement in 1984, on an album called A Victorian Christmas. The track is called The One Horse Open Sleigh. There are a couple of CD issuances of that recording available on Amazon, some with only collector type prices, but one has used copies for as low as $2.00.
This is one of the first secular seasonal songs, and is part of a flurry of them that were written in the late 1850s, and they are still familiar today. The other two "big hits" are Up On the Rooftop and Jolly Old St. Nicholas. Note that the song isn't about Christmas at all. It is about street-racing and picking up chicks in the fastest sports vehicle on the roads at that time.
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