Devotion (Alexander Johnson)

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• (Posted 2017-11-13)  CPDL #47365:       

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2017-11-13).   Score information: 7 x 10 inches (landscape), 1 page, 53 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes: Arranged by Ananias Davisson, 1820. Four-part version; Counter part written by B. C. Johnston, 2017. Notes in four-shape format, as originally published. The remaining six stanzas of Watts' paraphrase included.

• (Posted 2017-03-23)  CPDL #43715:   

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2017-03-23).   Score information: Letter, 1 page, 60 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes: Note heads converted to oval shapes. This is the oval-note version of CPDL 43710, for four voices.

• (Posted 2017-03-23)  CPDL #43710:       

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2017-03-23).   Score information: 7 x 10 inches (landscape), 1 page, 60 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes: Arranged by William Walker, 1835. Note heads in four-shape format, as originally published. This version started as a three-part edition in William Walker's Southern Harmony, 1835; an Alto part was added in Walker's Christian Harmony in 1866. Words by Isaac Watts, 1717, paraphrase of Psalm 92, Part 1, with seven stanzas. The song starts with the second stanza of Watts' paraphrase. This version has appeared on page 48 (top) in The Sacred Harp from 1860 to the present.

• (Posted 2017-03-23)  CPDL #43709:       

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2017-03-23).   Score information: 7 x 10 inches (landscape), 1 page, 66 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes: Note heads in four-shape format, as originally published. This three-part version is from Funk's Genuine Church Music, 1832. Words by Anne Steele, 1760, entitled The glorious presence of Christ in heaven, with six stanzas. All six stanzas included.

• (Posted 2017-03-22)  CPDL #43708:       

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2017-03-22).   Score information: 7 x 10 inches (landscape), 1 page, 62 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Number of voices: 3vv   Voicing: STB

Edition notes: Note heads in four-shape format, as originally published. This three-part version is from William Moore's Columbian Harmony, 1825, titled Solemnity. Words by Isaac Watts, 1717, paraphrase of Psalm 92, Part 1, with seven stanzas. In Moore's version, as in Johnson's, the song starts with the second stanza of Watts' paraphrase. All seven stanzas included.

General Information

Title: Devotion
First Line: Sweet is the day of sacred rest
Composer: Alexander Johnson
Lyricist: Isaac Watts

Number of voices: 3-4vv   Voicings: STB and SATB
Genre: Sacred   Meter: 88. 88 (L.M.)

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1818 in Johnson's Tennessee Harmony
    2nd published: 1820 in Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony, Edition 1
Description: A folk hymn (Jackson 1953, Music 2005). First published in Alexander Johnson's Tennessee Harmony, 1818. This version arranged by Ananias Davisson, 1820. Words by Isaac Watts, 1717, paraphrase of Psalm 92, Part 1, with seven stanzas. Johnson and Davisson both use the second stanza of Watts' paraphrase in their composition. Reprinted in over 25 nineteenth-century tunebooks, with a variety of lyrics.

References:

• Jackson, George Pullen. 1953. Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America, Second Edition. Locust Valley, New York: J. J. Augustin. 254 pp. Devotion, No. 120 on p. 141.
• Music, David W., Editor. 2005. A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns From Southern United States Tune Books, 1816-61. Middleton, Wisconsin: A-R Editions. 91 pp.

Original text and translations

Original text and translations may be found at Psalm 92 and O for a sweet inspiring ray.