I'm having some difficulty with determining what the generally
expected melody of the verse is for the spiritual, Deep River. I've
been checking out MIDI and MP3 files using Google, and it seems there
are 2 main variants plus a bunch of versions with only a bridge and
no real verse.
The structure is:
A Deep River, my home is over Jordan
Deep River, Lord, I want to cross over into campground
B Oh, don't you want to go to that gospel feast,
that promised land where all have peace?
A is heard once or twice and B is followed either by a full repeat of
A or a repeat of the second line of A.
Now, my memory of the verse (B) is that it's something like the one
used in this MIDI rendition:
Verse Version 1
http://www.arach.net.au/~algernon/deepriver/
and heard in this interesting 1918 recording:
Verse Version 1
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/m2/f7/10368.mp3
Other instances of version 1:
http://freespace.virgin.net/marek.kuczynski/cantamus/recordings.htm
http://www.korn.com.pl/pianist.htm
http://artists2.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/HarpSong/index-3.html
http://www.mienet.net/freestuff/free_mp3s.html
The second variant seems to be what's printed in modern hymnals:
Verse Version 2
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/e/deeprivr.htm
and I find that version highly problematic because of the highly
repetitive verse melody. Perhaps it takes a decent harmonization to
fix it (which none of the instances I've encountered actually
exhibit), or maybe 1/3 of it needs to be chopped out. Either way, I
can't see it being successful.
This version seems to be fairly widespread, though mostly just
duplicated MIDI files (the first of the two following are the same as
the cyberhymnal example above, while the third is a slightly
different arrangement of the same tune):
http://hjem.get2net.dk/ribeim/midi.html
http://patriot.net/~bmcgin/christmusic.html
http://members.tripod.com/~kcrowell/christian.htm
Now, there are other variations, too, only a couple of which seem to
me to be musically significant. This one seems to be something of a
cross between the two, and is found on the VirtualGrammaphone page
(from 1917):
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/m2/f7/12263.mp3
Another version has no real discernable melody for the verse, just a
short bridge:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/6677/midilink.html
With this variant of the same thing:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kawanua/message/2394
and from a source I have lost, with the same harmonization but a less
bizarre realization:
http://www.bway.net/~dfenton/Unknown_deeprive.mid
The other versions just seem to me to have no real verse or bridge at
all, at least not with any memorable musical shape. These include:
http://www.lassentech.com/midi.html
http://realdreamy.hak.hokkyodai.ac.jp/musica.htm
Now, what's my point here?
Well, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this and could
explain whether there is any primacy to version 1 or version 2. I
find version 1 much more satisfactory musically (though there are a
couple of good musical ideas suggested to me by the repetition and
gradually diminished syncopation in version 2, and version 2 also has
a certain degree of motivic unity with the chorus that is rather
striking when you notice it), but I was wondering which is the more
common.
Of the two, which do y'all think is the more familiar?
And does anyone have any actual background materials in the history
of this spiritual?
--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc
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