Thanks to Laurie for sending her comments and this link.

"When I was a senior in high school, I was a member of the All-County Chorus. At our final performance, we did the exact same rendition of the Battle Hymn as what is sung here. Then, as a teacher, I watched as the choir at our junior high performed it the same way. The song will always be one of my favorite pieces of music, and this rendition is the best there is."

(12-21-2013 05:58 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks to Laurie for sending her comments and this link.

"When I was a senior in high school, I was a member of the All-County Chorus. At our final performance, we did the exact same rendition of the Battle Hymn as what is sung here. Then, as a teacher, I watched as the choir at our junior high performed it the same way. The song will always be one of my favorite pieces of music, and this rendition is the best there is."

Thanks for that Roger - it totally reminded me that I wanted find out whether Dave Alvin ever released his version from the movie "Saving Lincoln" - looks like he still didn't! Too bad - I fell in love with this when I heard it there at the end!
But I just noticed that it is on youtube - here

Amazing, Angela. Thank you. Both Salvador Litvak, and his wife, Nina, are members here.

(12-21-2013 01:46 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Amazing, Angela. Thank you. Both Salvador Litvak, and his wife, Nina, are members here.

Well in that case, I'd like to extend VERY warm greetings from Germany to both of them and a huge Thank You for the great movie they made! I thought the idea incredibly daring and when I saw it was quite amazed how beautifully it was done.
Hm, maybe tonight would be a great time to watch it again...!

Oh and P.S. - That song on iTunes - I think it would sell!

Abraham Lincoln's Favorite Hymns

Whatever Lincoln's religion (or absence of), he seemed to appreciate a sense of man moving in his life by a pre-ordained fate, a teleological point of view. Many of Lincoln's favorite hymns show that affinity, while some others tend to be even pessimistic. There used to be Lincoln Days and Lincoln Breakfasts and recitals that supposedly showcased Abraham Lincoln's most beloved hymns. Some of those were set to music. I think the closer those were to the War, the more likely they were to have been true favorite hymns of Abraham Lincoln,

Father, whate'er of earthly bliss
Thy sovereign will denies,
Accepted at Thy throne, let this
My humble prayer, arise:

A weaver sat at his loom,
Flinging his shuttle fast,
And a thread that should wear
till the hour of doom,
was added at every cast.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

I think "Rock of Ages" was one of his favorites, too, and he quoted from that when attending a woman's deathbed (the incident which we recently had mentioned in the course of religion).

Rock of Ages is a standard I still hear in churches today. Few of those hymns set to music, have enough of a good melody to carry well. I would guess that There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood has not been heard much since the turn of the century. I do like the song Power In
The Blood much better. Probably most of us have sung that in church, and it has a pleasant melody.

I noticed that within the last few days maybe Nov 25 2015, a news article about some vandal stealing a bust of Abraham Lincoln, and that it was found in the brush near the cemetery.

Yes. I read that it was found in good condition - just a little muddy but not damaged.

This incident?
http://www.usnews.com/news/offbeat/artic...g-cemetery

Yes, that's it. Thanks for the link!

Folks say that Lincoln 'rescued waifs of verse' from newspaper clippings and would memorize them, particularly fond of fatalistic or melancholy hymns and poetry. I wonder if the articles had more of the verse or the backstory to them, and if he bothered to read those. It may be that the author of 'Father whatever of earthly bliss' was a story he knew, and it resonated with his own sad experiences?

The Battle Hymn of the Republic has been and will always be a "Classic"!

In November 2014, at the Lincoln Forum Symposium, John Stauffer of Harvard University gave a great talk on the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Here a link to video of his talk. It is about an hour in length.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?316199-1/ba...n-republic

He also wrote a book on the topic (I have not read it – someday I hope to get around to it!). Here is link for his book on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Hymn-Republ...attle+hymn

I tried to get Mr. Stauffer for the Surratt 2015 conference because of the raves I heard about his talk on the song. Our pockets are not deep enough, so thanks for sharing this link, Scott.