"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village. It became widely known when Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, which premiered in 1944.

Background and composition

The tune and lyrics were written by Elder Joseph Brackett (1797–1882) of the Alfred, Maine Shaker community, although there is some disagreement as to which community Elder Joseph belonged to when the song was written. Elder Joseph resided with the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine community before he was called to serve in the Ministry in 1848. For the next decade, he served the Community in Alfred, later returning to New Gloucester. However, the Alfred community's history makes no reference to "Simple Gifts", although there are several mentions of Elder Joseph. The first known reference to "Simple Gifts" is an advertisement for a concert in October 1848 by the Shaker Family from the Society of Shakers of New Gloucester, Maine.

Resurgence and enduring popularity

The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet, Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944. (Shakers once worshipped on Holy Mount, in the Massachusetts portion of the Appalachians). Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950 in his first set of Old American Songs for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated.

Lyrics

Copland used Brackett's original verse for the lyrics to his one-verse song: Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a "dancing song" or a "quick dance". "Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references to "turning" in the last two lines have also been identified as dance instructions. When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where they started, "come 'round right".

Tune

A manuscript of Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon, New York Shaker community records this original version of the melody. The song resembles, to a slight extent, several repetitions of the opening measures of William Byrd's renaissance composition, "The Barley Break", which Byrd intended to imitate country children playing a folk game. Similarly, Brackett is claimed to have come up with the song as an imitation of what folk music sounds like. A somewhat similar musical theme arises also in a brass ensemble work, Canzon per sonare no. 2, by Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1555–1612).

"Lord of the Dance"

English songwriter Sydney Carter adapted the original American Shaker tune and lyrics for his hymn "Lord of the Dance" published and copyrighted in 1963. The Carter hymn is also titled "I Am the Lord of the Dance" and "I Danced in the Morning". In 1996, the Carter hymn was adapted without authorization or acknowledgments of the origins of the tune or Carter's lyrics by Ronan Hardiman for Michael Flatley's dance musical, Lord of the Dance. The melody is used at various points throughout the show, including the piece entitled "Lord of the Dance". The musical's title and version of the "Lord of the Dance" have led to some confusion that the song and lyrics are Celtic; however they are of American and English origin.

Subsequent usage

In popular culture

Additional verses

Two additional, later non-Shaker verses exist for the song, as follows: And an additional alternative: Another alternate verse: A Version Broadcast During Music and the Spoken Word: