I Wonder as I Wander

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"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christmas carol written by John Jacob Niles based on a fragment of a folk song collected in 1933.

Contents

[edit] History

"I Wonder as I Wander" has its origins in a song fragment collected on July 16, 1933 by folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles.[1][2][3][4][5] While in the town of Murphy in Appalachian North Carolina, Niles attended a fundraising meeting held by evangelicals who had been ordered out of town by the police.[1][5] In his unpublished autobiography, he wrote of hearing the song:

A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached to the automobile. She began to sing. Her clothes were unbelievable dirty and ragged, and she, too, was unwashed. Her ash-blond hair hung down in long skeins.... But, best of all, she was beautiful, and in her untutored way, she could sing. She smiled as she sang, smiled rather sadly, and sang only a single line of a song.[2]

The girl, named Annie Morgan, repeated the fragment seven times in exchange for a quarter per performance, and Niles left with "three lines of verse, a garbled fragment of melodic material—and a magnificent idea".[5][2] (In various accounts of this story, Niles hears between one and three lines of the song.[2][5][4][6]) Based on this fragment, Niles composed the version of "I Wonder as I Wander" that is known today, extending the melody to four lines and the lyrics to three stanzas.[5][2][3] His composition was completed on October 4, 1933.[2] Niles first performed the song on December 19, 1933 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.[2][6] It was originally published in Songs of the Hill Folk in 1934.[6][4]

Niles's "folk composition" process caused confusion among singers and listeners, many of whom believed this song to be anonymous in origin.[7][8] Niles undertook lawsuits to establish its authorship and demanded royalties of other performers of the song.[7][8]

[edit] Setting and arrangements

"I Wonder as I Wander", since its collection, has always been sung to the melody published by Niles.[1] According to academic and theologian Ian Bradley, the "clean, haunting melody...maintains the open-air atmosphere and sense of wistful wandering conjured up in the first line."[1]

A notable recent choral setting by Swiss composer Carl Rütti has been performed at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Of great interest is the setting for soprano and orchestra by Luciano Berio (1925-2003), from "Folk Songs (Berio)," 1964, no. 2: the entire song cycle was composed for, and recorded by, Cathy Berberian.

[edit] Recordings

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Bradley, Ian. The Penguin Book of Carols. Penguin (1999), p148. ISBN 0140275266.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Pen, Ron. "I Wonder as I Wander". A Kentucky Christmas (George Ella Lyon, editor). University Press of Kentucky (2003), p200–201. ISBN 0813122791.
  3. ^ a b Studwell, William E. The Christmas Carol Reader. Haworth Press (1995), p111. ISBN 1560249749.
  4. ^ a b c Emmons, Shirlee & Wilbur Watkin Lewis. Researching the Song: A Lexicon. Oxford University Press (2006), p242. ISBN 0195152026.
  5. ^ a b c d e Niles, John Jacob. "I Wonder as I Wander". John-Jacob-Niles.com.
  6. ^ a b c Stulken, Marilyn K. With One Voice: Reference Companion. Augsburg Fortress (2000), p25. ISBN 0806638435.
  7. ^ a b Pen, Ron. "Introduction to the New Edition". The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. University Press of Kentucky (2000), pxiv. ISBN 0813109876.
  8. ^ a b Pegolotti, James A. Deems Taylor: A Biography. UPNE (2003), p285. ISBN 1555535879.
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