Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Members Recordings - Pianist Corner Haddorff--(no postcard) "He Wipes The Tear From Every Eye"

Sorry I didn't get a postcard done this weekend. I went into Chicago with my daughter to see "Shrek: The Musical." It was an excellent show!

I did do a recording, however, using what I've learned in CuBase during the last couple of weeks about layering tracks. I must tell you that this is not a humorous number, which is a departure from my previous recent posts in Member Recordings.

If you've been following any of the Haddorff Postcard series, you may remember when that dearheart, ChopinAddict, offered to scan and send me some music from her vintage scores. One of them that I requested was this:



And here is what I did with it:

"He Wipes The Tear From Every Eye" by W.C. Newsam and Alexander Lee, published in Grandma's Songs: 110 Favorite Songs.

ChopinAddict, is there a year listed in this book? Just curious...

I changed the words to the third verse, because I don't know what a "loose, broken silver cord" next to a "fallen pitcher" has to do with anything. If anyone can enlighten me as to the meaning of this symbolism, I'd be grateful. I used old diction in the re-write, though, to keep everything "whole."

The piano is still not in tune--"Scout Hall" as Canonie called it. Somehow, it works well with this piece. It seems contextually right, in a way, if that makes any sense...

In any case, this is just me, about as raw and naked as I get in terms of making music based on what I know.

Thank you, ChopinAddict, for sharing this score! I had a feeling it was a song that I should get to know!


--Andy

Lovely song Andy, Very nice singing and playing.

Hi Andy,

That was truly beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

The collection is actually old itself and the title is Grandma's Songs, so I thought the song itself must be very old (obviously older than the collection). I checked on the net and I found out this particular version of "He Wipes the Tear" was written in 1911.

I have also just found out what the silver cord is...
It appears to be the bond between body and soul...
The pitcher is the body I think...

Thank you again for your beautiful interpretation!

CA

Wonderful work Mr Haddorf. I heard the tears at the end. (?Almost too) Lovely reverb on the solo voice, and your choir is pretty good too Your voice reminds me a little of Paul Simon in this recording, not sure why... your playing is perfect as always. I think you were made for this sort of music. Thank you for another high quality trip down a memory lane that I never was down in the first place. But I have imagination.

Oh and thank you so much for posting part of score as well.

Beautiful Andy. Brought tears to my eyes (seriously). I love music from that era - particularly when it is performed as well as this.

We could sure use you in our church choir !!

Well, Andy, it worked for me, too. You've done well.

Wow - amazing! Wonderful music-making, Andy.
It must be nice to be able to sing like the Tibetans and vocalize multiple vocal lines at once heh heh! You can tell us... you don't need Cubase to pull that off!

Lovely work, Andy.

Great playing and great singing!!!!

Joe, carey, Chris, and al-mahed--Thank you. I am so very happy that you appreciated it.

Canonie and carey--about music from this era: "They don't make 'em like that anymore!" There is a fire in me right now for popular music from the beginning of the 20th century. I can't get enough of it! As easy as it sounds, and as easy as it is to read, it's rather challenging to play! (for me, anyway!...)

And Canonie, I thought you'd catch that part about the tear at the end!


Mr. Matt, you always crack me up! To tell a story, a few years ago, I heard an Australian boys choir perform here in Rockford, and one of the pieces they did was Sarah Hopkins' "Past Life Melodies" that featured overtone singing. It was WAY cool!



Thanks, CA! So then, does verse three say, "When we die, we meet God in heaven"? In other words, "the silver chord" no longer holds the soul when the "pitcher falls/body dies," and the soul returns to "the place where angels dwell/heaven"(?) Is that what the lyricist is saying? Am I reading that right? (I'm not talking fine points of theology, here. I just want to know if I'm understanding the poetry as it's indended.)

Thanks!

--Andy

I think so, that's how I interpret it too.
But I am not really into theology, I just googled it... And in one of the entries where the silver cord was mentioned they also mentioned the "bowl" (the body), so I thought it must be the pitcher...
CA

Dear CA,
For some reason this line really tickled me! Thanks for the best laugh to start my day! Something so complicated solved by something so simple! I LOVE that! I need to remember that I can find stuff out on the Internet!*



I get it. The body as a vessel and all that. You must be right. Thank you for checking all of that out! Now, I can sing the verse, since I know what it means! (But, I think I like my verse better, so maybe I'll stick with the "improved" version! Ha-ha!)

--Andy

_________
*[shameless political plug: fight the intrusive Google behemoth. Use www.ixquick.com ( www.startpage.com in the U.S.) for your searches. They don't store information about what you look for. Google, Yahoo and Bing do.]

That was your own personal touch I assume Andy?

Yes. What I had to work with is what you see above. Right below the last line is "Oh, Susanna!" LOL! So, I just tried to follow the flow of the music, and put in a touch here and a touch there that seemed to fit. Thanks!

You made me curious when you asked in your OP if anybody knew what the silver cord was, that's why I checked.

By the way, that version I gave you is not even the original one, as I have just found out... I think this is the original one... It was written in 1883. I haven't checked it word for word, but it starts completely different...

I have no idea though if Newsman's version is somehow more popular, being in the collection I have instead of the original one...

Whoa, CA! Now that is really cool! Look at that arrangement! Grace notes and everything! The lyrics are all different, and are certainly direct... though the sentiment of the song is the same.

Very, very cool! Thank you so much for digging into this. You seem to have a librarian's heart!

Yes, I love libraries! I feel a little bit like Borges when I am in a library!

Thank YOU for giving me the opportunity to learn something!

Dear Andy! It's very nice!

I like collecting stamp and postcard.

Last Sunday I got some postcards, the one is "He Wipes The Tear From Every Eye".

So by the internet search, I found here to enjoy your great playing and great singing!

This postcard was sent on Jy 12 1910.




BTW,I got another postcard. I scan it as follow.FYI.




My Email is Osbert_guo#Yahoo.com.cn
Please change # as @.

Goodness gracious, I should have posted a response sooner!

Just to let everybody know, I e-mailed osbert on Christmas Day and asked him about the origins of this postcard. I was curious, since I thought the hymn was Australian, yet the postcard has a picture of Whistler's Mother (an American painting). Apparently, there was no origin given for this postcard, but osbert said other postcards from the batch he had just acquired were from "The Eventscope Music Postcard Series" published by B. Feldman & Co., London. (no date given)

Can anyone tell us more about postcards such as these, which featured a score? When were they used? How long were they popular? Etc.

Thanks!
--Andy

I am trying to find out, but all I have found so far is this:
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,gifts/products_id,3823/title,Play-It-Again/
No details available...

Anyway, I think there were much better than e-mails!

And just as immediate. I have one from my grandparents to each other when they were courting, which simply says "Meet you at the Post Office at 2 o'clock this afternoon." Says something about the quality of the postal service 100 years ago...