Musical odds and ends from Deephaven

As we continue work on the next Journal issue featuring Sarah Orne Jewett's Deephaven, we discovered some little snatches of musical trivia that invited a bit of research. There will only be room for Elspeth's new piano sheet music arrangement of the British folk tune, The Turtledove, within the Journal's pages. (See image, below, for a sneak peek of measures 5 through 7.) We thought we'd include a little bit of the musical trivia we unearthed about quotes from Deephaven here in the Newsroom, for any interested readers. (Artwork, above, by Louise Abemma.)

From Chapter 1 (Kate Lancaster's Plan):

"Kate sang a bit from one of Jean Ingelow's verses:—'Will ye step aboard, my dearest, For the high seas lie before us?'"

The song Kate sings by Jean Ingelow is titled The Days Without Alloy. Here is one version of the lyrics:

When I sit on market-days amid the comers and the goers,
Oh! full oft I have a vision of the days without alloy,
And a ship comes up the river with a jolly gang of towers,
And a "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!

There is busy talk around me, all about mine ears it hummeth,
But the wooden wharves I look on, and a dancing, heaving buoy,
For 'tis tidetime in the river, and she cometh–oh, she cometh!
With a "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!

Then I hear the water washing, never golden waves were brighter,
And I hear the capstan creaking–'tis a sound that cannot cloy.
Bring her to, to ship her lading, brig or schooner, sloop or lighter,
With a "pull'e, haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!

"Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie before us."
So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy.
We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound float o'er us
Than yon "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!

From Chapter 4 (Deephaven Society):
"The first hymn was "The Lord our God is full of might/The winds obey his will," to the tune of St. Ann's."

"St. Ann's" is the tune name for the beloved hymn, Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past.

Tags: 2010, Music