Behold That Star: A Song History

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The Tennessee Encyclopedia describes "Behold That Star" as an original composition by Thomas Washington Talley, and the Choral Public Domain Library credits him with its melody, text and harmony.[1][2] Talley, born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1870, toured as a bass with the New Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1890 and later taught at Fisk University from 1903 to 1942, chairing its chemistry department for twenty-five years.[1] As a folklorist he compiled Negro Folk Rhymes (Macmillan, 1922), which the encyclopedia calls "the first compilation of black secular folksong."[1]

Pieced quilt with a large central star surrounded by smaller stars

Star of Bethlehem Quilt, cotton, ca. 1845. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its star; it has no connection to the song.

According to the Choral Public Domain Library, the song was first published in 1922 in the second volume of Folk Songs of Many Peoples, issued in New York by the YWCA.[2] That anthology, edited by Florence Hudson Botsford for the Womans Press and dated 1921-1922, mixed composed songs with folk songs.[3] Sources differ on the song's origin, however: hymnals have credited the piece in different ways, some calling it a spiritual or "Negro Spiritual" and others naming Talley or the 1922 anthology.[4]

Under the title "Behold the Star," Hymnary.org lists eleven hymnal printings, among them the African American Heritage Hymnal (2001), Total Praise (2011), Lead Me, Guide Me (second edition, 2012) and One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (2018).[4] The last of these sets Talley's tune in an arrangement by Norah Duncan IV and assigns the song to Epiphany.[5] Pete Seeger included it on his Folkways album Traditional Christmas Carols, which Smithsonian Folkways still issues.[6] The Tennessee Encyclopedia notes that it has become part of the Christmas repertoire.[1]

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Sources

  1. Tennessee Encyclopedia: "Thomas Washington Talley".
  2. Choral Public Domain Library: "Behold that star (Thomas W. Talley)".
  3. HathiTrust Digital Library: "Folk songs of many peoples, with English versions by American poets".
  4. Hymnary.org: "Behold the Star" (text).
  5. Hymnary.org: "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism 284. Behold the Star".
  6. Smithsonian Folkways: "Traditional Christmas Carols" (Pete Seeger).