Honor, Honor: A Song History

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The earliest printing of "Honor, Honor" found in the sources consulted here is Hall Johnson's "Honor! Honor!", which Western Michigan University's sheet music collection lists as a 1934 Carl Fischer publication.[1] Johnson, born in Athens, Georgia, in 1888, was already notating music he heard as an eight-year-old, started in 1925 the choir that later took his name, and gave his career to keeping the spiritual true to its performance under slavery.[2] The New Georgia Encyclopedia also counts Marian Anderson among the singers he coached.[2]

Painting of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in a river, with angels nearby

Jacopo Tintoretto, Baptism of Christ, oil on canvas, 1580s. A Bible scene, shown for the spiritual's religious setting; the painting has no connection to the song.

Victor recorded tenor Charles Holland singing the song, catalogued as a spiritual with Johnson credited as arranger, in Hollywood on May 2, 1941, with Ralph Linsley at the piano.[3] Anderson recorded Johnson's setting for Victor in New York on May 6, 1947, with pianist Franz Rupp, pairing it on one side with H. T. Burleigh's arrangement of "Sinner, Please."[4] It also appears on an EMI album of spirituals by Anderson and Rupp, alongside "Ride On, King Jesus" and "De Gospel Train."[5] Later singers have recorded it as well: tenor John Wesley Wright included it, credited to Johnson, on his 2004 CD Wade in the Water: Songs of the River, the Lake, and the Sea.[6]

Carol Crocker includes it in Songs Of The Spirit, her book of 16 African American spirituals arranged for solo mountain dulcimer in DAD tuning, with lyrics included.[7]

Our book that contains the song "Honor, Honor"

Sources

  1. Western Michigan University Libraries, Sheet Music Collection: "Honor! Honor!", 1934.
  2. New Georgia Encyclopedia: "Hall Johnson (1888-1970)".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix PBS-061227. Honor! Honor! / Charles Holland ; Ralph Linsley".
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix D7RB-0817. Sinner, please / Marian Anderson ; Franz Rupp".
  5. Technical University of Munich Library catalog: "Marian Anderson sings negro spirituals".
  6. Randye Jones, Spirituals Database: "Honor, Honor" (John Wesley Wright).
  7. Carol Crocker: "Songs Of The Spirit".
  8. Image: Jacopo Tintoretto, Baptism of Christ, oil on canvas, 1580s. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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