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Tue, 08/14/2012 - 16:44 — cfenner
Has anyone seen any recent research on the tune CLEANSING FOUNTAIN or COWPER? Several sources perpetuate the same information from McCutchan's Our Hymnody Methodist hymnal companion, namely that it was composed by Lowell Mason as COWPER in 1830 and subsequently appeared in other collections in altered form as WESTERN MELODY, including Asa Hull's Pilgrim's Harp (1869).
Based on what I've seen, I think the proper date for COWPER is actually 1831, from Spiritual Songs for Social Worship, co-edited by Thomas Hastings. The tune is unattributed there, so as far as anyone can tell it could have been by Hastings. Not attributed in later Mason books that I've checked.
The other issue is that no one seems to know when the alternate form CLEANSING FOUNTAIN was first published. One companion merely says it appeared in many 19th century tunebooks, known by WESTERN MELODY or even UNKNOWN. Well, to which tunebooks would we be referring? Is Hull's the earliest? This is all clear as mud.
This issue, of course, post-dates the Hymn Tune Index, and DNAH doesn't track tunes.
Any ideas?
Chris Fenner
Comments
Just off the top of my head
and without looking at my hymnals, I would say I recall COWPER as having looked very similar, but not identical, to CLEANSING FOUNTAIN. The former I recall as being called a composition of Mason's, the latter an arrangement of his. The slurs in C.F. reminded me more of PISGAH than the corresponding parts of C. I think.
In the Hymnary it looks like most instances call C.F. a Mason arrangement rather than a composition, too. Will check my hymnals later on this point.
FWIW, my personal hymnal index shows 34 instances of C.F. (32 with "There is a fountain" and one each with "The Savior calls" and "When I can read") vs. 4 of C. (3 "There is a fountain" and one "The Savior calls").
Incidentally, "There is a fountain" is attested in my list three times with tunes other than these Mason pieces: a tune of unknown provenance is given in Hymns of Truth and Praise (1971; Plymouth Brethren??), and then the Mennonite Brethren's Worship Together offers both NEW BRITAIN and MARTYRDOM as alternate tunes (C. F. as the primary). "The Savior calls" is only attested in the 1883 Baptist Hymnal. And of course "When I can read" is overwhelmingly PISGAH - 16 instances vs. one each for C.F. (alternate tune in Great Hymns of the Faith, 1968), LINGHAM (sic; in the Free Methodist/Wesleyan Hymns of Faith and Life, 1976), and something called MARLOW in the 1883 Baptist Hymnal.
THERE IS A FOUNTAIN (Dakota Odowan 1867)
Thought you might like to look at the page scan I just uploaded here (T36).
FOUNTAIN
Yes, the melody here is identical to the original Mason tune, which in Spiritual Songs was dubbed FOUNTAIN. My question is when CLEANSING FOUNTAIN made its first appearance. The history on the latter is really vague.
CF