Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 54 · American Carols · Page 78 in print
Go Tell It on the Mountain
The verses most hymnals print for Go Tell It on the Mountain were written by John W. Work II, because the original ones “could not be found.”
Jump to a word
The words
Fisk
Fisk University in Nashville, where students sang the spiritual on Christmas morning.
Frederick Work
Fisk scholar sometimes said to have collected the spiritual.
Hampton
Hampton Institute in Virginia, whose 1909 book first printed the spiritual.
John Work
The Fisk family of composers; John W. Work II wrote the usual verses.
Nashville
City of Fisk University.
Nathaniel Dett
R. Nathaniel Dett, who included the spiritual in his 1927 Hampton edition.
Pentatonic
The five-note scale of most of the melody.
Saint Helena
South Carolina island whose 1925 spiritual book printed the song.
Seeker
The seeker of the first verse in 1909.
Spiritual
The African American religious song form to which the carol belongs.
Sunrise
The custom of singing the spiritual long before sunrise on Christmas morning.
Thomas Fenner
Editor of the original Hampton collection revised in 1909.
Unison
The verses, printed for singing in unison in 1909.
Virginia
State of Hampton Institute.
Watchman
The watchman on a city wall in the 1909 verses.
Sources
- Hymnology Archive (Chris Fenner, ed.), “Go, tell it on the mountain”Hymnology Archive
- Fisk University, official site, “Fisk University History”fisk.edu
- Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations, new ed. (Hampton, Va.: Institute Press, 1909), archive.org scan religiousfolkson00hampInternet Archive