Tuesday, November 11: Veterans Day in the US, formerly Armistice Day He is There by Charles Ives (with later version They are There) November 11 is the day on which we honor veterans because it was on November 11, 1918 (at 11 a.m.) that the Armistice took effect that ended The War To End All Wars (as it was optimistically called at the time). While there are many songs about the loss and sadness of the war, I am choosing instead to post a lively, fun marching song expressing the kind of patriotic fervor that allows men in the prime of their lives to want to test themselves against an enemy and do something heroic. I recall a singer in a repertoire class saying that she felt torn when singing this song, since it is so exciting and catchy that she loves it, and yet it is about war, which she hates. I think in fact its about a make-believe image of war. But theres a serious side to the words as well--the yankee boy whos going Over There has a German name. At the time the song was written, many families with German names were changing them in hopes of avoiding the wave of anti-German sentiment that was sweeping the country. The text is attributed in some places to Colonel John McCrae, the Canadian author of the somber In Flanders Fields, which is another of Ivess Three War Songs that include He is There. I have not been able to verify this attribution, and I am inclined to doubt it, since I dont think a Canadian poet would have written about a yankee boy, and so many of the words track the songs that are quoted. I believe the words must be by Ives himself. https://youtube/watch?v=XmLqAxonMcE Text at recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=8755
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 06:51:02 +0000
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