Take just a few minutes this week to introduce your homeschool students to a beautiful piano performance of a four hundred year old Dutch tune that is now aย Thanksgiving classic.
Like many seasonal songs, “We Gather Together” has a complex history. The music is based on a Dutch folk melody that was arranged and given verses by poet and composer Adriaen Valerius (1575โ1625) to commemorate the Dutch victory in the Battle of Turnhout in 1597, an engagement in the long Dutch War of Independence (from Spain). The modified arrangement that is best known today is properly called Kremser, after Viennese musicologist Eduard Kremser (1838โ1914) who built upon Valerius’ earlier work.
Because the tune is so beautiful it has drawn the attention of many verse-writers over the years. The most common lyrics used in the United Statesย โ โWe gather together to ask the Lord’s blessingโย โ are those of American musicologist Theodore Baker (1851โ1934). In the Netherlands, Valerius’ original Dutch verses are still commonly sung. And of course the tune by itself is now a Thanksgiving staple on radio stations and in shopping venues across the United States. Learning something about its history will enrich and deepen your students’ understanding of the musical world around them.
What musical memories have you made in your homeschool this Cygnus Term? ๐
โกโ Gobble gobble: This is one of our occasional posts on Homeschool Holidays & Anniversaries and Homeschool Arts & Music. Add your name to our weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. ๐ฆ