Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day by Charles Ives Orchestra - Sheet Music

SKU: PR.614168560

UPC: 680160427499.

“Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day” was the first movement sketched of the four separate orchestral movements of “A Symphony: New England Holidays,” and the last to be performed. Its title refers to two American holidays: the national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating the first harvest of the Plymouth Colony, and Forefathers’ Day, commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 and traditionally observed in New England in December. The design of “Thanksgiving” can be represented as A-B-A with a very brief introduction and coda. The B section consists of three versions of George Frederick Root's hymn "The Shining Shore." The three variants themselves constitute a small a-b-a, with soft renditions of the hymn enclosing a more jagged and louder one. The A section returns, builds grandly, and culminates with the choir singing the Thanksgiving hymn "O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand" to the tune called "Duke Street," against which horns and trombones proclaim the melody of "Federal Street": "God! Beneath thy guiding hand, Our exiled fathers crossed the sea, And as they trod the wintry strand, With prayer and praise they worshipped Thee." The author of the hymn was Leonard Bacon, who had been minister at Center Church from 1825 until 1866. Ives has us imagine "a Puritan band marching out of view and hearing," and then the music, full of bells and chimes, fades into silence. --from notes by Michael Steinberg.