SoundingThe Mystic Chords of Memory': Musical Memorials for Abraham Lincoln, 1865–2009

290 Pages·2014·6.44 MB·English

Sounding “The Mystic Chords of Memory”:
Musical Memorials for Abraham Lincoln, 1865–2009

A dissertation submitted to the

Graduate School
of the University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory
of the College-Conservatory of Music

by

Thomas J. Kernan

BM, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2005

MM, University of Cincinnati, 2010

Committee Chair: bruce d. mcclung, PhD
ABSTRACT

Composers have memorialized Abraham Lincoln in musical works for the home, concert
hall, and theater stage from his death in 1865 to, most recently, the 2009 bicentennial of his birth.
They have invoked the name, biography, or character of Lincoln in compositions that address
social, cultural, and political movements of their own times and places. In this study I consider
the music composed and performed during Lincoln’s national funeral, Reconstruction, periods of
mass immigration, the Civil Rights Movement, and the bicentennial of the president’s birth. In
this music composers have portrayed Lincoln as martyr and saint, political advocate, friend to the
foreigner and common man, and champion of equality. This study touches on issues of
modernism and postmodernism, with specific consideration of changes in funerary and mourning
rituals as well as the consequences of industrialization, commercialization, and the internet age
in shaping presidential legacies. Careful attention is paid to aspects of ritual, protest, and cultural
change.
I argue that composers, through their memorial songs, symphonies, and dramas, have
shared in creating our historical memory of the first martyred president. Moreover, I posit that
the American desire for a civic leader with recognizable moral security, to which subsequent
generations have bound their causes, has led to a series of changes in the Lincoln topos itself.
The ability of musical memorials to thrive in dynamic, public arts—funerals, rituals, protests,
and commemorations—evinces that these compositions provide an effective means for tracing
the trajectory of American historical memory over a span of 150 years. This analysis advances
our understanding of the role musical culture can play in both shaping a presidential legacy, and
promoting social and political causes.

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Copyright © 2014 by Thomas J. Kernan
All rights reserved
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To members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have perished in war
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the individuals who have provided assistance in locating sources for this
study, especially Zachary Garrison, Barbara Harbach, Harold Holzer, Kim H. Kowalke, John
Malveaux, Ellen Weinberg Mausner, Christian McWhirter, and Nell Stemmermann. I am
similarly thankful for having had access to the following libraries and for the exceptional support
offered by staff members thereof: the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, especially James
Cornelius; Boston Public Library, especially Metro Voloshin; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh,
especially Kirby Dilworth; Harvard University’s Houghton Library and University Archives;
Hebrew Union College’s Klau Library, especially Laurel Wolfson; Huntington Library,
especially Diann Benti, David Mihaly, Krystle Satrum, Olga Tsapina, and Jennifer Watts;
Indiana University’s Lilly Library, especially David Frasier; Jacob Rader Marcus Center for the
American Jewish Archives, especially Kevin Proffitt and Gary Zola; Kurt Weill Foundation,
especially Dave Stein; Library of Congress; New York Public Library’s Music Division Special
Collections, especially Bob Kosovsky, and Dorot Jewish Research Division, especially Amanda
Seigel; New Mexico State University Archives, especially Martha Shipman Andrews;
G. Schirmer Inc., especially Eileen Mack; University of Missouri-Kansas City Music Library,
especially Debbie Keeton; URJ Press and Transcontinental Music, especially Rachel Wetstein;
and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, especially Gunnar Berg and Fruma Mohrer. I could not
have completed my research without the generous financial assistance of the Cincinnati Branch
of the English-Speaking Union, Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, Theodore Presser Foundation,
and University of Cincinnati’s University Research Council.
I am grateful for the support of friends, faculty, and colleagues at the University of
Cincinnati, especially Ellis Anderson, who welcomed me to the College-Conservatory of Music
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(CCM) as a fellow graduate student, introduced me to the vintage cocktail recipes compiled by
Robert Hess, and has remained a close friend ever since; Mary Sue Morrow, who always offered
clear and concise answers to seemingly complex questions about class schedules, registration,
and degree requirements; and Christopher Phillips, who graciously opened his classes and
seminars, and welcomed a musicologist to spend time with his American history advisees. I
thank Jonathan Kregor for serving on my dissertation committee and providing many insights
into navigating the closing years of graduate school and early stages of a career. I am indebted to
Jeongwon Joe, not only for her service on all of my graduate-school committees, but also for the
level of respect that she has displayed for my scholarship and teaching. bruce d. mcclung’s
service as my dissertation advisor has included the careful reading of countless drafts of
chapters, grant proposals, and papers. Moreover, his attention to detail in every task he
undertakes has deeply influenced my approach to research, teaching, and life in general.
The CCM Joseph and Frances Jones Poetker Thinking about Music Lecture Series played
a critical role in my discernment of a dissertation topic. In March 2008 music theorist Steven
Cahn invited James Schmidt from Boston University’s Political Science Department to lecture
on a topic that the two had been discussing, “musical monuments.” I was immediately struck by
this concept and have been grateful for the encouragement that both scholars have provided me
since then.
Beyond the outstanding support that I have received from colleagues and faculty
members, I am equally touched by the kindness that I have known from individuals whose names
are too numerous for this space, but whose impact has been profound, especially my friends from
the Ohio State University History Department and the clergy and laity of Saint Joseph Cathedral
(Columbus, Ohio). The aphorism that the best gift a father can give his children is to love their
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mother (or similarly, that the best gift a mother can give her children is to love their father) has
been thoroughly demonstrated by the love that my parents, James and Ruth Kernan, have for
each other, which has left an indelible mark on my heart, and it is a profound privilege for which
I am eternally grateful. More recently that blessing has also been a part of my life through the
tremendous love and affection that my in-laws, Paul and Vicki Peters, show each other, their
daughter, and me.
My wife, Sarah, is at the center of all aspects of my life and this dissertation, too. She
generously sacrificed some of her research time to help gather sources for me at the British
Library and New York Public Library. Sarah has patiently listened to my ideas in their most
unpolished and assuredly frustrating forms. She has also lovingly provided a volume and quality
of encouragement that I can only ever hope to reciprocate. Sarah has my enduring love for
approaching all of this with her characteristic grace, devotion, joy, and stubbornness.
Finally, I wish to offer a word about the dedication of this dissertation. The terrorist
attacks of 11 September 2001 occurred in the early weeks of my sophomore year at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City. Thus, for nearly the entire time of my undergraduate and
graduate degrees, the United States has been at war—multiple wars—and a country with soldiers
deployed to the far reaches of the globe. In writing a dissertation in which I regularly
contemplated death, mourning, and memory, it has rarely been far from my mind that any
difficulties encountered in pursuing a doctoral degree pale in comparison to the extreme
sacrifices that have been made by service members and their families; so it was during the Civil
War and so it is today. With hopes and prayers for the miracle of peace, but knowledge of the
losses suffered by many, I gratefully dedicate this dissertation to the members of the U.S. Armed
Forces members who have perished in war.
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CONTENTS

COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS ........................................................................................................x

LIST OF EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................... xi

LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xii

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiii

INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1

Chapter

1. THE LINCOLN FUNERAL AND INITIAL DAYS OF MOURNING ...........................20
Initial Mourning .................................................................................................... 23
Performing the Funeral Procession .......................................................................25
Commemorations beyond the Train .......................................................................37
Short-term Mourning, Long-term Commemoration ..............................................42

2. RECONSTRUCTION, ASSASSINATION, AND MEMORIALIZATION TO THE
TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ......................................................................45
May Angels Lead You into Paradise ......................................................................47
Deliver Me .............................................................................................................55
Everlasting Light ....................................................................................................76
The Day of Wrath ...................................................................................................81
He Shall Be Justified in Everlasting Memory ........................................................91

3. FORGING A NEW LINCOLN: POLITICS AND IDENTITY DURING THE
INTERWAR PERIOD AND WORLD WAR II ..............................................................104
Factum historicum ...............................................................................................106
Culture after the Great War .................................................................................108
National Genres ...................................................................................................112
Lincoln and the Immigrant...................................................................................119
Walt Whitman as Lincoln Lyricist .......................................................................142
The Cycle of History ............................................................................................146

4. MUSIC OF LINCOLN AND CIVIL RIGHTS, FROM EMANCIPATION
TO BARACK OBAMA
Act I: Creating a Lincoln Civil Rights Ritual: Easter Sunday 1939 ....................149
Interlude I: The Spirituality of Lincoln Memorialization ....................................153
Act II: Performing the Lincoln Civil Rights Ritual ..............................................159
Interlude II: The Emancipation Narrative since 1865 .........................................169
Act III: Challenging Ritual, Avoiding Lincoln for the U.S. Bicentennial ............176
Interlude III: Remembering Abraham, Martin, and John ....................................182
Act IV: Retaining the Ritual in the “Present Age” ..............................................184
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5. THE OUTSIDER AND PROTAGONIST OF THE LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL .......189
Part I: Changing the Protagonist in Late-twentieth-century Lincoln Compositions........195
Mary Lincoln ........................................................................................................199
John Wilkes Booth................................................................................................204
A Gay Lincoln ......................................................................................................218
Part II: Composing New Lincolns for the 2009 Bicentennial..........................................226
Moving from Slave Emancipation to Racial Progress .........................................229
Moving from Civil Rights to Gay Rights ..............................................................233
Moving from Civic Leader to Spiritual Champion ..............................................234
Returning to the Working Man ............................................................................237

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................244

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY .................................................................................247

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