Emncipation Hymn (Salem, MA 1863)
Manuel Fenollosa (1822-1878)
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Emancipation Hymn - modern pdf
Lyrics
Long our land in blood had weltered
Blood of dearest sons;
Long had Hero Spirits faltered,
Not at booming guns:
Long our pray'r to Heav'n ascended
Fraught with bondmen's groans;
Long with victory's cheers had blended Fettered
manhood's moans!
CHORUS:
God hath heard us,
God hath heard us,
and in mercy
Gives us bread for stones
This song was originally posted on protestsonglyrics.net
Asking for a Land, for a Land united,
We forgot the slave, for our Country blighted,
For our falling brave, Left the bondman,
chas'd by blood hounds, Scented thro' the cane,
God was with that panting brother;
Pray'd we thus in vain!
Manuel Fenollosa biography
Manuel Emilio Fenollosa was a Spanish and American-born reformer and music teacher living in Salem during the 19th century. “As a child, Fenollosa's home in Salem was bilingual. His house on Chestnut Street was filled with music and with the sounds of talk.Along with the clipped twanging speech of his mother and his playmates the young boy listened to the voluble Spanish of his father and [cousins] the Emilios” [D. Colón]. Fenollosa was active in anti-slavery circles and contributed poetry and song texts that supported the cause of emancipation. “Emancipation Hymn,” written in 1863, uses elevated, biblical language and a solemn tone to frame emancipation as both a moral duty and an inevitable act of justice.