"The Volunteer Organist" is a

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

written by William B. Gray and

George Spaulding George L. Spaulding (December 26, 1864 – June 1, 1921) was an American composer, songwriter, and a successful publisher of music. He also composed operettas for children, and easy piano pieces and technical books for elementary level students. ...

. It was initially published under the pseudonyms W. B. Glenroy and Henry Lamb.

Content

The song tells the story of a Sunday

church service A church service (or a worship service) is a formalized period of Christian communal Christian worship, worship, often held in a Church (building), church building. Most Christian denominations hold church services on the Lord's Day (offering Su ...

. The preacher informs the congregation that their usual organist is ill, and asks for a volunteer to play. A ragged-looking man staggers to the organ. The congregation assumes he is drunk, but he plays a beautiful melody that is more moving than the preacher's sermon. When he finishes, the organist gets up and leaves, while the congregation sits in amazed silence until the preacher asks them to pray. The song's refrain uses a musical passage from an older hymn, the

Old Hundredth "Old Hundredth" (also known as "Old Hundred") is a hymn tune in long metre, from the second edition of the Genevan Psalter. It is one of the best known melodies in many occidental Christian musical traditions. The tune is usually attributed to ...

, contrasted with more modern elements typical of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

songs.

History

Gray's lyrics are based on an earlier folk tale. Poet Sam Walter Foss had published his own version of the story in 1889 in the ''Yankee Blade'', a magazine he edited. The Foss poem was reprinted in a number of newspapers and in his book ''Back Country Poems'', which was published in 1892. Gray wrote the lyrics in 1892. Spaulding added the music, and it was first published in 1893. The song was very popular, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in its first decade.

Adaptations

The song had variety of adaptations in other media. Gray used the story as the basis of a play in 1901. The play was first presented in Middletown, New York in April 1901, then toured North America. The expanded version of the story is set it in a village in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. It focuses on the evils of

drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...

and is generally associated with the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

. Gray then used the script from the play as the basis for a novel, which was published by J. S. Ogilvie in 1902. A

silent movie ''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical silent comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in summer 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and S ...

adaptation was released in 1913.

References

External links

Images of the sheet music
from the Levy Sheet Music Collection at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

* – e-book of the novel {{DEFAULTSORT:Volunteer Organist, The Songs about musicians 1893 songs American songs Christian songs Folk ballads