Every year during the last regular season home game, the "full" almamater is passed out and sung. Does anyone know a link online, or where I can get the "full" version of the almamater?
Far above Cayuga's waters,
With its waves of blue, Stands our noble Alma Mater,
Glorious to view. Lift the chorus, speed it onward
Loud her praises tell; Hail to thee, our Alma Mater!
Hail, all hail, Cornell!
Far above the busy humming
Of the bustling town, Reared against the arch of Heaven,
Looks she proudly down. Lift the chorus, speed it onward
Loud her praises tell; Hail to thee, our Alma Mater!
Hail, all hail, Cornell!
Sentry-like o'er lake and valley,
Towers her regal form, Watch and ward forever keeping,
Braving time and storm. So through clouds of doubt and darkness
Gleams her beacon light, Fault and error clear revealing,
Blazing forth the right.
To the glory of her founder
Rise her stately walls. May her sons pay equal tribute
Whene'er duty calls. When the moments, swiftly fleeting,
Ages roll between, Many yet unborn shall hail her:
Alma Mater, Queen!
In the music of the waters
As they glide along, In the murmur of the breezes
With their whispered song, In the tuneful chorus blending
With each pealing bell, One refrain seems oft repeated:
Hail, all hail, Cornell!
Here, by flood and foaming torrent,
Gorge and rocky dell, Pledge we faith and homage ever
To our loved Cornell. May time ne'er efface the memory
Of her natal day, And her name and fame be honored
Far and wide alway!
Try
http://classof69.alumni.cornell.edu/memfiles/almamater.html
I feel compelled to say this... The fifth and sixth verses really ought to be reversed. That's how I leanred it, early 90's. Yes, I've been told that that was a mistake in transcription and I have no source to refute that. But seriously, doesn't it make more sense to end with "Hail, all hail, Cornell" ?
[Q]HpyGlmore2-05 Wrote:
Every year during the last regular season home game, the "full" almamater is passed out and sung. Does anyone know a link online, or where I can get the "full" version of the almamater?[/q]
Rumor has it that Age could do all 6 verses from memory. ::twitch::
Ari, you better start studying.... :-P
Bah, I could do all six verses from memory the frist time I attended a season ending game...
[Q]KeithK Wrote:
I feel compelled to say this... The fifth and sixth verses really ought to be reversed. That's how I leanred it, early 90's. Yes, I've been told that that was a mistake in transcription and I have no source to refute that. But seriously, doesn't it make more sense to end with "Hail, all hail, Cornell" ?[/q]
Actually, having contemplated the verses at length on the flight back, I disagree. The sixth verse is much more powerful and a good one to end on. The fifth verse is sort of an interlude about music and all that, and the "Hail, all hail Cornell" brings us back to the main theme of our duty to go out into the world and sing the praises of our Alma Mater at every opportunity, which is hammered home by the sixth verse.
That, and the 5th verse sucks. No need on end on it.
Fair enough. But I disagree (and with Age too).
[Q]CowbellGuy Wrote:
That, and the 5th verse sucks. No need on end on it.[/q]
It lacks the call-to-arms quality of the 4th and 6th verses, but its referential value is appreciated. (In addition to recalling the refrain, its language is also suggestive of the lyrics to "Annie Lisle".) One might say it's a little out of place, but it sort of plays the role of a low-key third movement to a symphony, giving you a breather before the big finish.
One could almost imagine the fifth verse performed as a slow diminuendo to a sudden fortissimo on "Hail, all hail, Cornell!"
Excellent analysis, John, especially the link to Annie Lisle, that cheery song about an ill-fated consumptive. Musicologist approved!
[Q]Scersk '97 Wrote:
Excellent analysis, John, especially the link to Annie Lisle, that cheery song about an ill-fated consumptive. Musicologist approved![/q]
Only fitting, since Cornell had its own ill-fated consumptive.
BTW, I've been meaning to double-check the publication date of the Alma Mater, since I thought it pre-dated McGraw Tower and the Chimes, and yet the later verses seem to make reference to them...
[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:
Only fitting, since Cornell had its own ill-fated consumptive.[/q]
Am I missing something obvious?
[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:
BTW, I've been meaning to double-check the publication date of the Alma Mater, since I thought it pre-dated McGraw Tower and the Chimes, and yet the later verses seem to make reference to them...[/q]
http://www.elynah.com/?cheers#Alma
;)
The consumptive was Jennie McGraw, daughter of John McGraw, the Dryden lumber baron who donated the money for McGraw Hall. Jennie, a friend of Andrew Dickson White, donated the Chimes in 1868. She died of tuberculosis in 1880. Her death, however, came *after* the composition of the Alma Mater, lyrics by Weeks '72 and music (a well-known tune, "Annie Lisle") "by" Smith '74. (Really the lyrics were written by both. See question #5: http://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=743918400 ) I don't have a publication date in front of me, but we can assume that it was written during the time they were both at Cornell, or at least by the time Smith graduated. So:
1868 -- Chimes donated by Jennie McGraw
1870-74 -- Composition of Alma Mater
1880 -- Death of Jennie McGraw
1891 -- Chimes moved from McGraw Hall to McGraw Tower
Hence, the bells were there, but "the" Tower was not. The tower which sends out its "beacon" in the third verse is probably the tower of McGraw Hall. Notice, however, that the quote from Dear Uncle Ezra of Bishop's history says that Weeks and Smith composed a verse together and then Weeks composed two more verses. So, three verses. The current Alma, as we all know, has six. I'm thinking there might be an accretion of verses on Alma over time. We'd have to check published versions to see if more verses were added. To my mind, it's entirely possible that verses four through six were added after Jennie McGraw's death.
I'm too far from Cornell to go check it out, but I'm sure the music library has various published versions of the Alma Mater. Also, the red song book, "Songs of Cornell," may have a fuller history than Bishop's.
IIRC, the chimes came to Cornell pretty early - before McGraw Tower. I remember seing a picture of them in a temporary shelter on the Arts Quad that was only a story tall or so(while they were waiting for the tower to be built) - now THAT would have been a loud walk to class!
[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:
BTW, I've been meaning to double-check the publication date of the Alma Mater, since I thought it pre-dated McGraw Tower and the Chimes, and yet the later verses seem to make reference to them...[/q]
I'll look for the notes I took when I looked this up umpteen years ago, but if I recall correctly, the first two verses were the extent of the alma mater for quite a while, and the other verses were written later.
Edit: I just looked in Bishop's History and it's three. I also just turned on my reading comprehension on Scersk's post. Mea culpa. (But shouldn't you be writing?!)
[Q]Scersk '97 Wrote:
Also, the red song book, "Songs of Cornell," may have a fuller history than Bishop's.
[/q]
Songs has the abbreviated version of what's in Bishop, leaving out the bit about the next two verses. As an aside, my favorite passage from Bishop is farther down the page:
[q]
Of the Cadet Band's efforts at a public function [in 1872], the Ithaca Journal caustically reported: "At this time the Cadet Band played a few strains, but the principal strain was on the audience."
[/q]