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Book Review
Issachar Bates: A Shaker's Journey
ISBN-10: 0810859599
by Carol Medlicott
University Press of New England
Hanover, New Hampshire
2013, xxii, 424 pages
This is a compelling book about the life of one of the most important early Shaker religious leaders and musicians.
Issachar Bates was born in 1758 in Hingham, Massachusetts. He later served as a young fifer during the American Revolution. In 1778 he married Lovina Maynard of "Garry" (or Gerry) Massachusetts near Athol. Afterwards he and his wife settled in New York State where he and his wife together had eleven children, two of them died very early and the rest survived and seven of them joined the Shakers with Issachar and Lovina Bates. From the time of that Issachar joined the Shakers in 1801 until his death in 1837, he was a very dynamic and colorful religious leader. Beginning in 1805, he traveled with two other Shaker brothers to the West as it was known at that time and eventually Shaker communities were established in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
Medlicott tells of his "journey" with a wealth of never before available information on his life and especially his travels to different Shaker communities. Yet, and this is an unfornate major flaw, the author doesn't adequately cover the musical side of this early Shaker folk composer. The addition of many unpublished tunes by him and his children in Appendix 2 is worthwhile but still doesn't do justice to the music he was best known for composing, including his best known song, "Come Life, Shaker Life" - the only tune by him still sung by the current Shakers in Maine.
Bates was the most influential early Shaker musician and composer. Then why not devote more space to this fact?
Medlicott, for example, makes reference to the important early ballad hymn, "Rights of Conscience." She writes: "It is a hymn in which Issachar clarifies his continued patriotism, and he probably used it to appeal to the many patriotis and veterans in his crowds of listeners." Yet, she doesn't include any of the fifteen stanzas of text, which makes reference to his years serving under General George Washington and doesn't make reference in a footnote that both the complete text and slightly different tunes are available in two books: The Shaker Spiritual by Daniel W. Patterson, and my book, "Come Life, Shaker Life" - The Life and Music of Elder Issachar Bates. Medlicott also doesn't mention that this hymn melody was actually inspired by a popular patriotic tune from Washington's time that Issachar knew titled, "The President's March" (published about 1793).There are several other important hymns that are mentioned by Medlicott that are not fully credited or assumptions made on questionable evidence.
One of these hymns is "Ode to Contentment." Medlicott writes that "the text seems to be an expression of his own emotional state" (page 244). Well, that doesn't agree with several Shaker manuscripts that give credit for the text to another prominjent Shaker elder, Richard W. Pelham at North Union, Ohio.
In her footnote for this hymn, she discredits all these Shaker manuscripts as inaccurate and instead relies on one from South Union, Kentucky from 1833 as the only reliable source. She ends by writing that "there is in fact no evidence, apart from attributions in some manuscripts versions of the song that the two men ever collaborated." What she fails to comprehend is there are many Shaker spirituals written by a member who has never met another member in person. But in this case I recall reading in a manuscript that Richard Pelham had written the text for "Ode to Contentment" as a way to comfort Issachar Bates who was ill at the time in 1835. Also, this hymn text is credited as originating at "North Union, Ohio" in the 1847 printed hymnal. Medlicott apparently does not believe what the Shakers themselves believed! That leaves open the question of accademic chavinism. This three part hymn has been recorded several times and they are not mentioned in a footnote. For more about "Ode to Contentment," see this link.Another hymn which Medlicott calls "the best explanation of the Shaker perspective on the Christmas story" (page 226), co-written with another important Shaker hymnwriter, Richard McNemar, is not mentioned by title. Yet, it has been recorded and is titled, "Hail the Memorable Morn." It was recorded by The Sampler Chorus on the CD, Joy of Angels - Shaker Spirituals for Christmas and The New Year. There is no mention of this CD, or another one with four titles by Bates: Gentle Words - A Shaker Music Sampler.
Also, Medlicott doesn't mention other important music by Bates, such as his anthem, "Mount Zion," also included in the same two books. This was the only title by Bates included in the first Shaker hymnal printed with music, A Sacred Repository of Anthems and Hymns, compiled by Elder Henry C. Blinn, Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1852. Another omission is the hymn that Bates composed for his own funeral and with several different tunes. No mention is made that this funeral hymn titled, "A Prayer to the Savior," was included in another important printed Shaker hymnal with words only, A Collection of Millennial Hymns, Canterbury, New Hampshiore, 1847.
Thus, Bates composed some of the most revered Shaker pieces of his time.
Medlicott also fails to classify the music properly, calling them all "songs." That is surprising when books by Edward Deming Andrews, Harold C. Cook, Daniel W. Patterson and myself, have taken the trouble to classify Shaker music into various categories, essentially these three broad types: songs, hymns and anthems. Calling them all "songs" merely does injustice to the actaul Shaker music which does exhibit different forms. Like other disciplines, it is necessary and helpful to classify various kinds of music. Sadly, this has not been done by many authors of Shaker history who continually do injustice to the music. For a more detailed discussion go to The Simple Gifts of Shaker Music.
I was told by the author that the publisher didn't allow any recordings in this book. Then why is the Boston Camerata CD mentioned (page ) for the best known dance song by Bates, "Come Life, Shaker Life"? It seems that an unfair emphasis was placed on a best-selling CD and the others that have more music by Bates were ignored. This is an unfortunate occurence among many accademic books mentioning Shaker music. That also applies to the lack of mentioning online links.
Even with these major omissions concerning the music, this remains a valuable book for it provides a rare telling of the life of a major Shaker church leader and musician.
Just keep in mind that his music is of far more impotance than is indicated in this detailed, well researched "journey" of his life.
-- Roger Lee Hall, August 2013
For additional material about Shaker music, see
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Shaker Music History
Shaker CDs and DVDs
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