Series I: Notated Music

id
1898099
level (num)
1
level (text)
series
identifier (local_mss)
3670587
max depth
3
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created
2026-06-24 16:27:36 UTC
updated
2026-06-24 16:27:55 UTC

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"3670587", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1940s-2014", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1940/2014"}
unittitle
{"value"=>"Series I: Notated Music"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"71 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"18.42 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>Series I contains all notated music in the collection, spanning DeCormier's career. There are hundreds of his arrangements of songs for assorted artists, recording projects, concert series, and tours. Most arrangements are of traditional folk songs from around the world, popular music, holiday music, or religious music. DeCormier arranged, edited, or composed nearly all music in the series. Dating from the 1940s to 2014, it holds sheet music, scores, and parts, much of it handwritten by DeCormier.</p> <p>The vast majority of music is for one or more voices with assorted instrumental accompaniment, usually piano, orchestra, chamber, or band. Each song is represented by some combination of handwritten notation, mostly in the form of a piano/vocal score or full score; printed notation; and photocopied notation. Many songs contain only handwritten scores. Sketches occasionally accompany arrangements. Most arrangements are undated.</p> <p>While some songs are ordered together by larger project, such as album or artist, many are listed simply by title without connection to specific projects. These songs were likely used for one or more of DeCormier's projects but are not indicated as such in the collection.</p> <p>There are more than one hundred arrangements in the series of songs performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary. These consist of DeCormier's handwritten scores of well-known songs such as \"America the Beautiful,\" \"Auld Lang Syne,\" \"Blowin' in the Wind,\" \"Kum Ba-Ya,\" \"The Midnight Special,\" \"Pastures of Plenty,\" \"Puff the Magic Dragon,\" \"River of Jordan,\" \"September Song,\" \"This Land Is Your Land,\" \"Turn, Turn, Turn,\" Wayfaring Stranger,\" and \"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?\" Fewer arrangements are present for Harry Belafonte and The Belafonte Folk Singers, mainly spirituals and popular songs. A separate selection of songs composed or adapted by Pete Seeger exists as well.</p> <p>The series contains forty arrangements listed under \"Folk Songs.\" These include American, Irish, Scottish, Balkan, South African, Argentinian, and Canadian songs. Elsewhere, the series holds numerous arrangements of Yiddish folk music, under both \"Yiddish Songs\" and <span class=\"title\">Juliana Yaffé Sings Yiddish Folk Songs</span> (a concert and educational series with all songs arranged by DeCormier). Also present are arrangements of Christmas and holiday songs for different projects, and DeCormier's similarly titled suites of Christmas music: <span class=\"title\">5 Spirituals</span>, <span class=\"title\">Shout for Joy: A Suite of Christmas Spirituals</span>, <span class=\"title\">Spiritual Suite</span>, <span class=\"title\">Spirituals</span>, and <span class=\"title\">A Suite of Christmas Spirituals</span>.</p> <p>There are full scores, parts, and research files for <span class=\"title\">The Jolly Beggars</span> and <span class=\"title\">The Terezin Project</span>. The latter features DeCormier's extensive notation of the project's two operas, Hans Krása's <span class=\"title\">Brundibár</span> and Viktor Ullman's <span class=\"title\">Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung</span>.</p> <p>Also of interest are arrangements of folk and popular songs for specific albums by the Robert DeCormier Singers and Counterpoint, such as <span class=\"title\">Bobby Burns: Music Celebrating the Poetry of Robert Burns</span>; <span class=\"title\">Heritage (American Ballads and Songs 1750-1840)</span>; <span class=\"title\">The Man on the Flying Trapeze: A Celebration of an Era</span>; <span class=\"title\">Oh! You Beautiful Doll: A Celebration of Tin Pan Alley from the First Two Decades of the 20th Century</span>; and <span class=\"title\">Shalom: Folk Songs and Dances of a Young Nation</span>.</p>"}
arrangement
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged alphabetically by song title, artist, composer, musical genre, or project (such as albums). This maintains the collection's original arrangement. Because some songs are ordered together by larger categorizations while others are listed independently of such categories, repetition exists throughout the series, as the same songs were sometimes conceived by DeCormier for different purposes at different times. Several of these titles, specifically those in languages other than English, are inconsistently spelled.</p>"}
date_start
1940
keydate
1940
date_end
2014
date_inclusive_start
1940
date_inclusive_end
2014
extent_statement
18.42 linear feet (71 boxes)

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  1. 5 Spirituals
  2. "African Drinking Song"
  3. "Ah! si mon moine voulait danser"
  4. Alice in Slumberland
  5. "All My Trials Soon Be Over"
  6. "Amen"
  7. "Are-Tsa-Alino"
  8. "Au clair de la lune"
  9. "Balm in Gilead"
  10. "The Band Played On"
  11. Bantu Folk Songs
  12. Harry Belafonte/The Belafonte Folk Singers [16/1]
  13. "The Bells of Rhymney"
  14. "The Big Rock Candy Mountain"
  15. "The Biggest Thing that Man Has Ever Done (The Great Historical Bum)"
  16. "The Black Fly"
  17. Black New World
  18. "Blowin' in the Wind"
  19. "Blue Tail Fly"
  20. Bobby Burns: Music Celebrating the Poetry of Robert Burns [4/1]
  21. "Buffalo Boy"
  22. "Camptown Races"
  23. Charlton Heston Reads the Five Books of Moses from the Holy Bible
  24. "Cherry Orchard"
  25. "Chickens"
  26. "Choucoune"
  27. Christmas [62/2]
  28. "Cielito Lindo"
  29. "Clear the Track"
  30. "Come a Landsman, a Pinsman"
  31. "Common Bill"
  32. "Colorado Trail"
  33. "Consider Yourself"
  34. "Cotton Fields"
  35. "Cu Cu"
  36. "Daisy Bell"
  37. "Dance, Boatman, Dance"
  38. Netania Davrath
  39. "Deep River"
  40. "Deportee"
  41. "Der Rebbi Alimelech"
  42. "Didn't It Rain"
  43. "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel"
  44. "Die Gedanken sind frei"
  45. "Dolina"
  46. "Done Laid Around"
  47. "Dry Weather Houses"
  48. "Early Morning Rain" / "I'd Rather Be in Love"
  49. "The Eddystone Light"
  50. "Eighteen Hammers"
  51. "Empty Pocket Blues"
  52. "England Swings"
  53. "Eres Alta"
  54. "The Erie Canal"
  55. "Every Night When the Sun Goes Down"
  56. "Everything Is Music"
  57. "Ev'rytime I Feel the Spirit"
  58. "The Farmer Is the Man"
  59. "Father William"
  60. "Feuilles-O"
  61. Five Original Copies for Chorus
  62. Folk Songs [41/1]
  63. "Fortunato"
  64. Stephen Foster
  65. Four Sonnets to Orpheus
  66. Donald Fraser [2/1]
  67. "Free My Lord, Free at Las'"
  68. French Medley
  69. "French Partisan Song"
  70. "A Friend Like You"
  71. "Gentle Annie"
  72. "Go Gently from Me Lover"
  73. "Go Tell Aunt Rhody"
  74. "God's Trombones (Background)"
  75. "Goober Peas"
  76. "Good Morning" / "Sing a New Song"
  77. "Gospel Train"
  78. "Great Grandad"
  79. "Greensleeves"
  80. "Ha, Ha, Ha, We Would Make Quite a Pair"
  81. "Hair"
  82. "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"
  83. Hannukah [4/1]
  84. "Hava Nagila"
  85. "He Ne Ma Tov"
  86. Heritage (American Ballads and Songs 1750-1840)
  87. "Home Sweet Home"
  88. "Honor"
  89. "Hoof Prints"
  90. "Hoosen Johnny"
  91. "Horse Named Bill"
  92. "Hosanna"
  93. Hutchinson Family Singers
  94. "If You Ever See a Whale"
  95. "Igra Kolo"
  96. "I'm on My Way"
  97. "In that Great Gettin' Up Mornin'"
  98. "Inch Worm"
  99. "Irene"
  100. "I'se the B'y"
  101. "It Ain't Necessarily So"
  102. "It's Raining"
  103. Japanese Music Book Arrangements
  104. "Jesse James"
  105. "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well"
  106. "The John B. Sails"
  107. "John Henry"
  108. The Jolly Beggars [6/1]
  109. Scott Joplin [4/1]
  110. Juliana Yaffé Sings Yiddish Folk Songs [37/1]
  111. "Kaleenka"
  112. "Katy Cruel"
  113. "The Keeper"
  114. "Kilgary Mountain"
  115. "Kisses Sweeter than Wine"
  116. "Kum Baya"
  117. "La Cucaracha"
  118. "La Truya"
  119. Legacy
  120. "Les raftsmen"
  121. "Let My People Go"
  122. "Linstead Market"
  123. "Little Big Horn"
  124. "Little Song"
  125. "Lou bailero"
  126. The Man on the Flying Trapeze: A Celebration of an Era [12/1]
  127. "March"
  128. "Mary's Boy Child"
  129. "May There Always Be Sunshine"
  130. "Mayim"
  131. "Mi caballo blanco"
  132. "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore"
  133. "Mill Work Song"
  134. "Missa Luba"
  135. Molière
  136. Mormon Tabernacle Choir
  137. "Movin' on Down the River"
  138. "Naughty Little Flea"
  139. "Never on Sunday"
  140. "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
  141. "Nothing Dying Dies Forever"
  142. "O Mistress Mine"
  143. "Obey the Spirit of the Lord"
  144. "Ode on Science"
  145. "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep"
  146. Oh! You Beautiful Doll: A Celebration of Tin Pan Alley from the First Two Decades of the 20th Century [5/1]
  147. "Ol' Dan Tucker"
  148. "The Old Chisholm Trail"
  149. "The Old Maid's Lament"
  150. "Old Riley"
  151. "Ole King Cole"
  152. "Optimism"
  153. "Perica"
  154. Peter, Paul, and Mary [101/2]
  155. "Plenty Good Room"
  156. "Polegnala Ye Tudora"
  157. "Pretty Saro"
  158. "Prison Talk Blues"
  159. The Rail Splitter
  160. "Rainbow"
  161. "Raise a Ruckus"
  162. Ariel Ramirez [3/1]
  163. "The Rattlin' Bog"
  164. Revolutionary Portrait: Songs of the American Revolution
  165. "The Riddle Song"
  166. "Riflemen of Bennington"
  167. Rock Candy Mountain: Revisited
  168. "The Rock Island Line"
  169. "Save the Country"
  170. Pete Seeger [31/1]
  171. "Set Down Servant"
  172. Shalom: Folk Songs and Dances of a Young Nation [7/1]
  173. "Shenandoah"
  174. "Shim'u Koli"
  175. "Should I Marry"
  176. Shout for Joy: A Suite of Christmas Spirituals
  177. "Si me quieres escribir"
  178. "Silent Night"
  179. "Simple Gifts"
  180. "A Simple Song"
  181. "Sing Everyone, Sing Me"
  182. "The Singing School"
  183. "Sinner Man"
  184. "Sippin' Cider"
  185. "Sixteen Tons"
  186. Sketches [5/1]
  187. Songs Children Sing: Italy
  188. Songs of Liberty and Lincoln and Liberty Too! [21/1]
  189. Spiritual Suite
  190. Spirituals
  191. Spirituals -- Individual Songs [9/1]
  192. "Stars Shinin' By and By"
  193. "State of the Heart"
  194. The Story of "O"
  195. "The Streets of Laredo"
  196. "Study"
  197. "Subo"
  198. A Suite of Christmas Spirituals
  199. "Sweet Betsy from Pike"
  200. The Swinging Soulful Sixties
  201. "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"
  202. "Take My Hand"
  203. "Take You Ridin' in My Car, Car"
  204. The Terezin Project [11/2]
  205. "There's a Hole in the Bucket"
  206. They Called Her Moses
  207. This Land Is Your Land: The Texas Boys Choir Sings Favorite Folk Songs
  208. "This Train"
  209. "Times Are Gettin' Hard"
  210. Tipperary Project
  211. "Try to Remember"
  212. "Turn Around"
  213. "Turn the World Around"
  214. Under a Greenwood Tree He Died
  215. "Viva la Quince Brigada"
  216. "Walk Right In"
  217. "The Wall"
  218. "Waltz in G"
  219. "Wanderin'"
  220. Diane Warner Commissions
  221. "Wata Come a Me Y'eye"
  222. "Wayfaring Stranger"
  223. "We Shall Overcome"
  224. "When I First Came to This Land"
  225. "When in Dreams"
  226. "Will Ye Go Lassie Go"
  227. "Yesterday/Hey Jude Medley"
  228. Yiddish Songs [32/1]