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Give Good Gifts
Mt. Lebanon Shaker Society
A joyful Shaker hymn of giving and thanksgiving.
SATB soli, SATB a cappella
With its uplifting themes of sharing and community, this piece grows in confidence with antiphonal singing between a quartet and full chorus. The score contains source information, historical context, editorial notes, and performance suggestions.
Composer’s Notes
To avoid religious persecution, the Society of Believers, more commonly known as the Shakers, began immigrating to America from England as early as 1774. Frederick William Evans (1808-93), reformer, editor, and Shaker elder, was born in Leominster, England. Having been influenced by the Owenites and a group of freethinkers and reformers in England, he sailed to the United States in 1820 where with his brother he edited several publications devoted to radical reform. After visiting a Shaker community in Lebanon, NY, he became a member and spent 57 of his last 63 years with the community as an elder. A born leader and natural orator, he became one of the nation’s most influential Shaker leaders and published much on this topic, including the collection Shaker Music: Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers.
Hymns in this collection are attributed only to particular Shaker communities—Mt. Lebanon and Canaan, New York; Enfield, Connecticut; Alfred, Maine; etc.
Text
Give good gifts one to another,
Peace, joy and comfort gladly bestow;
Harbor no ill ‘gainst sister or brother,
Smooth life’s journey as you onward go.
Broad as the sunshine, free as the showers,
So shed an influence, blessing to prove;
Give for the noblest of efforts your pow’rs;
Blest and be blest, is the law of love.
-Mt. Lebanon Shaker Society
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