There was a moment a few years back which, for your-author-here-present, was truely stunning; a moment that brought back all the goodness of those years I had spent at Belleville High. We were at an event at BHS while my youngest daughter was still a student there. The auditorium was filled. There were BHS alumni in the audience from every living generation. During the course of the evening, two delightful elderly ladies were introduced to us from the Class of 1927. Also present were grandparents from the WWII era, parents from the '50s and '60s, alumni from the '70s and '80s as well as the current students; the Class of '99. An occasion arose on the evening's program for the singing of The Alma Mater. At once, the auditorium filled with singing voices, everyone knew it ! A large number of those present were former graduates of Belleville High. What an incredible bonding of the generations it was. All of us, from over all of those years had one thing in common, the Belleville High School Alma Mater. I don't think I was ever quite so proud of being a BHS alumni as I was on that night. I was pleased to have remembered the words. All those times we had sung it at pep rallies and other occasions at assemblies had not been wasted on me.
The melody is old. In its earliest form, it is a melancholy folk-ballad called Annie Lisle composed by Henry S. Thompson in 1857. Sung mostly at minstrel shows, it achieved little fame on its own, however, it was lifted to immortality when it was fashioned into the Alma Mater of two major universities. First, circa 1872, with new lyrics written by students, it became the Alma Mater of Cornell University where it is known as "Far Above Cayuga's Waters". Then, in 1904, it was adopted as the Alma Mater by the nations oldest public institution of higher learning, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Belleville High School adopted the song, with our own lyrics, as our Alma Mater in 1927. It was a good choice. It places us alongside these other great institutions. Our own village is actually older than the ancient and venerable College of William and Mary, whose alumni includes founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Though all three versions are "almost" identical, there are slight differences among them. On close inspection of the phrase structure of the lyrics of our song, it is probable that we based our lyrics on Cornell's version.
Our lyrics -
Nestled in the folds of Jersey
In a quiet vale
Stands our noble Alma Mater
Belleville High all hail
Lift the chorus
Sing her praises
Over hill and dale
Hail to thee our Alma Mater
Belleville High all hail
-
The melody is old. In its earliest form, it is a melancholy folk-ballad called Annie Lisle composed by Henry S. Thompson in 1857. Sung mostly at minstrel shows, it achieved little fame on its own, however, it was lifted to immortality when it was fashioned into the Alma Mater of two major universities. First, circa 1872, with new lyrics written by students, it became the Alma Mater of Cornell University where it is known as "Far Above Cayuga's Waters". Then, in 1904, it was adopted as the Alma Mater by the nations oldest public institution of higher learning, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Belleville High School adopted the song, with our own lyrics, as our Alma Mater in 1927. It was a good choice. It places us alongside these other great institutions. Our own village is actually older than the ancient and venerable College of William and Mary, whose alumni includes founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Though all three versions are "almost" identical, there are slight differences among them. On close inspection of the phrase structure of the lyrics of our song, it is probable that we based our lyrics on Cornell's version.
Our lyrics -
Nestled in the folds of Jersey
In a quiet vale
Stands our noble Alma Mater
Belleville High all hail
Lift the chorus
Sing her praises
Over hill and dale
Hail to thee our Alma Mater
Belleville High all hail
-
Here is the Cornell version -
Here is the William and Mary version -
.
Here is the sheet music for our version -
Click on image to enlarge.
We have lots of time to practice so we can belt out a good, blood-rushing rendition of the old Alma Mater at our reunion ! It has been a long time since we sang it together, it will be fun.
