O the Beautiful Treasure
A Shaker song headed "Valuable Riches" in Mary Hazzard's songbook (about 1849), signed "Holy Ground", for 2 to 4 singers: the beautiful treasure laid up for the wise, far brighter than diamonds. The soprano sings the minor-key tune, the alto and tenor sing the words close beneath it, and the bass holds the roots on "oo"; each strain is sung twice, as the book marks it.
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The first verse
Words: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, about 1849)Tune: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, about 1849)
O the beautiful treasure laid up for the wise,How precious the value, how glorious the prize.
About O the Beautiful Treasure
O the Beautiful Treasure is a Shaker song of the treasure "laid up for the wise", "Far brighter than diamonds on Princes' brow, And richer than royalty can bestow." It survives in Mary Hazzard's manuscript songbook, begun in 1847, where it is headed "Valuable Riches" and signed "Holy Ground", with no giver or date; two pages on comes "Elder Joseph Brackett's Song March 1849". Our tune and words are read from her page, written in the Shakers' notation of letters, a fourth lower, in E minor, with every pitch as written except the octave of the last two notes, on "bestow", which is our choice, and the four parts are our own. This is both strains, each sung twice as the book marks it, for 2 to 4 singers. Courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.
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