After the War Is Over Will There Be Any "Home Sweet Home"
Live Version
Studio Version
Sheet Music
Student Essay
Music as Recorded History
What can we learn from studying music as a recorded history? Can it reveal how a populace reconciled opposing viewpoints during war? Sheet music and other forms of media document layers of knowledge dissemination beyond public opinion records in newspapers and journals, political rhetoric, or voting patterns. Lyrical and melodic themes in musical scores from 1914 to 1920 illuminate deep political fractures in modern American society during and after the Great War. A comparison of two popular period compositions, “After the War is Over” by Joseph Woodruff and “The Glory of Peace (Inter-National War Song)” by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley H. Frazier are useful case studies to trace the mass dissemination of war narratives that influenced American political opinions and public memory.
Related Resources
The Glory of Peace Inter-National War Song. 1919. Notated Music. https://www.loc.gov/item/2009371323/.
Woodruff, Joseph, E. J Pourmon, and Andrew B Sterling. After the War Is Over. New York: Joe Morris Music Co., 1918. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010054/.
Written by
Aidan Comerford is a third-year history major at the University of Virginia. His research interests include cultural memory and the philosophy of history.
Song Information
Recording Information
Performers
Crystal Golden, Soprano, is a Master's student in Vocal Performance at George Mason University. She won First-Place at several state and regional competitions, and has performed major operatic roles both at GMU and internationally (Amalfi, Italy). She has received numerous awards in academic achievement, has studied abroad at the University of Oxford, and is a member of both Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa.
Estrella Hong is currently a doctoral student in piano performance at George Mason University in the studio of Dr. Linda Monson. She is also a graduate teaching assistant in keyboard skills. She studied piano at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a young pianist. Additionally, she graduated with a Biochemistry degree at UCLA and assisted various research projects in Whitesides lab at Harvard University.
Live Version
Eli Stine is a composer, programmer, and educator. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Composition and Computer Technologies as a Jefferson Fellow at the University of Virginia. Stine's work explores electroacoustic sound, multimedia technologies (often custom-built software, video projection, and multi-channel speaker systems), and collaboration between disciplines (artistic and otherwise).
Studio Version
Song Transcription
[Verse 1]
Angels they are weeping o’er the foreign war,
Blood streams are flowing from the shore to shore
Brave heros falling to arise no more
Still the bugels calling every man to war.
[Verse 2]
Changed will be the picture of the foreign land,
Maps will change entirely to the different hands.
Kings and Queens may ever rule their fellow man
But pray they be united like our own free land.
[Chorus]
For I know after the war is over and the world’s at peace
Many a heart’ll be aching after the war has ceased,
Many a home will be vacant,
Many a child be alone.
But I hope they’ll all be happy
In a place called Home sweet Home.