Ira D. Sankey

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Ira David Sankey

Ira David Sankey (born August 28, 1840 in Edinburgh , Pennsylvania , † August 13, 1908 in Brooklyn , New York , NY ) was an American singer and musical director at evangelism events at the side of the evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody and one of the most famous Composer of the revival song .

Life

Raised in a Methodist home in Pennsylvania, Ira D. Sankey had a conversion experience in 1856 at the age of 16 and held musical leadership positions in the congregation as superintendent of the Sunday School and as choir director . Musically he was self-taught , whereby his origins from a very musical family benefited him.

As a young man, Sankey served in the American Civil War as a soldier on the side of the Constitutional Union party ; H. of the northern states. After the war, he joined the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as his father's assistant , an agency established by the US government that collected special taxes to make up for the post-war financial deficit.

In September 1863 Sankey married Fanny V. Edwards, one of his singers. The marriage produced three boys.

In New Castle , Sankey became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church . He fought hard for the introduction of musical instruments into church services and achieved the installation of the first organ in his parish.

Sankey met Dwight Lyman Moody in 1871 . During a YMCA conference in Indianapolis , a Presbyterian minister asked Sankey present to lead the public chanting. The talented singer started the song There is a Fountain Filled With Blood , and he managed to get the young people excited to sing. At the end of the service, Moody came across Sankey. When asked, Sankey told him that he was married and a government employee and had two children. The evangelist urged him to give up his job and help him with his events. The next day, Sankey received a card asking him to meet Moody at six o'clock on a specific street corner. Sankey decided to answer the call. At Moody's request, Sankey stood on a box to sing. Workers walking home from the factories stopped to listen. After Sankey had sung his song, Moody addressed a few words to the audience, who then, accompanied by Sankey's singing, marched into the opera where Moody held his evangelism.

This was the beginning of a long collaboration that lasted until shortly before Moody's death in 1899. Evangelism campaigns took the two to English-speaking Europe. Sankey often sang his own songs in the newly emerging style of the revival song . Due to the frequent events, this repertoire achieved a wide distribution and also became known in Europe . Sankey worked closely with Fanny Crosby .

In the last few years of his life, Sankey went blind.

plant

Sankey composed about 1200 revival songs, which he published in a number of collections with exceptional success. His first songbook was published in England in 1873 with the title Sacred Songs and Solos . From 1875 to 1891 he published six volumes of Gospel Hymns , partly in collaboration with Philip Paul Bliss (1838–1876) . They have been translated into several languages; reportedly more than 90 million copies were sold.

Sankey's songs include:

Sankey's songs in the style of the awakening song are usually in 4/4 or 6/8 time , then often with an eighth upbeat . Dots alternate with non-dotted sections. Most of the songs are in major and only assume the basic chords; Chord changes are rare. Sometimes there are passages in minor. The melody is based on pentatonic and triad breaks. It is vocal and hardly uses long jumps. Chromatic alternating notes, mostly in dotted rhythm, are often found. The melody is often composed in sequencing and increments (often as second chains) from parallel pairs of antecedent with modulation and subsequent clause with back modulation. The rhythm in the corresponding sections is usually the same or designed as an increase. Most of Sankey's songs end with a chorus.

The story of the origin of the song ninety-nine of the sheep is known . Sankey had cut out a poem about the Good Shepherd from a newspaper and placed it in his music notebook. At an evangelism in Edinburgh, Pennsylvania , Moody spoke about the Good Shepherd and asked Sankey to sing a suitable solo. He didn't have one, but he remembered the newspaper section. After a quick prayer , he sang the famous melody off the cuff. A sigh went through the gathering and Moody was moved to tears.

In Germany, Sankeys songs a. a. known through the translations by Ernst Gebhardt . Even Franz Eugen Schlachter brought some Sankeys songs from his trip to England in 1884 with.

In addition to the compositions and song editions, the model of the traveling preacher / music director couple prescribed by Sankey and Moody was decisive . Famous couples of the following years were Reuben Archer Torrey and Charles Alexander , Billy Sunday and Homer Rhodeheaver and Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows .

Sankey was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame by the Gospel Music Association from 1979 to 1980.

Fonts

  • Ira D. Sankey: My Life and the Sory of the Gospel Hymns , Reprinted from the 1907 edition, Fredinia Books, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Sacred Songs and Solos , first edition, 1873, Sacred Songs and Solos, With Standard Hymnes, combined. Morgan and Scott, London ca.1890
  • Gospel Hymns (Parts 1 to 6)
  • Walter Rauschenbusch, Ira D. Sankey: Evangeliums-Lieder , 1 und 2 (gospel hymns), New York: Published by the Biglow & Main Company and the Johns ...

literature

  • Betty Steele Everett: Ira Sankey: First Gospel Singer , Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington PA 1999
  • Elias Nason: The American Evangelists, Dwight L. Moody, and Ira D. Sankey. With An Account Of Their Work In England And America . Kessinger Publishing, 2007.
  • Novella P. Jordan: Makers of Music , Baptist Sunday School 1982.
  • Charles Ludwig: Sankey Still Sings . Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1947.
  • Sankey's Story of His Own Life in Christian Biography Resource
  • Karl Heinz Voigt:  Sankey, Ira David. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1330-1336.
  • Karl-Hermann Kauffmann: Ira D. Sankey, the singer DL Moody and the Holiness movement . Self-published by the Free Brethren Congregation, Albstadt 2009; Crumbs-Verlag, Albstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-037593-4 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sankey, Ira D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sankey, Ira David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Singer and musical director at evangelism events, composer of spiritual songs in the White Gospel style
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH near Edinburgh , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1908
Place of death Brooklyn , New York , NY