We’re wrapping up our school reading of Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha this week, so I took a quick look at Wikipedia to see what I could learn. I was surprised to find how many pieces of music have been inspired by the 1855 poem, starting almost as soon as it was published. Here are the pieces mentioned on WIkipedia with Youtube videos when I could find them, in case you want to check any of them out.
“The Death of Minnehaha” by Charles Crozat Converse (c. 1856)
Hiawatha (cantata) by Emile Karst (1858)
Hiawatha: An Indian Symphony (a work in 14 movements) by Robert Stoepel (1859)
5-part instrumental symphony by Ellsworth Phelps (1878)
Hiawatha’s Childhood (operetta) by Bessie Marshall Whiteley
“The Farewell of Hiawatha” (Op.11) by Arthur Foote (1886)
Hiawatha (tone poem) by Frederick Delius (1888)
Symphony No. 9 From the New World by Antonín Dvořák (1893) (He called the second movement a “sketch or study for a later work, either a cantata or opera… which will be based upon Longfellow’s Hiawatha“.)
4-part symphonic suite by Louis Coerne (1893)
Hiawatha Overture by Rubin Goldmark (1896)
Hiawatha (cantata) by Frederick Russell Burton (1897)
The Song of Hiawatha (cantata trilogy) by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1898–1900)
“Minnehaha” and “Hiawatha” (symphonic poems) by Hugo Kaun (1901)
Four Songs of Hiawatha’s Childhood by Hope Squire
“Hiawatha’s Melody of Love” by George W. Meyer with words by Alfred Bryan and Artie Mehlinger (1920)
“Hiawatha, 12 Scenes” (for first-grade solo piano) by Stanley Wilson (1928)
“Hiawatha’s Lullaby” by Al Bowlly (1933)
“Hiawatha” and “Minnehaha” in The Beautiful Indians (jazz suite) by Duke Ellington (1946–7)
“Hiawatha’s Vision“ in Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965)
“Wig-Wam Bam” by The Sweet, written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn (1972)
“The Song of Hiawatha” on Incantations album by Mike Oldfield (1978)
“Hiawatha” in Strange Angels album by Laurie Anderson (1989)
“Hiawatha” (composition for strings) by Soon Hee Newbold (2003)
The Death of Minnehaha Mary Montgomery Koppel (2013)
Phew! That was a lot. I hope you enjoyed this round-up of Hiawatha-inspired music.