"Jesus, the Light of the World"

This song is from the album An American Christmas, Carols, hymns and spirituals, 1770-1870 (Erato 5181459, 1993), performed by The Boston Camerata, at the time under the direction of Joel Cohen, who is now Artistic Director Emeritus. According to the album's notes, its source is "The Finest of the Wheat: Hymns New and Old for Missionary and Revival Meetings and Sabbath Schools (Chicago 1890) 'Geo. D. Elderkin, arr.'" The notes continue:

As the nineteenth century waned, the revival hymns, with their simple, keyboard-derived harmonies and rollicking refrains, displaced many a genuine folksong; but the best of them have an appeal of their own.

It's also noted that this song's "opening phrase ... bears an uncanny resemblance to the Going Home theme of Dvorak's New World Symphony, composed circa 1893." The author goes on to wonder if Dvorak had heard the song and "been reluctant to acknowledge his debt to such a lowbrow source." I had long believed that the source of the Going Home theme (Going Home is the title of a song Dvorak's student, William Arms Fisher, set to the theme) was a Black spiritual. That is given some credence in this Dvorak website under the heading "sources of inspiration" although it also quotes the composer as denying he "acually used" any melodies from Black or Indigenous American sources in his work. 

By the late nineteenth century the influence of African musical traditions on American folk and popular music was undeniable. I believe this influence can be heard in "Jesus the Light of the World," in its rhythmic pattern and scale. It's possible Dvorak heard it and got inspiration from it.

In any event I love the song, which invites us to "[c]ome where the dewdrops of mercy are bright,.. ."