He was
known by the musical composer who added the notes, but there’s not any more
known about a poet named Noah White than that one fact. Noah’s poetry was so
compelling in “Paradise Valley” that one can imagine Virgil Stamps was pretty
eager to add the music and make a memorable keepsake for themselves and future
generations. Perhaps its most striking feature is the imagery the poem paints. (Maybe
you might get a mental image something like this 1620 creation by Jan Bruegel,
shown here.) Did that spur Stamps’ musical imagination, as he paired notes with
the words that Noah provided? The paradise that was on Noah’s mind had beautiful,
growing, and fragrant details that quickened his pace. Virgil Stamps has us
practically skipping with exuberance in the accompanying music. See if you don’t
feel upbeat and eager to find this place that Noah and Virgil describe!
Since no details
of Noah White are known, we can surmise that “Paradise Valley” may have been one
of a very few works – perhaps the only one – attributed to him. Published with
words and music in 1935, Noah White’s and Virgil Stamps’ creation is a winner, perhaps
the only one on which they collaborated. The association of what might otherwise
have been a forgotten poem by Noah White with Virgil Stamps’ music was fortuitous,
making its preservation more likely. Stamps had formed a music company in the
1920s and was soon joined by J.R. Baxter, Jr., creating one of the most
well-known and successful hymn-publishing enterprises. Stamps-Baxter was
well-established by the mid-1930s, when the author of “Paradise Valley” and
Virgil Stamps must have decided to team up and conceive this buoyant picture of
eternity. Noah wanted to ‘give cheer’ (v.1) to those who were downbeat about
life, and he spends the following two verses describing what most of us
probably think of when we imagine paradise – a garden, perhaps not unlike the original
Eden. Beautiful fruit trees, flowers, a bubbling brook, all signs of life in a
most bucolic and satisfying place that God wants us to inherit. It may sound restful,
but Noah and Virgil were anything but content with a leisurely pace in their
paradise. They want to bounce toward their destination, perhaps doing cartwheels!
Get the picture?
Perhaps
Noah and Virgil were reading the front and back ends of their bibles (Genesis
and Revelation), where trees, rivers, and fruit are present to remind us of Him
who creates. Is being in His presence, even if it’s in a place designed for
eternal rest, made just for relaxation? It seems that the creative pair of
White and Stamps looked at each other and answered ‘No!’ After all, it’s a ‘river
of life’ in the paradise valley that these two thought provided nourishment for
its inhabitants; this river and the valley through which it runs don’t put them
to sleep, but rather stimulate their senses. Try singing what Noah and Virgil
thought about paradise and see if you feel the same.
See here
for biography of the musical composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/t/a/stamps_vo.htm
See information
here regarding the music company of the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company
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