Sheet Music: Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho

TitleJoshua Fought the Battle of Jericho
Alternate titlesJoshua Fit the Battle
ComposerTraditional American
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyE minor
RangeD#4–E5
Time signature2/2
Tempo66 BPM
Performance time1:00
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (55 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (479 kB)
Date added2021-06-23
Last updated2021-06-23
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.5 (below average)
Categories
Spirituals, Traditional/Folk

Performances

There are no recordings for this tune yet. Submit yours!

Wednesday 23 June 2021

Tune of the Day: Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho

Traditional African-American spiritual

The title and lyrics of this well-known African-American spiritual allude to the biblical story of the Battle of Jericho, in which Joshua led the Israelites against Canaan.

The song is believed to have been composed by slaves in the first half of the 19th century. Some references suggest that it was copyrighted by a Jay Roberts in 1865. The first recorded version was by Harrod's Jubilee Singers in 1922. Later recordings include those by Paul Robeson (1925), Mahalia Jackson (1958), and Elvis Presley (1960) among many others.