Sweet Songs for Gentle Americans: The Parlor Song in America, 1790–1860

Sweet Songs for Gentle Americans: The Parlor Song in America, 1790–1860 image
ISBN-10:

0879721308

ISBN-13:

9780879721305

Released: Jan 01, 1980
Publisher: Popular Press 1
Format: Hardcover, 280 pages
to view more data

Description:

Popular parlor songs were the main form of secular musical entertainment in the early years of the United States. They were heard regularly in the homes of our principal statesmen, authors, intellectuals, professionals, and businessmen. Laborers and slaves also sang them. They were the principal fare of concert and stage performances, and were freely interpolated into Italian operas, Shakespearean plays, lyceum lectures, and church services. In short, parlor songs played a dominant role in American cultural history.
This was the music that Jefferson, Lincoln, Longfellow, Whitman, and Emily Dickinson enjoyed. Yet, whether owing to prejudice or misinformation, we still know little about the songs they listened to and sang: why and for whom written; when heard; or how performed.
This book attempts to contribute that knowledge. Contemporary diaries, biographies, fiction, newspapers, periodicals, and books on music were studied and the music itself exhaustively analyzed in order to reach accurate conclusions about the popular culture that emerged between the American Revolution and the Civil War.
The reader comes away with a sympathetic understanding of the human hopes, fears, and joys embodied in the songs, and with a curiosity about the countless melodic gems awaiting exploration.












We're an Amazon Associate. We earn from qualifying purchases at Amazon and all stores listed here.