MUSIC
AND SONGS: STYLES AND GENRES
Photo: The great Scott
Joplin.
The years between 1895 and 1905 were abundant with popular music, and many genres and different styles overlapped. The air was filled with sentimental ballads, musical comedies, Broadway show tunes, ragtime, cakewalk songs, coon songs, Irish tunes, Italian serenades, marches, comic songs, songs from the Civil War, dancing tunes, waltz, polka, you name it. All tunes and songs were mixed up and mingled. For instance, ragtime music was often played as “Tempo di Marcia” (march music) and Polka tunes were called two-step or march music. Sentimental songs were extremely popular, and sold like hot cake. The two biggest hits of the era were: W. C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues,” the most recorded American song, and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (lyrics by Eben Eugene Rexford, and music by Hart Pease Danks.)
Photos
from L to R: 1-Composer and songwriter Hart Pease Danks. Born in
New Haven, Connecticut in 1834, his first composition was included in
William Bradley’s Jubilee,
entitled “Lake Street.” Another song, “The Old Lane” was published in
Chicago in 1856, and he continued to publish several hundreds. Two
songs, “Silver Threads Among the Gold” and “Don’t be Angry with me,
Darling,” sold several hundred thousand copies. He has also published
books of anthems that were very well received. However, his finances were
far from good. The publishers, who made a fortune from each song, paid
him only thirty dollars for the copyrights! He never received a dime from
royalties! He moved around quite a bit, living in Cleveland
from 1858 to 1861, in Chicago from 1861 to 1864, and from 1864 to
1887 in New York City. Hart P. Danks died in poverty
in Philadelphia, PA on November 20, 1903. His last written words
were “It’s hard to die alone.”2-American
composer and cornet player, W. C. Handy, is often called “The
Father of the Blues.” The music existed before him, coming from the South
in the 19th Century, but Handy was the first to write
and publish the songs using the word “blues” in the titles. His most
famous composition is the “St. Louis Blues,” which he published in 1914.
Photo: Broadway in 1894.
It was not always easy to understand and categorize the musical genres of the era. Everything was mixed up. The Italians would sing Sicilian, Caprese and Napolitan songs and mixed the whole thing with Polka. Jews from Latvia, Russia, Ukraines and Germany would sing Jewish songs in German, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew and other dialects and mixed religious songs with ethnic tunes, romantic songs, folkloric dance and some Kozaks tempo. Poles would mix Polka dancing music with Parisian sentimental songs. So did the French, Irish, Armenians, Greeks and Argentinians. And Americans enjoyed all sorts of music and songs ranging from Sousa’s marching band to Broadway shows tunes, Vaudeville’s songs, concert bands, opera, ragtime, African-American rhythms, patriotic songs, and hymns, almost everything. It was a lovely mess. Call it the music fever of the era.
RICH MELODIES ARRANGEMENTS: There was a great variety in the arrangements of melodies. Band arrangements were extremely popular, and audiences loved songs like “Hiawatha” or a ragtime novelty such as the “Maple Leaf Rag” when played by the popular Sousa band. The name “barbershop quartet” was not yet coined, as evidenced by the fact that it was not mentioned on sheet music or in music trade journals; no one wore a barbershop uniform. Many of us associate the barbershop quartet with the 1890s to WWI, but it really was to appear in the 1920s and continued well into the 1940s and even later. Nevertheless male quartets were extremely popular, and even sang the songs we associate with barbershop quartet, such as “Sweet Adeline.” The quartet consisted of the first tenor (the highest pitch), the second tenor, usually the leading voice, a baritone and a bass.Continues NEXT