Public Program: “In Vogue with the Vulgar: Music during the War of 1812”

If you thought you’d learned all you needed to know about the War of 1812 from Alan Taylor’s lecture “The Civil War of 1812” last week, you would be missing out on a wonderful night of music and stories. Tomorrow night, October 16 at 7 p.m., David Hildebrand will be performing a concert, in costume and ...

The Acquisitions Table: Our Song Birds

Our Song Birds (Chicago, IL). July 1866. George Root was noted as a composer and as one of the largest music publishers in Chicago during the 1860s. This cute little 64-page booklet was written by Root and B.R. Hanby, and published by Root & Cady. It comprises one issue of a juvenile musical quarterly, Our Song ...

The Acquisitions Table: Manuscript Music Book

Music Book, 1819. A new addition to the Music Book Collection, this volume contains handwritten bars of both religious and secular music with no corresponding lyrics. Most songs are German hymns, and are simple compositions. Occasionally throughout the volume, the owner of this book transcribed more complicated pieces of music (Rondo Allegro, Trio, and Sonatina, for ...

A little ditty about sheet music

One of the hidden treasures at AAS is its sheet music collection.  The collection numbers about 60,000 pieces of music, all printed before 1880, including instrumental, vocal, secular and religious music, by both American and foreign composers.  You might be thinking, I can’t read music, what’s in it for me?  The sheet music collection is ...

Music Makes its Mark, and a Market

100thTune

Music religious thoughts inspires, And kindles in us pure desires; Gives pleasure to a well-tun’d mind, The most exalted and refin’d Music the coldest heart can warm, The hardest melt, the fiercest charm; Disarm the savage of his rage, Dispel our cares, and pains assuage: With joy it can our souls inspire, And tune our tempers to the lyre; Our passions like the notes agree, And ...