- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
(Public Domain)
There is a small gathering at a home. A young lady sits at the piano and begins to play and soon the sounds of singing can be heard. It’s time for “Parlor Music” and it was quite the entertainment in the 1800’s.
Parlor music is generally referred to as “music composed for domestic use from c1820 to World War I, consisting primarily of songs for voice and piano but also including compositions for solo piano as well as transcriptions and arrangements adaptable for a variety of instruments”. {1}
“I once was in sorrow and tears
Because I was jilted you know,
So right down to the river I ran
To quickly dispose of my woe,
A good friend he gave me advice
And timely prevented the splash,
Now at home I’ve a wife and ten heirs,
And all through a handsome moustache” {*}
From the Stephen Foster Song
“If You’ve Only Got a Moustache”
Published 1864
(Public Domain)
Because I was jilted you know,
So right down to the river I ran
To quickly dispose of my woe,
A good friend he gave me advice
And timely prevented the splash,
Now at home I’ve a wife and ten heirs,
And all through a handsome moustache” {*}
From the Stephen Foster Song
“If You’ve Only Got a Moustache”
Published 1864
(Public Domain)
Music is woven into the fabric of American society and by the 19th century families were gathering together to make music. Musical soirees and sing-alongs were common place and a genre of music was created primarily for family fun. With the rise in the printing industry sheet music was suddenly available for the masses. In the 18th century sheet music was rare to find but with the development of printing in the first quarter of the 19th century there were over 10,000 titles available at affordable prices.
Music began filling parlors across America and at times family members or friends joined in with varieties of instruments. Songs featured filled a variety of interests. They ranged from love songs, songs for children, ballads on nonsensical themes, and humorous ditties. Pianists entertained with classical music, jigs and toe-tapping favorites especially when other instruments joined in the fun.
Parlor music could touch the heart of a man as was the case with the poem “The Old Arm Chair” written by Eliza Cooks and published in 1838 her book “Poems,” [incidentally a book that was in Abraham Lincoln’s personal library]. It was eventually set to music and became a popular parlor song. The rather sad message of a mother’s favorite rocking chair that she sat in day-after-day until her passing resonated with the President who lost his own mother at nine years of age.
“Years rolled on; but the last one sped,
My idol was shattered; my earth-star fled.
I learnt how much the heart can bear,
when I saw her die in that old Arm Chair.” {3}
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My idol was shattered; my earth-star fled.
I learnt how much the heart can bear,
when I saw her die in that old Arm Chair.” {3}
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The latter part of the 19th century saw a growth of parlor music. As the middle class in America was growing so was the was the affordably of music instruments and teachers. Suddenly there were more native-born music teachers and with more instructors, lessons were available in homes, schools and churches. A musical ability was seen as a mark of “good taste and moral reputability.” {2} In some families music education was considered essential for young ladies - more valuable than reading. It was a skill to attain as homes were filled with the musical notes whether by listening to classical pieces or singing along to all types of songs; patriotic, love or ballads, it was good wholesome fun.
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(Public Domain)
In some cases, furniture makers began making the cabinets to hold the assembled parts of a piano and one dealer even marketed a “Stienway” in a hope to convince people it was really a “Steinway”. Some names of these piano makers: W.W. Kimball; Chickering; Henry F. Miller; Vose: Weber; Mason-Hamlin; are still with us today.
However, not all pianos were affordable. Henrich Engelhard Steinway emigrated to the United States in 1850 and began making pianos in New York. He received his first patent in 1857. He sold his first piano in America (Serial #483) for $500.00 (approximately $17,000.00 today). His most affordable piano that he sold in 1859 was priced at $275.00 (approximately $9,000.00). He was the king in America for piano building so much so that by 1866 he built behind his New York showroom one of the first concert halls for audiences in New York City. It could seat 2,500 attendees and was a well-known cultural center From 1866-1891 it was the proud home for the New York Philharmonic.
As piano became more common American home designs were changing to accommodate the parlor piano. Instead of one big room where the family, cooked, played, or slept, they were built to have separate living spaces. Formal dining rooms, separate bedrooms, kitchens and or course the parlor. Parlors were common place in homes and were viewed as the “hub” of family unity. Children and adults could be entertained in their parlors and pianos became a status symbol.
But in the end it was a time for fun as demonstrated by this song “The Fellow that Looked Like Me” written by John F. Poole and published in 1866:
“In sad despair I wandered,
my heart is filled with woe,
When on my griefs I ponder,
What to do I do not know.
For cruel fate on my does frown,
and the trouble seems to be,
There’s another fellow in this town,
that is just the image of me.
Then, to a ball one night I went,
and was just enjoying the sport,
when a policeman grabbed me by the arm,
saying: “You’re wanted up at Court,
You’ve escaped us twice, but this ere time
I’ll take care you don’t get free!”
So I was arrested and dragged to jail,
for the fellow that looks like me!
I was tried next day, found guilty, too,
and about to be taken down,
when another policemen then brought in
the right criminal - - Mr. Brown.
They set me free and locked up him;
Oh! but he was a sign to see!
The ugliest wretch that ever I saw,
was the fellow that looked like me!” {*}
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my heart is filled with woe,
When on my griefs I ponder,
What to do I do not know.
For cruel fate on my does frown,
and the trouble seems to be,
There’s another fellow in this town,
that is just the image of me.
Then, to a ball one night I went,
and was just enjoying the sport,
when a policeman grabbed me by the arm,
saying: “You’re wanted up at Court,
You’ve escaped us twice, but this ere time
I’ll take care you don’t get free!”
So I was arrested and dragged to jail,
for the fellow that looks like me!
I was tried next day, found guilty, too,
and about to be taken down,
when another policemen then brought in
the right criminal - - Mr. Brown.
They set me free and locked up him;
Oh! but he was a sign to see!
The ugliest wretch that ever I saw,
was the fellow that looked like me!” {*}
*
Sources
1 https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/g...92630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002292670
2. https://www.loc.gov/collections/music-of-nineteenth-century-ohio/articles-and-essays/parlor-music/
3. Reading With Lincoln, by Robert Bray
4. http://www.steinwaybocaraton.com/about/159-facts-about-steinway-and-the-pianos-they-build
5. http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/parlorsongs/index.html
6. https://www.pianobuyer.com/article/upright-cabinet-styles-in-american-piano-manufacturing-1880-1930/
{*} https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW32321.pdf