Sample Music
Welcome to a place to hear some examples of the music discussed in Musical Maryland: A History of Song and Performance from the Colonial Period to the Age of Radio. This website is intended to grow over time, as more recordings become available -- all free of charge* and a great way to make the facts and stories come alive. Interpreting older music, especially that from the days before sound recording, is a fun and challenging prospect for musicologists and performers. Especially since much remains unspecific in the original music, modern day musicians have considerable choice in terms of instruments, playing and singing styles, tempo, structure, and so on. Perhaps in the future we'll post two very different recorded interpretations of the same original piece of music, just to prove that point. For now, please enjoy what's posted below and then come back again later and see what's been added (hopefully at least a new piece each month). - co-author David K. Hildebrand
The selections below feature performances of
- David and Ginger Hildebrand and the Colonial Music Institute (examples 1-9);
- the United States Naval Academy Glee Club, under the direction of Dr. Aaron Smith (selection 10);
- the Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble, conducted by its founder, William Biehl, and recorded in July, 2008 (selections 11-16);
- the Concert Artists of Baltimore under the direction of Edward Polochick, founder of the group in 1987 and conducting faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. The Concert Artists recorded a sampling of music from H. L. Mencken's Saturday Night Club at the Engineers Club at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, Baltimore, on April 11, 2010. That concert and the scholarship surrounding the musiciology of the Saturday Night Club owes considerably to the recent research of David Donovan, Fine Arts Department, Enoch Pratt Free Library. The pieces we present here (17-21) highlight compositions of club members or local musicians.
The Johns Hopkins University Press warmly thanks the Colonial Music Institute, USNA Glee Club, Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble, and Concert Artists of Baltimore for permission to use samples of their work on this site in support of Musical Maryland.
* Note that federal law prohibits unauthorized reproduction of this music in any form and by any technical means. Thanks for respecting intellectual property rights. For information about obtaining compact disks of the music illustrated here, visit www.colonialmusic.org and wjbiehl@comcast.net . For further on the Saturday Night Club, see the Enoch Pratt Free Library website.
Sample Music
(1:36) TOBACCO – vocal solo, from late 17th-century English song collection (illus., p. 5)
(4:06) VOLUNTARY III, BY J. STANLEY – organ piece, appropriate church music of mid-to-late 18th century (illust., p. 7)
(2:56) THE LAST TIME I CAME O'ER THE MOOR – colonial chamber music, setting of a Scottish song for harpsichord, voice, and English Guitar (illus., p. 9)
(1:17) CLUB MARCH AGAINST SIR HUGH MACCARTY – typical music of the Tuesday Club (1745-56) in Annapolis, on 2 recorders (also known as English flutes) and harpsichord (illust., p. 11)
(2:15) A MINUET BY THE REV. MR. BACON – composed around 1750 by a musical minister who served the Anglican church in Easton, Maryland, then later in Frederick - violin, harpsichord (illust., p. 23)
(4:21) GOD SAVE THE KING – organ solo set of variations, known to have been in the music library of the Carroll family around 1800 (text, pgs. 32, 36)
(4:42) THE DEATH OF WOLF – a unique American ballad on the battle of Quebec (1759) - voice, hammered dulcimer, cello, and recorder (illust., p. 33)
(1:55) THE ANACREONTIC SONG – the original English drinking song, published around 1780, to which Francis Scott Key would compose the lyrics "The Defence of Fort M'Henry" in 1814, which was later re-named "The Star-Spangled Banner" - solo and chorus (text, p. 47)
(4:46) THE CARROLLTON MARCH, by P. CORRI – recorded in Annapolis on an 1806 John Broadwood & Sons pianoforte, this march commemorates the laying of the cornerstone of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad by Charles Carroll of Carrollton in Baltimore on July 4, 1828 (text, p. 56)
(4:46) THE DEFENCE OF FORT M'HENRY (STAR-SPANGLED BANNER) – a choral rendition of Dr. John Barry Talley's arrangement (illust., page 50) [credit United States Naval Academy Glee Club, Dr. Aaron Smith conducting]
(3:28) STAR SPANGLED BANNER - Concert 14–sung by Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble (pgs. 49-50)
(2:24) BEES WINGS AND FISH – Henry Dielman, with lyrics by James Hewitt, ca. 1840 (p. 49). Sung by Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble.
(1:53) MARYLAND, MY HOME – Stewart Macauley, lyrics by "C.J.F.," 1853, dedicated to theater/music-hall owner John T. Ford, this song became a favorite of Kunkel's Nightingale Opera Troupe, which performed at Ford's in Baltimore (p. 73). Sung by Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble.
(2:39) BALTIMORE, OUR BALTIMORE - Emma Hemberger, lyrics by Folger McKinsey, 1916 (p. 125)
(1:50) BALTIMORE BUZZ - Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, 1921. One of several catchy tunes from the famous ragtime musical, Shuffle Along. At early performances, patrons black and white reportedly rose from their seats and danced in the aisles (pp. 129, 130).
(2:23) THE GOOD OLD EASTERN SHORE - Peter Dale Wimbrow, 1928 (p. 163)
(3:27) GOSPEL MEDLEY (the Reverand Charles Albert Tindley, ca. 1910s and 20s), "Nothing Between"; "Leave it There"; "Stand by Me"; and "Beams of Heaven As I Go"- sung by Maryland Heritage Vocal Ensemble (p. 165).
(2:48) POLKA FROM HEIMATSLANGE - Gustav Strube (pp.157-61)
(4:31) VALSE VODKA - Louis Cheslock, 1933 (pp 157-61). A waltzing comment on U.S. recognition of Soviet Russia that year.
(2:03) FOX TROT - Gustav Strube (pp. 157-61)
(2:36) SOPHIE WALTZ - Emma Hemberger, 1919 (pp.157-61). Hemberger dedicated this piece to H. L. Mencken and directed that it be played "Munchen Art mit Bockbierlust" (Munich style with bock-beer delight).
(2:58) I AM A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT AMERICAN MARCH - H. L. Mencken, lyrics by William W. Woollcott (pp. 157-61). Lyrics satirized the full throated (and intolerant) nationalism that prevailed in the country during the Great War, 1914-18, and immediately afterward.