Ah Dont Mingle One Human Feeling

Author : Nicholas E. Tawa
Publisher : Popular Press
ISBN 13 : 9780879721305
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (213 download)

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Download or read book Sweet Songs for Gentle Americans written by Nicholas E. Tawa and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1980 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.