Available Sheet Music during the Civil War...

[guh-nome]

I'm a pianist and I have long been wondering what music was available during the war? I mainly play classical music so was wondering what (if any) classical music was available in the US in print?

ex. Bach, Mozart, etc.

[Danny]

I'm a pianist and I have long been wondering what music was available during the war? I mainly play classical music so was wondering what (if any) classical music was available in the US in print?ex. Bach, Mozart, etc.

Amber -

In a 2007 dissertation I found titled

"LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK, JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT,AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1853-1865". "

covers the areas you mention. It's not proper to distribute her document in a forum like this, but I feel it's ok to attribute it to her: Laura Moore Pruett. (let me know if you want to be directed to the whole document).

Here's a couple short quotes where she listed some sources that seem useful to your question (you may be able to borrow these books for free via the inter-library loan desk at your local library, just ask):

"...In researching the cult of virtuosity, biographies of European virtuosi including Alan Walker’s three-volume Franz Liszt (1983-1996) and Jeremy Siepmann’s Chopin, the Reluctant Romantic (1995) have proven helpful. More general works such as The Piano in Concert (1982) by George Kehler and Nineteenth-Century Music (1980) by Carl Dahlhaus provide a broader view of the period. Allen Lott has traced the American tours of five European pianists in From Paris to Peoria: HowEuropean Piano Virtuosos Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland (2003), including Sigismond Thalberg, with whom Gottschalk performed on occasion".

also covered is famous U.S. classical music critic John Sullivan Dwight, "in his role as editor of Dwight’s Journal of Music from 1852 until 1881 Dwight was among the most influential music critics in America. The Journal is one of the most significant collections of nineteenth-century music criticism...Dwight’s writings have had a lasting impact on American musical culture, specifically the ambiguous boundaries that have since been formed between high Art and popular music".

Dan Wykes

[Robert A Mosher]

I'm a pianist and I have long been wondering what music was available during the war? I mainly play classical music so was wondering what (if any) classical music was available in the US in print?

ex. Bach, Mozart, etc.

As I recall, you should find pdf copies of period sheet music in the Library of Congress collection in addition to some university collections accessible on line - one I believe is at Duke University.

Robert A. Mosher

[Brian Wolle]

I had a beautiful album of American ballroom music done by the Smithsonian that had nice notes and a good smattering of classical mixed in, including opera favorites. You can bet the big cities all had orchestras and opera. My ancestor introduced Bach's B-minor mass to Philadelphia, but I forget the exact date. The first visit by a major euro composer would be Tchaikovsky, I believe, decades after the war.

[Danny]

I'm a pianist and I have long been wondering what music was available during the war? I mainly play classical music...

Amber, as Robert alluded to, for the sheet music itself you could spend days perusing the LOC collection of downloadable antebellum sheet music for piano and other instruments. That won't tell you what was being played a lot (get that from one of the references in my prior post) but will tell you what pianists had to choose from. Your tax dollars at work. Here's the link:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sm2html/sm2home.html

Dan Wykes

[guh-nome]

Thanks so much! You all were extremely helpful! I'm glad i asked...