Parlour music

[Jean-Séb]

As Wikipedia defines it, "Parlour music is a type of popular music which, as the name suggests, is intended to be performed in the parlours of middle class homes by amateur singers and pianists. Disseminated as sheet music, its heyday came in the 19th century, as a result of a steady increase in the number of households with enough surplus cash to purchase musical instruments and instruction in music, and with the leisure time and cultural motivation to engage in recreational music-making."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlour_music

It is not always easy to make a clear distinction between parlour music and salon music (see the corresponding thread), although the former is usually less challenging for the amateur pianist.

Thomé Francis op.72 n°6 Aragonaise.pdf

[Abraxas]

Thank you for keeping this thread alive, Jean-Seb.

Ab

[Jean-Séb]

Godefroid caricature.jpg

The famous harpist Félix Godefroid (1818 - 1897) is sometimes claimed to be Belgian, although Belgium did not exist when he was born in Namur, which has just ceased to be French after the fall of Napoleon and was temporarily attached to the Netherlands. Anyhow, as Franck and many other composers born in this land, he soon migrated with his family to France and in particular to Paris. Although his first instrument was harp (and some of his harp pieces are still played today), he composed also for the piano, like this melodic Tyrolienne Mazurke.
Jean-Séb

Godefroid Tyrolienne Mazurke .pdf

[Jean-Séb]

There is mystery about J. - Ch. Hess, a composer of many transcriptions, fantaisies, parlour pieces, usually well-written. He was quite active in the second half of the XIXth Century but I cannot find anything about him, apart from his piano pieces. Anyway, here is a little rêverie.

Hess op.46 Le Pardon.pdf

Jean-Séb

[Jean-Séb]

Jacques-Louis Battmann (1818-1886) was a organist in Alsace. He wrote a lot of methods for organ and harmonium, with simple pieces, that can be found on Werner Icking, Sibley and IMSLP:
http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer/Battmann.php
https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... ionId=5118
http://imslp.org/wiki/72_Pieces_for_Org ... s-Louis%29
In addition, he wrote many parlour pieces, including the attached Valse espagnole, published around 1857. At that time, the Emperor Napoleon the Third had married a Spanish lady, Empress Eugénie, and Spanish music became much in fashion. The paper is so stained with brown spots that the scan is absolutely awful, sorry, but it is quite easy to guess the notes. The whole thing is quite lively and fun, even if not great music.

Battmann Valse espagnole op.92 .pdf

Jean-Séb

P.-S. The Québec archives have an old recording (1920) of a dramatic melody by Battmann:
http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/musique_78trs/mc26.htm

[remy]

There is mystery about J. - Ch. Hess, a composer of many transcriptions, fantaisies, parlour pieces, usually well-written. He was quite active in the second half of the XIXth Century but I cannot find anything about him, apart from his piano pieces. Anyway, here is a little rêverie.

Hess op.46 Le Pardon.pdf

Jean-Séb

Thanks for this nice piece, Jean-Séb.

But I wonder why he thought we needed so much extra help in remembering to flat the A's.


jeremy

[Jean-Séb]

But I wonder why he thought we needed so much extra help in remembering to flat the A's.
jeremy

It seems to happen mainly in bars where the A can be also natural (at the other hand).
Jean-Séb

[WCosand]

I started to begin a new topic in the organ music discussion, then decided that might not be necessary. I have uploaded a modicum of harmonium music to my site today.

http://waltercosand.com/CosandScores/Co ... ues-Louis/

(opus 30, opus 60, opus 250)

and

http://waltercosand.com/CosandScores/Co ... 20Sigfrid/

(33 Portraits and Sonata no. 1)

[Riodk]

Can't find the German composers thread so the updated Charles Godard goes here.

Godard_55_Guitarella.pdf

Riodk

[Riodk]

Along with a couple of pieces by Theodor Espen also German.

Espen_05_Aftenklokken.pdf

Espen_09_Blomsterdrømme.pdf

Riodk