Re: Old World vs. Sousa

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

Joshua Horowitz <horowitz (at) styria(dot)com> wrote:

> The local orchestra might have five
> > pieces, and, if so, they'd only use those parts. I've got parts of
> > standard dance music published in the 1850s and 1880s, also like
> > that, though the instrumentation was less varied (no piano, flute,
> > drums, etc.; only one clarinet and one cornet; the second violin plays
> > double stops). A common series used in this area (Michigan) was "Gems
> > of the Ballroom," which Sears & Roebuck sold, but mostly they used
> > just the violin and piano parts.
> 
> Where do you suppose the standardized orchestra comes from?

I haven't really investigated this, but it seems that the American 
published arrangements start by the 1850s. Around 1850, I've found 
advertisements by professional musicians (really contractors or 
leaders, in modern terminology), who offered from one to ten 
musicians, depending on the engagement. It would seem that these
arrangements were intended for such musicians. 

Since U.S. dance styles like the polka, waltz, quadrille, 
schottische, etc., were introduced from Paris and London by dancing 
masters like Allen Dodworth of NYC and other entrepreneurs, it is 
logical that standard arrangements developed in those places, but I 
really don't know.  Popular orchestrations are hard to come by.

One thing that I'd really like to know is how the second violin part 
(which used only rhythmic double stops) developed. This appears in the 
U.S. by the 1820s-1830s. It could relate to the Jewish second violin 
or kontra in some way.

This may seem tangential to klezmer music history, but published 
stock arrangements, using standard conventions (1st violin playing 
melody, 2nd violin double stops, flute doing obligatos, clarinet 
supporting melody with extra flourishes, trumpet also supporting, 
etc.) which would resemble how ear players might figure out their 
parts, existed by 1880 in the U.S., and changed some to absorb newer 
instruments (piano, drums) in the next few decades. It would be 
interesting to know how immigrant klezmorim adapted to the U.S. 
customs of the professional contractor and to the conventions of 
stock arrangements. Does anybody know if Yiddish music publishers 
published arrangements in scores and parts (not piano arrangements)?
Here's something that might be interesting to  look at.

Paul Gifford

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