© Michael J. Kramer

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Subject to removal if lecture attendance declines. An Empire of Sentimentalism

In the Parlor with Foster In the Street with Sousa Popular song reveals ironies of urbanizing, industrializing US during the late 19th/early 20th century: industrial system spreading out toward the world >> the nation-state, public culture American global power spreading not just to West US but beyond: Spanish-American War, 1898 also: industrial system spreading inward ->> ideal of the middle-class family, gendered selves, private sphere

gentility, respectability (e.g., the Tappans in Lhamon) sentimental public and private cultures taking shape 1. public = about country and nation

2. private = about family and gendered/age-based selves

these are linked:

emerging “imperium that was also an emporium” (Kristen Hoganson, historian)

Popular music both symbol and agent of these changes

b. 1826, Pittsburgh d. 1864, NYC

First commercial pop songwriter Middle class family Fusing “parlor songs” with “minstrel songs” Famous songs: “Oh! Susanna” “” “” “” “” Themes for Foster and popular music

Popular music as a site for (and sound of!):

1. the illicit, transgressive, where the margins meet the middle.

2. fusions, where the margins meet the middle.

3. commerce, technology, and culture, where the margins meet the middle. “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair “ (1854)

I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, Borne like a vapor, on the summer air: I see her tripping where the bright streams play, Happy as the daisies that dance on her way. Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour, Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er: Oh! I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, Floating, like a vapor on the soft summer air. I long for Jeanie with the day dawn smile, Radiant in gladness, warm winning guile; I hear her melodies, like joys gone by, Sighing round my heart o'er the fond hopes that die: Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain, Wailing for the lost one that comes not again: Oh! I long for Jeanie and my heart bows low, Nevermore to find her where the bright waters flow. “” (1851) Remember, it’s racist, but how and why? Multiple levels of song? Fusion blackface minstrelsy transgression + parlor song sentimental nostalgia Fixes race but also about dislocation, identification. Unfixes it too? “Old Folks at Home” (1851) Way down upon de Swanee Ribber, 2nd verse Far, far away, All round de little farm I wandered Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber, When I was young, Dere's wha de old folks stay. Den many happy days I squandered, All up and down de whole creation Many de songs I sung. Sadly I roam, When I was playing wid my brudder Still longing for de old plantation, Happy was I; And for de old folks at home. Oh, take me to my kind old mudder! Dere let me live and die. Chorus All de world am sad and dreary, 3rd Verse Eb-rywhere I roam; One little hut among de bushes, Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary, One dat I love Far from de old folks at home! Still sadly to my memory rushes, No matter where I rove. When will I see de bees a-humming All round de comb? When will I hear de banjo strumming, Down in my good old home? The parlor Ideal of the 19th century home: woman’s space sentimental space bulwark against cruel larger world: new market, urban confusion… also a zone where home meets the world irony: drove market expansion it sought to contain! The piano and sheet music John Philip Sousa b. 1854, DC d. 1932, Reading, PA

The “March King”

The marching band

Formation of nation-state through sound

Linking military to “the people”

Also forges local community

An Empire of Sentimentalism

In the Parlor with Foster In the Street with Sousa

Self, family, private sphere | Collective, nation-state, public