The Civil War Ballroom: music for a midcentury Victorian ball
also available: sheet music for this CD



BUY NOW

Spare Parts kindly request the pleasure of your company at the ball. The evening's program features a blend of popular, classical, and continental melodies typical of the Civil War era.

For your enjoyment, Liz Stell and Bill Matthiesen have assembled several of their favorite Spare Parts for the dance orchestra: flute, piano, violins, viola, mandolin, cornet, and double bass.

This evening's dance card includes:

1. Grand March Medley (9:05) [audio sample]
Nineteenth-century balls, and grand marches in particular, often contained popular selections. This medley includes songs that were popular during the Civil War in both the North and the South. It was common for one side to write parodies of songs that were currently popular with the other side.
Kingdon Coming (Henry Clay Work, 1862)
Battle Cry of Freedom (George Frederick Root, 1862)
Dixie's Land (Dixie) (Dan D. Emmett, 1860)
Darling Nellie Gray (Benjamin R. Hanby, 1856)
The Girl I Left Behind Me (old British tune, first published in U.S. in 1770)

2. Prima Donna, or Plain Waltz (2:45)
This sweet melody was composed by the famous French bandmaster and showman Louis Antoine Jullien. Its appearance in several American music publications from the late 1850s shows how popular it was. Liz added the harmonies.

3. Soldier's Joy Medley (4:45) [audio sample]
Both Soldier's Joy and College Hornpipe are traditional fiddle tunes that remain in circulation today. The second tune, now usually known as Sailor's Hornpipe, is at least 400 years old. The tunes and the dance appear in a number of midcentury dance manuals and music books.

4. Cally Polka (2:15) [audio sample]
Our version of this piece comes from an 1854 publication by Stephen Foster, The Social Orchestra. Foster arranged a number of popular melodies, including his own songs, for people to play in their own homes or for small social gatherings. The anonymous tune itself is older, as Allen Dodworth published an arrangement in 1846.

5-7. The Lancers Quadrilles
5. La Dorset (1:52)
6. La Native (1:32)
7. Les Lanciers (3:52)

One of the most popular quadrille sets throughout the nineteenth century was The Lancers. It has the standard five-part quadrille form, but we usually play only parts 1, 3, and 5 at dances. Our orchestration, from The Star Collection of Instrumental Music by John W. Moore (1858) reads "As danced at Nahant, Newport, Saratoga, and Other Fashionable Places."

8. Sans Souci Galop (1:40) [audio sample]
During the second half of the nineteenth century, galops evolved into bravura showpieces, usually for a particular instrument. Sans Souci by J. Ascher typifies the simpler musical style popular in the 1840s, when the galop's primary purpose was lively dancing. Galops often followed quadrilles on dance programs.

9. Byerly's Waltz (2:30) [audio sample]
We found this waltz in Foster's Social Orchestra. It may have had another name, but Foster just called it after its composer, William Byerly. We added the harmonies.

10. Jenny Lind Polka (2:00) [audio sample]
Though written at least 150 years ago, two parts of this polka are still familiar today. Anton Wallerstein composed the tune to honor the world-famous singer (and media sensation) known as "The Swedish Nightingale." Our version is from William Dressler's arrangement, published in Dodworth's Polka Quadrilles (1852), with a flourish or two added by Bill.

11. La Tempete (5:25)
La Tempete is a short piece by the French dancing master Charles d'Albert that accompanies a dance of the same name. Our version comes from Howe's Fifty Contra Dances (Elias Howe, ca. 1860). Peter plays a reproduction of a period instrument, the natural trumpet, for the fanfare section.

12. Bluebird Polka Redowa (2:30)
There are a couple of different midcentury dances called redowas. Despite the name, the polka redowa is really more like a waltz than a polka. The steps are a bit more complicated than a waltz, so the tempo has to be slower. Susan and Liz added harmonies to this piece by Weingarten.

13. Crystal Schottische (2:25) [audio sample]
This is another William Byerly dance tune that Foster included in The Social Orchestra. Foster arranged it for violin and flute, with accompaniment by a second violin and bass. We've followed this arrangement, but substituted piano for the original accompaniment.

14. Gothic Dance, or Merry Haymaker's Medley (5:40)
We often play three traditional Irish jigs for either of two dances at reenactment balls. The Gothic Dance gets its name from everyone raising their arms, making two long lines of pointed arches like a Gothic cathedral. Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself is listed as the music for the Merry Haymaker's dance in Howe's No. 2 Fifty Contra Dances (ca. 1860). Gary Owen and Larry O'Gaff appear in several 1850s and 1860s music publications.

15. Charming Waltz (2:15) [audio sample]
Published in 1858, this piece by C. Kinkel works for both the redowa waltz and the ordinary waltz. The redowa waltz is more lively than either tha polka redowa or the ordinary waltz, with elegant small leaps (called cut or spring steps) to each bar of the music.

16. Virginia Reel Medley (5:55) [audio sample]
Only some of the songs popular during the Civil War made good dance tunes. Three of the best are included here. Harry Macarthy published The Bonny Blue Flag in 1861, but he set the words to an old tune that's probably an Irish jig. Most people only know half of When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The original, published in 1863 by "Louis Lambert" (real name: Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore), includes 8 additional bars of music. These, too, sound like an old jig from Gilmore's native Ireland. Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! was published in 1864 by George Frederick Root (from Western Massachusetts, not far from Spare Parts). The final tune appears in 1850s quadrilles and never goes out of style: Gioachino Rossinni's William Tell Overture (1829).

17. Spanish Waltz (6:25) [audio sample]
The closing piece, called the Spanish Dance or the Spanish Waltz, is music for a set dance done in a circle or a line of couples, using waltz steps. While the dance is often done to this melody, some sources show different music. The first two parts appear as "Spanish Dance" in Howe's Drawing Room Dances (1859) and several other midcentury sources. The second two parts appear as the Cinderella Waltz in Howe's School for the Violin (1851) and The Home Circle Vol. I (1859). The Cinderella Waltz is the melody for The Green Hills of Tyrol, adapted for bagpipes by Pipe Major John MacLeod duirng the Crimean War (1854-1856).
Links:

ORDER NOW
secure online store

Spare Parts musicians

Returning Heroes
more music for the Civil War ballroom

The Civil War
Ballroom
sheet music

Pugliese's
Dances for The Civil War Ballroom
dance instructions

Couple Dances of
the Civil War Ballroom

dance instruction DVD with demos

Dancing by the Shore
Victorian CD

The Regency Ballroom CD
music from Jane Austen's time

The
Waltz Books


Spare Parts schedule
upcoming dances

Now Tango
ragtime CD

Tango Viejo
solo piano CD

Argentine Tangos
for Piano

sheet music

The
Commonwealth Vintage Dancers

Habaneras, Maxixes & Tangos
sheet music of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina

The Royal Scotch Quadrilles of 1834
CD and instructions

The 1880s Polo Quadrille
CD and instructions

Order your copy today ....

order online with a credit card
or call toll-free: 866-412-5943

CDs are $15 plus shipping

For mail order, print order form
and send check to: Bill Matthiesen
33 Stormview Road,
Lanesboro, MA 01237

For information and bookings contact
Bill Matthiesen
bill@bfv.com
413-442-9172


return to Spare Parts home page