Pictorial Sheet Music Categories
Idealized depictions of female beauty often adorned sheet music. Many of these pictures are “fancy heads” of women dressed in contemporary fashions, while others are dressed in historical costume, particularly of the medieval and Elizabethan period. Ethnic types, such as Italian, Irish, and Gypsy, are also portrayed. The attitudes of these women are beguiling, pensive, or prayerful.
Courtship and love was the most popular musical subject. From the 1820s through the 1840s there was a fashion for European derived images of knights and ladies, pirate lovers, and even brigands, reflecting themes in popular literature and Romanticism. Later illustrations reflect American life. While most songs and illustrations refer to youthful couples, a few, such as While the Silver Tints the Gold, pay tribute to enduring love.
Early in the century, illustrations for songs about death were patterned on memorial prints and feature monuments and landscapes. Toward mid-century, deathbed scenes, funerals, grave diggers, and church yards became prevalent. In the 1870s and 1880s, imagery of angels and heaven were predominant. Representations of death are frequently set in a family context.
The majority of images in this category are views of school buildings and their grounds. In several instances the music was composed by the school’s music master and was dedicated to the students or to the school principal. There are a few humorous representations of the tensions between young boys and their schoolmasters such as The Schoolmaster and Eight Little Scamps.
Sheet music covers are a rich source of documentation for the history of popular theatre. Famous entertainers, such as Fanny Elssler, the dancer, and Jenny Lind, the singer, were frequently portrayed on the covers of music from their performances. This category contains numerous portraits of singing groups, such as, the Amphions, the Baker Family, the Continental Vocalists, the Harmoneons, the Hauser Family, the Hutchinson Family, the Rainer Family, and the Tyrolese Family. Representations of troops of minstrel performers (white men in costume and black-face makeup performing the songs and dances of Southern plantation slaves) are included here. Some of the covers in this category represent performers in character enacting scenes from operas, comic reviews, and vaudeville. Portraits of composers and persons connected with the music industry are included in this category.
Lyrics and illustrations in this category express the bond between parents and children, the comfort of home and the family circle, the sorrow of parting, and the joy of return.
Most of the songs and images relating to immigration express the sorrow of parting from loved ones and home, and the loneliness of being in a foreign land. There are scenes of departure, and nostalgic visions of Ireland and Scotland. In some cases, the antagonism against immigrants is expressed through a theatrical caricature, such as the drunken, brawling Irishman Pat Malloy, or The Fine Ould Irish Gintleman.
Military subjects were prevalent throughout the 19th century. From the 1830s through the 1850s, numerous marches were written and performed at the parades, musters, and encampments of local militia units such as the Berry Street Rangers, Boston Independent Fusiliers, Boston Light Infantry, Boston Rifle Rangers, City Guards, Greys (City Greys), Hancock Light Infantry, Hull Street Guards, Independent Company of Cadets, Mechanik Rifle Company, National Lancers, New England Guards, Norfolk Guards, Pulaski Guards, and many others. The covers for these marches depict military scenes or display portraits of officers. The activities of many bands, particularly Boston Brass Band and the Boston Brigade Band, are recorded. The Mexican War and the Civil War inspired numerous portraits of military leaders and renderings of battle scenes. At the end of the century, the activities of veterans groups and the deaths of famous Civil War generals were honored.
Landscape illustrations were used to suggest the mood and settings of the music. Early in the century European scenery, particularly the Swiss Alps and the Italian countryside were popular subjects. Gradually American scenes were introduced, often with reference to the joys or activities of country life.
Flags, medals, badges, allegorical figures, and symbolic representations are included in this category.
Songs and marches written for political campaigns were usually illustrated with a portrait of the candidate. Sometimes the illustration represented a campaign slogan or theme, such as The Log Cabin Song and The Tippecanoe or Log Cabin Quick Step, written for the successful election campaign of William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate for president in 1840. This category includes parades, rallies, and conventions organized by political parties. For example, the Corner-Stone March lampoons the national convention held in Baltimore Maryland in 1832 by the Anti-Masonic third party.
Views of churches and churchyards are included in this category, as are representations of prayer and the Bible.
This was a popular category throughout the century. Sailing ships were depicted in calm weather and in storms. For a time, romantic views of pirate ships were popular. Illustrations include ship portraits and ship wrecks.
Sheet music covers are one of the few sources for pictures of the urban poor, homeless persons, and impoverished street vendors. Images relating to temperance and abolition are included in this category.
Scenes of dancing and dining, drinking and smoking are included in this category, as are scenes of private parties and public balls or entertainments. Views of resort hotels are included in this category. The famous Gilmore’s Band frequently performed at these popular gathering places.
Athletic activities and competitions are included her. Rowing and crew racing are particularly well represented. Many of the subjects have overlap with other categories, such as Social Life or Courtship and Love, as in the case of The Nicest Kind of Croquet. Some international exhibitions and other settings for public amusement are included here.
Street scenes and views of public parks and monuments are included here, as are views of hotels and other businesses.