Historic Sheet Music Collection
The Historic Sheet Music Collection (HSMC) consists primarily of popular music of the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. Although most of the music is composed or arranged for voice with piano accompaniment, some pieces incorporate other instruments such as guitar, and some are for instrumental solo (primarily piano or guitar). A few classical works are also included in the collection.
Sheet music can offer an interesting interdisciplinary research opportunity. The lyrics, cover art, and advertisements open a window on the society and culture of the time. Subjects range from popular love songs to laments to humorous ditties - and everything else in between. Many songs reflect on the U.S. Civil War, World War I, and World War II. There is even a song about Wheaties in the collection.
Submissions from 1844
Kentucky Gentleman, John H. Hewitt
Language of Flowers, Joseph Lanner
Le premier rayon d'amour, Joseph Vimeux, Léon Riant, and Alexandre David
Lone Old Man, James Gaspard Maeder
Marion Day, Edward L. White
Oh! Poor Miss Lucy Neale! and Dandy Jim, Edward L. White
Pilgrims' Legacy, Broadway Tabernacle (New York, N.Y.)
Royal Irish Quadrilles, Louis Antoine Jullien
Simania, W. V. Wallace
Sunset Waltz, Henry Schmitdt
The Rochester Arcade Quick Step, William C. Glynn
'Tis Home Where'er the Heart Is, John Hill Hewitt
'Tis Sad To Think Upon The Joyous Days of Old, Mrs. Norton and Francis Weiland
Turkish Waltz, Johann Strauss
Submissions from 1843
Blockley's Beautiful Melofy of Love Not, Edward L. White
Cot Were We Were Born, Lyman Heath
Dream On, Young Hearts, N. J. Sporle
Excelsior, Hutchinson Family
Go Call the Doctor & Be Quick or Anti Calomel, Judson Joseph Hutchinson
Grave of Bonaparte, L. Heath
Grave of Bonaparte, Lyman Heath
La part du diable : opéra comique en trois actes, Daniel François Esprit Auber and Matteo Carcassi
L'herbagère et les gens du roi, Loïsa Puget, Gustave Lemoine, and Matteo Carcassi
Music at Nightfall, Charles J. Jefferys Esq. and Sydney Nelson
Newfoundland Dog, Henry Russell, F.W.N. (Frederic William Naylor) Bayley, and George W. Quidor
Old Granite State, Hutchinson Family
Remembrance of the West, Remembrance of the West
Sister Loved: A Song, George Linley
Song of the Captive Greek Girl, J. W. Hobbs
Submissions from 1842
Blind Boy, William R. Dempster
Bowen's Quick Step, Samuel R. Leland
Clay's Quick Step From a Favorite French Air, Edward L. White
Come, Oh Come with Me, the Moon is Beaming, B. S. Barclay
Come Sit Thee Down, John Sinclair
Dances From The Melodrama Of Carl Milhan, John Friedheim and Edward Fitzball
Fall Of Paris, Ld. Meignen & Co.
Fantasie Brillante, Ferdinand Herold
Glenmary Waltzes, Richard Storrs Willis
Kathleen Mavourneen, F. N. Crouch
Lady of Beauty, Knyvett
Last Greeting, Franz Schubert
Leipsig Gallopade, J. Walch
Love Not, Caroline Sheridan Norton and John Blockley
Nobles Voyageurs, Carl Czerny
Overture to the Opera of the Bohemian Girl, M. W. Balfe
Passing Bell, Franz Schubert
Real Scotch Quadrilles, Louis Antoine Jullien
Submissions from 1841
Ah! Dearest Once More Returning, Vincenzo Bellini
Carrier Dove, Daniel Johnson and John Newland Maffitt
Chieftain's Daughter, Henry Russell and George Pope Morris
Dead March in Saul, Thomas Carr
Deux Marguerites : chansonnette, F. Masini, Émile Barateau, and Joseph Vimeux
Dieu m'a conduit vers vous : romance, F. Masini, Émile Barateau, and Joseph Vimeux
Dismissed, Henry Russell
Fais qu'il ne m'aime pas : romance, F. Masini, Émile Barateau, and Joseph Vimeux
Funeral March, J. H. Seipp
Grand March, Rainer Family (Musical group)
I Canna Lo'e Him Less, William R. Dempster, Catharine H. Waterman, and William W. Smith
I'm Afloat! I'm Afloat!, Henry Russell and Eliza Cook
Lizzy Lass, J.M. White and Allan Grant
Long I for Thee!, William R. Dempster
Mazurka, La Mazurka
Miller's Maid, Miller's Maid
Miller's Maid, Thomas Power Esq.
Mother Oh Sing Me To Rest, Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans and Charles Edward Horn
Old Arm Chair, Henry Russell
Old Farm Gate, Henry Russell
Old Night Lamp, Henry Russell
Old Sexton, Henry Russell
Our Native Song, Henry Russell
Our Native Song, Henry Russell
President Harrison's Funeral Dirge, Henry Dielman
Rory O'More, Samuel Lover
Sailor Boy's Carol, Thomas Power Esq.
Spring is Returning, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Sweetheart, Sweetheart
The Old Sexton, Henry Russell, Benjamin Champney, and Benjamin Park
Tyrolese War Song, Tyrolese War Song
Was It Not at One?, Was It Not at One?
Zampa, ou, La fiancée de marbre : opéra comique en trois actes, Ferdinand Hérold and Mélesville
Submissions from 1840
Amid This Greenwood Smiling, Sigismond Thalberg
A Song of the Oak The Brave Old Oak, Edward James Loder
Away Away to the Moutains Brow, Alexander Lee
Beethoven's Last Waltz, Ludwig van Beethoven
Benedetta, Loïsa Puget, Gustave Lemoine, and Joseph Vimeux
Cachucha, Fanny Elssler
Circassian March, Circassian March
Come Love & List Awhile, H. F. Williams
Come, with Thy Lute, to the Fountain, John P. Hullah
Cracovienne, Robert Nicolas Charles Bocsha
Cracovienne Waltz, Francis H. Bowen
Dans mes forêts sauvages : melodie pour voix de bariton, F. Massini, Matteo Carcassi, Marc Constantin, and Frédéric Sorrieu
Dieu et ma mère, Paul Henrion, Émile Barateau, and Matteo Carcassi
Divertimento or Grand pot pourri, Adolphe Adam
Dussek's Sonata Op. 24, Johann Ladislaus Dussek
Elssler Quadrilles, Charles Jarvis
Endors-toi ma mère: Rêverie pour soprano, Alphonse Thys
Fanny Grey, Caroline Sheridan Norton
For Erin is My Home, Ignaz Moscheles
Fra Diavolo : opéra comique en trois actes, Daniel François Esprit Auber and Eugène Scribe