Separate
Identity volume 1 contains a full page facsimile of the cover of this sheet
music, which is of interest to us because it was published in 1872 by J. L. Russell and Son of Pittsburgh.
The
full words and music can be accessed from the Library of Congress website if
you really want to see what it is like.
The
words were written by Rev. Dr. I. C. Pershing of the Methodist Episcopal Church
and President of the Pittsburgh Female College. The music was by G. Blessner.
It
was dedicated to the Rev. Bishop M. Simpson (1811-1884) who was president at one
time of the M.E. Church Missionary Society.
The
Pittsburgh Female College was founded in 1854.
Although
it was described above as a sectarian institution under the control of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, their charter stipulated that students were to be accepted
from all religious denominations.
The
Rev. Israel C. Pershing (1826-1898) became principal of the college around 1860
and remained so until 1886 when he was accused of fraud.
Gustave
Blessner (1808-1888) was head of music in the 1870s, and the college had a
choir and put on musical concerts.
Blessner
was a highly prolific composer and a lot of his music can still be accessed today.
It covered a wide spectrum, from the Sacred (To Thee We Pray – 1879) to the
less than sacred (Silly Dilly Dally Dolly – 1872). One of the latter oeuvre,
Nanny’s Mammy (1850) starts off…
A
spinster of uncertain age
(But
somewhat past the middle stage)
Who
thought herself extremely sage…
You
get the picture. There are shades of Gilbert and Sullivan here.
Blessner’s
modern claim to fame is that he wrote the music for the first known song to
have the word “Blues” in the title: “I have got the blues today” (1850). The
chorus goes:
I
was the gayest of the gay
But
I have got the blues today.
It’s
about a singer who gets drunk.
Of
course in these instances Blessner wrote the music but was not the lyricist.
However,
one wonders if his music lessons at the straight-laced-ladies-only M.E. College
were sometimes rather fun.
Anyhow,
although a great amount of Blessner’s music was published and can be found
online, the Evening Prayer is the only composition I can find that was
published by the Russells, and then only in tandem with other music publishers.
It appears to be the only item they did publish, maybe because this was a local
item sung by the college choir for one of their concerts.
Pittsburgh
Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 16
Dec 1872
1 comment:
Interesting. The cover is on page 333 of vol 1. Thanks for posting.
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