Note: This website is only getting occasional updates. For more timely information please see the main information outlet by visiting the Facebook Page for the Magna Arts Council , or its web page , or Magna City’s website.
For a new resource showcasing a gallery of new recordings of classical music from Utah’s past please visit www.utahclassical.com
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Here are a few examples of early sheet music from Utah, as mentioned on the Utah Composers and New Music Facebook Group. Includes various styles, including band music, piano solos, songs, etc.
( added November 11, 2015 )
In appreciation of the upcoming Salty Cricket “Belt Canto” concert, here is a vintage song by local music pioneer Joseph (Jos.) J. Daynes, with lyrics by another pioneering Utah composer Charles W. Stayner.
Daynes was a versatile musician and music entrepreneur in Utah in the late 1800s. He was the first organist for the Tabernacle Choir, opened a music store that is still going strong in his family line, and was also a composer and music publisher of sheet music for both religious and secular settings.
More information and links at Wikipedia
This song, “There’s Love in Her Bright Blue Eye”, is a sentimental love song structured as a tenor (?) solo on the verses followed by an SATB chorus. A copy of the original printing is online at the Library of Congress
Or download a PDF of the sheet music here: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD sheet music for “Bright Blue Eye”
Click here to play or download an mp3 audio recording of “There’s Love in Her Bright Blue Eye” (will sound a bit mechanical, as this is merely scanned from old sheet music, then using synth piano and vocal lines)
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( added May 14, 2015 )
In appreciation of the upcoming Salty Cricket concert “Low, Lower, Lowest”, here is the lowdown on some local tuba topics.
A century ago it was always a big deal when a circus came to town. In addition to all the other attractions, the main tent shows featured a live virtuoso brass band that played music themed to match each act. One of the best tuba players in the Circus Band world was Walter Paul English who was born in Salt Lake City in 1867, but family moves and his travels in music meant he probably did not spend much time here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_English
In addition to playing for touring Circus Bands and other professional concert bands, he was also an admired conductor and composer. Scores and parts for more than 10 of his original compositions for bands are available for free legal download from an on-line archive of public domain (pre-1923) band music.
http://www.bandmusicpdf.org/catalogsearch/advanced/result/…
You can hear or download a recording of one of English’s Circus Band marches, “Royal Decree,” which was usually played for a parade of elephants, on a web page of recordings by a modern US Military band – along with a few dozen more examples of musical Americana at:
http://www.heritageofamericaband.af.mil/…/ceremonialmusic.a…
(click the titles to play the recordings)
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For more recent local tuba talent with on-line content to share, see the videos by Steve Call of the BYU faculty and several off-campus ensembles. This short of a Dixieland Band attracting a herd of cows has over 400,000 views on YouTube…
… and more of his videos with classical and jazz music are indexed at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/newhot5/videos
( added April 2015 )
Anton Pedersen: On the Beautiful Salt Lake; Waltzes (piano solo) 1885
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Entire score of this piano solo is downloadable from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/item/sm1885.00472/
Click here to play or download an mp3 audio recording of “On the Beautiful Salt Lake; Waltzes” by Anton Pederson, 1885, Jos. Daynes music in SLC (from an amateur piano recording by a friend)
( added April 2015 )
Two Art Songs
For members of the Utah Composers & New Music Facebook group, here are two Art Songs from 1909 & 1910 as published in an LDS Church Magazine for young women. The lyricist was Kate Kendall Thomas of Utah, and the music by New Yorker Laura Sedgwick Collins, thought to be the only female music student of Dvorak during his American stay. Web searches reveal more about each artist. The songs can be downloaded as PDF files for easy printing.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD sheet music for “Irish Love Song”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD sheet music for “Lullaby Land”
For general reference only, here is rough audio of the two art songs. Recordings are synthesized, so they have some wrong timings, very limited phrasing and dynamics, and had to substitute violin soundfont for original vocal line just to get a rough idea of the flow. (But they do sit pretty nicely on violin…) Anyone want to do a real recording to share?
Click here to play or download an mp3 audio recording of “Irish Love Song” (will sound mechanical, as this is merely scanned from old sheet music, then vocal line assigned to violin soundfont)
Click here to play or download an mp3 audio recording of “Lullaby Land” (will sound mechanical, as this is merely scanned from old sheet music, then vocal line assigned to violin soundfont)
More examples may be added over time . . .